I clutched onto my English newspaper and braced myself for the nearly 3 hour wait for a connecting flight to Manchester at the Frankfurt Airport recently. An elderly English couple was quite vocally and proudly talking about the various achievements of their two children who now were top executives at technology companies in Berlin and Munich. They realized I spoke English probably after seeing a copy of the International Herald Tribune on my lap. A conversation began soon and they were happy and kind enough to tell me about what I could expect at Manchester and gave me tips about the places I should be seeing and scotches I should taste if I ever get to Edinburg. The couple introduced themselves as Andrew and Emma , proud parents and talked at length about how they managed to educate their two sons all by themselves until they reached college. Until I heard this, there was really nothing about that meeting or conversation that would have remained in my memory .They told me about how a few of their close friends who were young parents in the 1970s decided to educate their children in their countryside homes. Could I even imagine this back home in Bangalore or Mysore where I grew up. Today, my wife and I are more than grateful to my daughter's teacher at school for helping her at school and being a constant source of inspiration for Samiksha and solace to us. I casually asked Andrew if his children ever aspired to go to a regular school for the sake of the group camaraderie, the sport teams, the school outings which are all such an integrated part of schooling and also growing up. He replied in the negative and instead retorted that the kids had their own time to do everything -play in the rain, snow, practice acrobatics and he proudly said how they never had to wear uniforms or face the tedium of a regimental life at school and a life that also ensured no bullying and vicious girl cliques! Thinking back about my own childhood and the school, it certainly seemed envious atleast for a few moments to imagine never having to go to a school for a full 12 years during childhood. I was now curious as to why the Andrews' (will use the first name as I never bothered to asked their second name) decided to home educate their sons. And, surprisingly again, it wasn't the cost of schooling, commute or fear of anything but a simple craving to keep their children away from the highly mechanised and organised school curriculum which they believed was far away from reality. According to them, schools often tend to distance children away from cultural, ethnic and spiritual diversity. This surprised me even further after i learnt that both Andrew and Emma were educated in the London Metropolitan area and both were University graduates. Emma added that, they even considered living an intensely rural life to help the children get 'educated'. Upon probing further on the intent and the strong belief, I realized that this couple were very clear on their thoughts on home schooling and making such a decision for them was easy as they earnestly had rejected anything that was urban and added an assembly line approach to life (queues, grading). Andrew told me how his sons enjoyed a bit of farming and tending the cattle during their childhood, something they miss, but fondly remember while living busy corporate and result driven lives in Germany.
On the flight, I couldn't but think about such a life back in India where even the government would probably hound you to a school to statistically improve the 'back to school' campaign. I did a bit of searching around and discovered that India too has a lot of home schooling believers and a rising number of parents (mostly urban) who have begun exploring the possibility of a stress/school free education for their children. I am not sure or qualified enough to say whether such kids will have a smooth transition into the Universities or whether they would grow up into serious, right thinking. I personally don't know of anyone who is home schooling their children in Bangalore.
I am not even sure, if I as a parent can make a decision that Andrew was able to. I fear that my daughter's life options could be restricted if she grew up to be innumerate but also realize that every choice we make as parents opens and closes a few avenues of opportunities. But that acquaintance at the airport has me thinking about another perspective, an idea that was experimented with, about 30 years ago by this couple who were so certain about their beliefs and lived a day to measure and evaluate the results. I hope to see a day when i am able to think outside the familiar boxes and, be better equipped to experiment.
On the flight, I couldn't but think about such a life back in India where even the government would probably hound you to a school to statistically improve the 'back to school' campaign. I did a bit of searching around and discovered that India too has a lot of home schooling believers and a rising number of parents (mostly urban) who have begun exploring the possibility of a stress/school free education for their children. I am not sure or qualified enough to say whether such kids will have a smooth transition into the Universities or whether they would grow up into serious, right thinking. I personally don't know of anyone who is home schooling their children in Bangalore.
I am not even sure, if I as a parent can make a decision that Andrew was able to. I fear that my daughter's life options could be restricted if she grew up to be innumerate but also realize that every choice we make as parents opens and closes a few avenues of opportunities. But that acquaintance at the airport has me thinking about another perspective, an idea that was experimented with, about 30 years ago by this couple who were so certain about their beliefs and lived a day to measure and evaluate the results. I hope to see a day when i am able to think outside the familiar boxes and, be better equipped to experiment.
No comments:
Post a Comment