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Give kids a chance, please
It's shocking when it hits you that children today, be it teenagers, graduates or post-graduates, lack apt focus. There seems to be a grey-stuff black-out when it comes to `what do I really want to be?'. Surprisingly, these are the same brains that score well for the board exams and the entrance.
The present social and educational scenario suffuses a kind of confusion in the mind of the child in an early age. Our society is specifically one that finds no child worthy enough to inhabit earth unless he has a talented intellect eligible to make a doctor, an engineer or a chartered accountant out of him. In such a system they definitely lack time and space and hence a fair chance to focus aptly.
Children aren't left to themselves to do this focusing as it is preplanned by parents and society as a whole, asserts Mr. Manuel Joseph, a retired Plus Two lecturer and former State president of the Higher Secondary School Teachers Association (H.S.S.T.A.). He is concerned that the present education dished out is not child centred but teacher and parent-centred.
All that the children know these days is that they have to score well for whatever they are studying and that is decided by the parents and teachers, not by the child!
``It's just that I've been hearing that I was born to be a doctor. I'm even confident of getting through the entrance but I'm not sure about the focusing part.'' You cannot blame Simgi, a 1st DC zoology student who is appearing for the entrance this May if she is not focused.
Dhanu Raj is sore that society provides no proper orientation or guidance for students to be a able to focus, he being an MSC physics student who wrote the local history of Thevara. He is also interested in Economics and believes that a revolution is sure to take place unless the present system takes a turn for the better.
Fr. George Koikkara, the principal of S.H. College, Thevara, feels the Government should provide liberal options of courses for the students to be able to focus in a way that acknowledges capabilities. It is truly foolish to stay unaware of the numerous opportunities as a result of liberalization and globalization.
``Management is inborn and graduation is just an aid,'' points out Dr. P. Sudersanan Pillai, warning MBA aspirants. Being the director of the School of Management Studies, CUSAT, he finds just 25-30 per cent of the students actually focused.
Our children are rushed towards careers that have minute percentage of employment opportunities so that the possibilities of the child's success in life are few, all because his career is not in line with his aptitude. This mistake due to the ignorance and rigidity of our system could turn out to be fatal for many a young talent that may well turn out to be another Tagore, Tendulkar, or Michael Jacksons.#Professional counselling can improve the performance of students to a great extent, Fr.Gilson John, the counsellor, on the Economics faculty of S.H.College, Thevara. The college runs a career guidance and counselling centre for its students.
Focus is necessary but for it to be apt, ample choices and freedom to experiment should be provided. Forcing to focus can itself become a child's biggest problem, says Sharadha Rajeevan, a clinical psychologist who is also a faculty at the School of Management Studies, CUSAT who views focusing as a dainty issue.
She firmly believes children should be counselled by professionals so as to enable them to grow physically, mentally and emotionally with sufficient freedom. Our system evidently
lacks the environment for such a growth.
Schools and colleges should organise career guidance and counselling sessions, suggests Ajith Kumar Tacholi, an overseas educational consultant in the city.
Rev. Dr. Varghese Pudussery CMI, director of Santhwana Institute of Counseling and Psychotherapy at Kacherippady, puts it straight: To mobilise the potential of a child, focusing should be talent oriented. The focus of every child is natural to change as it is an ongoing process and depends very much on the child's exposure.
The changes in focus at various levels are cumulative and at last the child reaches a point of focus, says Rev. Dr. Varghese Pudussery. Hence career counselling should be provided for the child at different academic levels. Among students he found about 5-10 per cent to have met with breakdowns and another 10 per cent are a depressed lot. Academic excellence is just one of the talents of human intelligence, parents have to understand.
The Amrita Vidyalaya has come up with a healthy parenting programme where parents are given proper awareness and counselling and that definitely is a great step towards a positive future. That several institutions are waking up to this need is a healthy sign. After all its always better to be late than never.
JOSE MANUEL
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