Deschooling:We don't need no education

We don't need no education

We don’t need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone
Hey! Teacher! Leave them kids alone!

-from 'Another brick in the wall II' by Pink Floyd

When Roger Waters wrote these revolutionary lines way back in 1979, he wouldn't have thought that its going to be such an enduring classic, the words of which still ring true. Yesterday, I read an article on 'deschooling' in the exciting new magazine 'Open'. This is a wonderful concept which says that a child can develop better if he's kept away from the school environment. If any teachers are reading this, wait before you pounce on me. Think about it. What happens with the kids in school? They are all taught to behave in a certain way. They are all taught the same things. They all are made to do the same things. But, are all the kids the same? Will you make an engineer do the things that an artist is supposed to do?(Here, am not considering the case of an engineer who's also an artist). Each one of us has an aptitude for certain things right from our kindergarten days. But, many times it happens that a kid is made to do things which he's not supposed to do and as a result when he grows up he ends up where he's not supposed to be. Just think of that superb artist who sat beside you and was spanked mercilessly for letting his imagination fly during class hours.

Fight!!!!!Bruce Leeyaaya Namaha

What we get as output from most schools is an assembly line of products which think and act in the same way. Remember, the input was as diverse a mixture that you can ever get. Now, think of a child who is free from school. He doesn't have any set time tables. He wakes up, interacts with nature, meets people of all ages, plays till he gets tired. Then he starts thinking on how he can make his life more interesting. He explores various possibilities and more often than not he ends up with a possibility which matches his aptitude the most. He doesn't need to conform to those set standards. Maybe, am getting too idealistic here. I do accept the possibility of the kid going the wrong way of bad influences, antisocial behaviour and such things. But, if you observe closely most of the antisocials ended up so because of the societial pressures. You will lose count of the goondas who have the '10th standard failed' qualification. That 'qualification' was enough to make many of them social outcasts, which is a kind of pre requiste to be a goonda.

See, there's also an artistic side to me

Deschooling or unschooling looks like a small remedy for the 'engineering else medicine' syndrome thats prevalent in India right now. If this trend goes on, we'll have a dearth of teachers, artists, craftsmen etc. Am not saying that just by not sending a kid to school, he will select one of these careers. But chances are more that he will find himself a career path that suits him most. As we all know many of us became engineers not by choice, but just as a result of going with the accepted flow. This thought is arrived at by discarding the cynicist arguments. Unschooling has its negative effects too. The child maynot necessarily acquire the social skills to survive. He may become a 'pre historic' monster, far removed from all the changes happening in the world. The lazy ones won't bother exploring new avenues and may spend time sleeping and lazing around. The real unlucky ones may die without ever discovering what is 'sex'(I pity this category of deschoolers the most :P ). The sexually hyperactive may get AIDS. The foolishly adventurous ones may end up getting beaten up badly. The highly intelligent may invent things that will threaten his own existence. But still, atleast more than half of the unschoolers are sure to chart a path for themselves. And when you choose for yourselves, you do it with all earnestness. You won't feel like working. Maybe, thats a stepping stone to a society where everyone does what they like to do, where work is passion and break is just an avoidable distraction.

PS- I don't advocate banning of schools altogether. It would be great if we could mix the good elements of deschooling into the current education structure and let students give more breathing space. Remove all those conformist ideas and let the kids be themselves. Throw out set syllabus and lets have custom made syllabus for each of the kids. Let imagination soar...

About the snaps- This is Yashas, one hell of a naughty kid and my neighbour at Coorg. He's still not old enough to go to school. Restless and always trying out new things, he's the perfect cute problem child. Hope he doesn't have to conform to set standards and be another boring school product :)

your crusader Praveen