... for they have their own thoughts - Multiworld India

342005 Goa, IndiaChandrasekharIN DIALOGUE – CLAUDE ALVARES AND CHANDRASEKHARDEVANAC.A.: Why do children find the school situationunbearable and yet stay in school?C.D.: I have come across many children wanting toescape school. But there are two main reasons thatkeep them from doing this. One is the control byparents. Two, is the notion the larger society hasdeveloped about education. Essentially they do notsee an alternative, the notion that if you are in aparticular age group of 5-16 then one has to be inschool. This notion has quite an influence on theirbeing in school. They are internally conditioned.Some bitterly try to fight this. But parents don’t letthem do it. Also, the whole society is conditioned. Allour perceptions are blurred by the notion of schoolbeing the agency to deliver education. So we try tojuggle around, change the school our children aregoing to, but not quit.C.A.: How are schools damaging children?C.D.: Basically schools divide life into 2 parts: learningand non-learning part. Life cannot becompartmentalised into specialised delivery system.Before and after school hours are not considered aseducation and learning experiences.People are divided into two: teachers and learners.This was true in ancient times. Even the Gurukulasystem of teaching was limited to the privileged fewbut learning has happened throughout humanexperiences. Even today many people, especially inrural areas are living meaningfully and successfullywithout having attended school.C.A.: Is there an impact of schooling on the student’spersonality?C.D.: In non conventional schools there may be afew exceptions. In most schools children experiencelife as boring. The perception of life is moulded,streamlined based on designs provided by experts.For example school makes people depend onexperts and social engineers to solve their life issues.This is the biggest loss to the human personality. Ithas created a consumerist society that cannot thinkbeyond a confined vision and life has to be lived forpleasure. Learning as a whole is an alien concept toconditioned minds. School has deprived children ofspontaneous play, thus depriving children of theirpsychological and philosophical growth.C.A.: Millions are going to school; there must besomething good in it.C.D.: The major aspect of schooling is that it is aconvenient tool for the society. The ideas of westernschooling have invaded the whole world. We havelost our perceptions and our ability to see someindigenous leaning opportunities and approaches.Now the discussions are about whether somethinggood is still left in schooling. People are living andgrowing out of school because life and living are thebest teachers. Why should we then give an exaltedstatus to these institutions that go by the name ofschool?Claude