Well, I have not updated recently due to a visit from what they call here "American Stomach." Let's just say that it was another experience I will not soon forget! Probably came as a result of something like this...
After assembly they move to first period, which is an activity period for all students. For some the activity might be sports related - soccer, waveboarding, basketball. For others it might be drama club, robotics, or debate. In thirty-five minutes a bell (a real bell!) is rung from the outside courtyard to indicate that it is time for the next period.
Starting with second period, students are in their assigned class; a class that they remain in for all of the academic part of the day. In this school the teachers move rather than the students. When the teacher enters the room, all the students stand and say, in unison, "Good morning Sir/Ma'am!" And the class begins.
Students have seven 35 minute periods in their day, a 20 minute break period, and a lunch.
I expected to see discipline and respect in Indian schools, and in this I was not disappointed. Every teacher is referred to as Sir or Ma'am, and the children stop when they speak to you and introduce themselves properly. When the classes come to an end, the students stand once more, this time saying "Thank you Sir or Ma'am!"
But surely such a system comes with a price. Surely students are stressed, uptight robots, weak in creativity and originality, and with little joy in their education...
Tuesday and Wednesday I had the opportunity to spend the day at The Bishop's Coed School. What a wonderful time we had!
Imagine the following scenario:
The students gather together in assembly at the beginning of the day. The Headmaster steps to the microphone and leads the school in an opening prayer. Then one of the teachers steps to the microphone to read a passage from Romans 13 on love. After a few announcements, the entire school joins together to sing a song that I recognized as being an old praise/worship song. The Lords Prayer is then recited by all, followed by the singing of the national anthem.
The students are all in uniforms based upon their grade. The upper grades (8,9,10) wear what look to be traditional catholic type uniforms - boys in shirts/ties and dress slacks, girls in a modest length skirt and a white blouse with a blue smock over top. If they are the 10th graders, they are also wearing a maroon blazer. If they have their PE class that day, they may be dressed in shorts and a shirt for the color of the house that they are assigned to (four houses - red, green, yellow, blue).
Imagine the following scenario:
The students gather together in assembly at the beginning of the day. The Headmaster steps to the microphone and leads the school in an opening prayer. Then one of the teachers steps to the microphone to read a passage from Romans 13 on love. After a few announcements, the entire school joins together to sing a song that I recognized as being an old praise/worship song. The Lords Prayer is then recited by all, followed by the singing of the national anthem.
The students are all in uniforms based upon their grade. The upper grades (8,9,10) wear what look to be traditional catholic type uniforms - boys in shirts/ties and dress slacks, girls in a modest length skirt and a white blouse with a blue smock over top. If they are the 10th graders, they are also wearing a maroon blazer. If they have their PE class that day, they may be dressed in shorts and a shirt for the color of the house that they are assigned to (four houses - red, green, yellow, blue).
After assembly they move to first period, which is an activity period for all students. For some the activity might be sports related - soccer, waveboarding, basketball. For others it might be drama club, robotics, or debate. In thirty-five minutes a bell (a real bell!) is rung from the outside courtyard to indicate that it is time for the next period.
Starting with second period, students are in their assigned class; a class that they remain in for all of the academic part of the day. In this school the teachers move rather than the students. When the teacher enters the room, all the students stand and say, in unison, "Good morning Sir/Ma'am!" And the class begins.
Students have seven 35 minute periods in their day, a 20 minute break period, and a lunch.
I expected to see discipline and respect in Indian schools, and in this I was not disappointed. Every teacher is referred to as Sir or Ma'am, and the children stop when they speak to you and introduce themselves properly. When the classes come to an end, the students stand once more, this time saying "Thank you Sir or Ma'am!"
But surely such a system comes with a price. Surely students are stressed, uptight robots, weak in creativity and originality, and with little joy in their education...
Hardly!
I cannot think of many schools where I saw such joy in the faces of the students. And these are students for whom expectations are sky high, in a culture where doing poorly is avoided at all costs because of the shame it would bring to themselves and their family. They have tests they must pass, just like our kids in America, and yet they work diligently, often on their own, to achieve a 90 mark or better on their 10th grade standard test, because this is the test that will determine which college they can get in to.
So I have to ask myself why.
I watched several math classes, 9th and 10th grade years, where a calculator was never used, and yet the students did the calculations often mentally, relying on their knowledge of numbers rather than the capabilities of an electronic device. I saw classrooms that had no computers in them, and a computer lab that had computers that must be at least 15 years old. So apparently it's not the technology that gives them such joy and passion for their education.
I can't help but think that this Indian school has found a way to couple academic rigor with the powers of collaboration and creativity. And they've done it without abandoning plain old solid teaching. And it makes me wonder if it isn't just silly to think that if we want our kids to collaborate, solve problems, and work in groups, that surely doesn't mean they have to be doing that every period, in every class. Maybe this Indian school has found a way to put collaboration, creativity, and a sense of teamwork in some proper places throughout the school day.
No, they are not perfect. This school is basically a private school, as many schools in India are today. Students pay to go to schools like the one I visited, and the story is not always as rosy in the municipal schools that the government runs. Tomorrow we will travel outside of Pune to visit a small village school. It will be interesting to see what we find.
One of my colleagues here, Melinda Simons from South Johnston High School, made what I think is a very on the mark comment tonight in a debriefing session we participated in. We had been given a quote back at our Orientation in April that said, "India is America 50 years ago, and 50 years from now."
Melinda said that she understood the part about India being America 50 years ago, as India is an emerging economic superpower. But she said she struggled with how India was America 50 years from now. Until our school visits at least. She wondered tonight if this India system of very sharp and successful private schools, and struggling poor public schools, was perhaps the road America was headed. As I watch legislators in state after state devalue education and educators, I can't help but wonder if she's not right on the mark.
More tomorrow about a visit to a local blind school. And tomorrow night we begin our 2-day home visits!
Namaste!
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