ARE WE OVERDOING FOR THE NEXT GEN?

With lot of innovation happening in the education sector.  Every institution is looking forward to be unique in providing better learning opportunities for their students.  In the process or enthusiasm of upliftment of their student community, institutions are running assessments of different types like a day to day affair.  With too much of tests and exams, students feel schooling as a burden.

How much is too much?

Look at the type of assessments provided in schools to analyse the learning process.  Whether the actual learning happens or not, is another question. 

What is actually happening in schools?

The exam pressure has not reduced.  Day after day the name of the test changes but the same question and answer method is emphasized in each of the above exams.  This results in a lot of working pressure among the student community.  Though each assessment emphasis on building specific skills, the pattern does not change as a result the student feels boredom and shows lack of interest in learning.

What are parents doing to their children?

Overdo or underdo: Enthusiastic parents, with their over concern about the number in their child’s performance, schedule all the more.  The child is not provided with sufficient breathing space to think and work on their own.  This leads to monotony and freedom-less journey towards their parents’ goal.  Uninterested are another case, where the child is provided total freedom without guidance to the right and wrong. Proper balance in handling children is an essential part of Parenting.

How much of scheduling is going on with children?

Creativity is the product of thinking.  Right thinking develops with space and time.  Time is lacking among todays’ children.  They are rushed through a variety of activities after school.  In the name of tuitions, sports coaching, robotics or memory development.  From the time the get up to the time they go to sleep the total time of the day is scheduled towards performance in various areas with or without their interest. 

How much of testing is conducted?

From the day the child enters the school it is all about tests and exams. More often it is about ‘showing off’ the student’s talent for both school and parent.  Let us look at the school schedule to understand this in more detail. Not to forget the Olympiad craze that is catching up along with the below schedule.

 Midterms, Quarterly, Half yearly and Annual are at a stretch exam.  However, class tests are depending on the teacher, it can be on any day of the week.   Thus, every day becomes a test day.  The smart and quick learner can cope up but the leaner ones stay behind in this rat race of exams.

How much of freedom they actually have?

The above picture gives a rough idea about the actual freedom children have.  Let us not neglect the ‘Homework’, ‘Project’ and ‘Holiday Assignments’.  Insert them to the above schedule and you can understand the free time student actually has for himself.  It is astonishing that we are talking of 21^st century skills to be developed without giving prominence to the base structure of freedom. This ultimately destroys the much-focussed skill development.

What actually develops?

With all the above said, what actually develops is not a creative, critically thinking problem solver but a scheduler who is mechanized to shift from one routine to another without actual thinking. Finally, it becomes more of a factory line worker production in school rather than a unique creative individual.

Schools and curriculum designers need to focus their priority on aspects which need to be incorporated into schools.  Regulation is also needed about the conduct of external competitions.  Clear cut guidelines on its conduct and participation is essential.  Otherwise, schooling will become all about testing without actual learning.