(Courtesy: The Tribune, By Deann Banerjee)
Education begins at home and the sooner young parents realize the teaching functions of the home he faster will we be able to solve the problems of overburdened little ones, tired and hesitant tiny tots who are filled with fear and the anguish of not coming up to the expectations of their parents, Parents must stop this madness of clamoring at every school gate for admission of their three year olds. Cramming and memorizing humanities and science taught under Hid teaching methods, is not education. Stammering, headaches, low temperatures, breathing difficulties, and vomiting are some of the many problems faced by little children and all because it is the parents Who are trying to keep up with the Joneses, Keeping a child at home till he is old enough to enter Class I would be the ideal solution. Remember the home is the school where lessons of truth or falsehood, honesty or deceit are learned. It is in the home that physical, mental, moral and a spiritual base can be built not in a class of 60 to 80 children Where a harassed teacher is unable to spare even one individual minute ‘On child. Let us not merely blame today’s society for the woes of the Young, for it is the family which is Supposed to would that which ultimately determines the structure Of society, Children need teachers, Teachers in the real sense of the word, Old those being chummed out by B.Ed., factories. Children need teachers who will have patience with their dullness, appreciation for their efforts, joy for their success and faith in their goodness. Does the requirement seem familiar? Isn’t every mother exactly this to her child? Can’t she find the time to do this as a fulltime job for the first six years of the child’s life? Today’s mother is never relaxed with her child. Even three year olds spend time with the mother being forced to cat and drink, being forced to complete homework and being forced to sleep generally being forced into a routine that he is uncomfortable with, it is the mother who can help the child to grow in all directions. She could cultivate child into a whole human being, she could develop a desire in the child for goodness and an ageless for knowledge. She could increase the child’s capacity for friendship, an appreciation for beauty and concern for others. She could encourage a child’s inquisitive mind. Remember the Chinese proverb: “He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes, he who does not ask a question is a fool forever”.
Begin early to teach children. What is learned young is learned for life. The child’s first lesson should be obedience. After that you may teach it what you please, only remember that his spirit must be conquered, but not crushed. Trying to change a child once he is 12is like wounding cement after it has hardened. A child who has had his early education at home will not be swayed by any wrong company that he may come across in school. A child who has been taught how to concentrate, and whose eagerness for knowledge has been developed, will have no problem settling down in school.
Let the parents be the first to make the change in the existing educational system. There is a vast range of educational material in the form of teaching aids and beautiful books which are available in the market and eager young mothers should make a go at it and start giving the preschool requirements to their child at home. In any case, it is mostly the educated mother who insists on putting her three year old into school. The uneducated mother brings her child in at the age of six or seven.
Educated mothers should impart a little bit of their education to their child before sending them to school or when “Junior” is taken to school a plea will have to be made which reads: Teacher, teacher, shed a tear, Junior comes to school! This year, He has never known restraint He, in short, is not a saint! You will sprout some new gray hair teaching Junior to be fair Since his Mama teft him do, Just what Junior wanted to. Now he is a problem child, Selfish, stubborn, cruel, wild. Gentle teacher, need I say, Mama should be spanked today! Develop the habit of educating your children at home. Not only till they enter school but for always because education is an ongoing process. Here are a few tips for parents:
1, Make the family circle a sourees of inspiration,
- Show them how to apply their convictions,
- Develop a sense of mission in them,
- Inspire them to spread a holy reverence for sex.
- Develop their facility to transmit ideas.
- Train them to organize their time and work.
- Bring out the best and curb the worst.
8, Teach them to put in as well as to take out.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 11, 1994
