Is Learning Elsewhere?

Here, I don’t intend to talk about the need for learning, the scope of learning, or the goals of learning. I just want to share some observations on the attitude towards learning and the treatment of it.

Observation #1 is that learning is very often deferred to a next stage. I would quote a general comment heard in teachers’ and parents’ meeting. It says, what is more important for the teacher is to finish with the syllabus (always referred to as “covering” the syllabus), and for the student is to pass the exams. The intention or the value on which the syllabus is based is not usually taken into consideration. So learning is very often postponed to a further stage, and no wonder most of us have had the “real” learning outside the schools and universities.

Observation #2 is that learning for exam is separated from learning for knowing. Exams have become a be-all and end-all of classroom learning. Instead of integrating exams into the process of learning, it has become the destination - isolated and away. The task of the learner is only to get there somehow, receive the award and move out. Hopefully, he/she would learn things after that.

Observation #3 is that learning is limited to a frame (normally, a prescribed text), where information is prioritized over imagination and innovation. Too much of information is crammed into the learner’s mind that he/she is left with no space for creative inferences. By the time he/she is an adult, he/she will have lost the faculty of wonder and curiosity.

So, if you ask me what is learning, I would say that Learning is something that would sandwich the curious observation with wild imagination into a perfect, delicious toast of experience.

Let exams be a part of it, not an end of it.

Always remember that Learning is now and here.

“The Learnscape”

Our educational institutions are obsessed with two rituals – one, preparing for the exams and the other, writing the exams. The purpose, the objective, the planning, the process and the result, are all juxtaposed with these gilded rituals, and years just pass by. We are on the pile of generous curriculum revisions and liberal fiscal aids, but as you go deep down you will find the conventional garbage around. The ultimate vision gets lost somewhere. Thus, the classroom which is meant to open a wide window to the world becomes parochial in every sense. So how do we break this code?

One of my favorite hobbies is watching the immense evening sky and its changing patterns. Every new pattern is a charming masterpiece, and the skyscape offers limitless frames. I think our classrooms too, are wonderful learnscapes, where every individual learner is a possibility. Each learner is unique, that makes the class multiverse and hence there is much to explore. But how far is multiversity acceptable?

Whenever the teachers gathered for discussion, we used to talk about the problems of our classrooms. One of the problems, anxiously underlined was the heterogeneity of the class. I too joined the discussions eagerly as I thought that this was a serious problem which has to be managed, dealt with or sorted out. But the conclusions (some of them were mine too) were often disastrous. They very often referred to monotony in the guise of uniformity. So, of late, I have revised my thought. I think, a multiverse class offers better scope for personal and intellectual growth - both for the teacher and for the learner. Of course, there is a need for uniformity on certain aspects, but this should not be at the cost of curbing the diversity.

Our learners deserve the best. So the highest challenge for a teacher becomes providing them their own space in the classroom with a real window that would let them see the world outside, where they have to live hereafter.