School – a word that is very familiar to every one of us. In Greek, it means leisure. Almost every one of us has gone to school. Do you remember your school days? Parents send their children to school in the only expectation that their children get good education in an education-friendly environment. But do children really get education by going to school or do they become more uneducated by doing so?

One day, this question came to my mind. I wondered if children really get education by going to school. Whatever you say, in most of the schools, children exchange bad habits with each other! To be really very honest, I’ve never got to learn a single good thing from my classmates. Whatever good things I learnt are either from my parents & teacher or from my own observation or from books & such things. And especially, from my own observation & desire to be good, & from the environment of my home. But really not from school.

It’s a common misconception of parents that their children would become educated & good by going to school. But I’m telling from my own experience that if you’re thinking that you’re going to make your children educated & good by sending to school, then forget it. Sending your children to school will never make them good, but bad. That’s the truth. Sweet or bitter, it’s a truth. Here, please note that being educated doesn’t mean only scoring good marks or being good at studies; but it also means having good habits, honest, & overall, good personality. So by being educated I mean everything, be it study or habit.

So, a student may be good at studies, but he/she is not educated if he/she has no good habits.  In most cases you’ll come to see that by going to school students become more notorious. And these days, this is a common trend. In a school, you’ll get very few ‘educated’ students. I don’t know what’s going on in other schools, but I can’t even count a single good student in my school properly. There’re a lot of schools around the world where rules & regulations, & educational system are tight & good enough that almost every students becomes ‘educated’ afterward. But this is not what happens everywhere. Though parents send their children in the expectation that they’ll get an educated & better version of their children, that’s not what happens as usual.

There’re 2 types of bad students – 1. Bad from the beginning 2. Good in the beginning but become bad afterward in school. If someone is bad since the beginning, then it’s almost ok. But if someone become bad after going to school, then what more can you say? The second one is most common. In a school, there’re both good & bad students initially. But as time pass by, good students also become bad by staying with bad students. There’re very few students who don’t become bad after staying in such conditions too. And such students are those whose home environments are really very good & those who have the enough mental resistance to resist all the non-sense activities. But unfortunately, there’re much more bad students in comparison to good students. That’s true. You’ll not get many ‘educated’ students around you. Some of them may be good at studies. So what? They’re not good by personality & behavior. I remember once one of my teachers in 5th std. told us that pollution is the contamination of good with bad. And this applies here. Not every student is bad my beginning. They become bad after staying with bad students. And the place where these things happen is school.

It often happens that parents feel that their children are taking education in school & in private tuitions, & leave their children without guidance by themselves. They feel that everything is going on well with their children. But they never try to look into what’s been happening with their children actually. And when, after few years, find their children smoking & drinking & coming late night, realize what happened those days. And to be honest, realizing then, is of no worth. So parents’ duties don’t lie in simply sending children to school & insisting their children to study, but also to guide their children personally. Parents should never leave everything to school.

If you’re a radical person like me, then, I think you’d agree with my following ideas. According to me, if you give good education in home to your children, then, I believe, your children will be much more better than what they’ll be after going to school. That’s true. I know someone of you will argue with me. Some will say that the education given in school can’t be fulfilled by education in home, or by going to school students develop social interaction. Such arguments are most common. But to be honest, no such things are going to happen. It simply appears that students develop more senses by going to school than by staying home. But this is nothing more than illusion. There’s no reality about it. The truth is that by going to school, students become more notorious & develop bad personality. You believe it or not, it’s true. Again & again I’m telling this – it may not sounds well for all, but that’s the TRUTH. By giving quality education in home, you can make your children more educated & more successful afterward. Earlier, it may be tougher for parents to give quality education in home, but these days, after emergence of online education, such things are absolutely possible & are cost-effective too. There is nothing like being practically present in classroom & hearing lectures will make one educated. You can learn more simply by sitting in front of your computer taking lectures absolutely free of cost. And I assure you, you’ll be more educated by doing so. And these days, you can also buy any book through online shopping. So, what’s the problem out there? Well, there’s one problem – exam. If things are slightly modified, then, you can apply for exams & give exams in the exam centers. What’s the problem in this? We often do so these days too. You don’t give competitive exams in your school. You’ve to give them elsewhere in other centers. So, the problem of exam can be easily solved. So what left? Simply, nothing. And if someone still discourages this idea by saying that discussion – which is an important part of learning – will not be possible in this system, let me tell you that online discussions are possible these days & in forums, you can discuss your problems. And if you’re still not confident about this system yet, then, let me assure you that in earlier days, lots of great personalities hadn’t had formal education till the high school level. And in fact, some had never got formal education in their life. They took education in home.

Well, I’m not telling you that you’d get 100% success by home education as everyone’s learning strategy is different & not everyone is alike. But I’m confidently telling you that studying in home is much better than studying in school. So, what’s the purpose & effect of this system? Answer is simple than you might think. In school, children go in the name of education, but when they return home, take lots of bad habits with them. And don’t think that they give any attention in school. Also always keep in mind that a child fears his/her parents more than teachers. If you were thinking that by punishment of teachers, your children would reform, then, forget about it. You can’t also keep eyes on your children in school. And for how long teachers would look after your children? After all, it’s you who can change the game. In this system, what’s going to happen is that you can guide your children well. You can keep eyes on them. In the good environment of your home, your children would develop better. He/she will not learn any bad thing or habits. It also helps enhance the overall personality of the child. Studying in home & studying in school has not much difference in terms of learning, but in terms of overall personality of a student, both of them have many differences.

See, I’m not telling that school education is bad. They’re excellent if classes go on well & teachers teach well. But it becomes bad when it comes to friends. I’m not trying to say that you just need to stay with good guys always. In life, you’d need to face people of different backgrounds & you’d have to accommodate with every condition. But, in the process, it shouldn’t happen that you become bad. If you get good teachings on these topics since childhood & develop enough mental thinking skill, then, I don’t think you’ll become bad. You’d be able to stay with those bad guys without harming your personality. That’s what you’ve to learn. But this doesn’t happen with everyone. There’re very few guys who don’t get affected by their external environment. And most of them get mixed with rest of them. So the benefit of home education is that at least you’ll not be exposed to a negative environment since childhood. No matter how much your parents are strict; almost every student becomes bad after staying in such environments since childhood.

Though, I’m supporting such home education, it’s not always possible. There’ll be some difficulties in implementing these things. Also, if parents are not that educated or aware of all these education-related things, then, such systems will not be of any benefit to every student. So, if we’re to stay with existing system, then what should parents need to do in order to avoid children from getting spoilt?

  • Parents should create a good environment in home.
  • Since childhood, they should start to teach their children good & value-based things.
  • When children reach almost adolescence stage, parents should teach what to do & what not do.
  • They should be very aware about the activities of their children without hurting their children’s privacy.
  • They should guide their children throughout.
  • Parents should be very friendly to their children since very beginning.
  • Though parents must not be strict, if necessary, little bit strictness is not bad.
  • Parents must not rely on school education only; they should also review their children’s learning.
  • They should focus on the thing that their children have developed enough mental ability to judge good from bad.
  • Parents should keep their children with them most of the time, till a certain age, if possible.

These are the minimum things that parents can do for their children’s golden future. There’re nothing like that you’ve to follow these things only for your children. You can have you own choice. You can have your own way, but that must be effective.

As the outside environment is not well these days, being little more aware is best. Though the theme of this article is to address the problem with ‘education’ being received by students in school, still there’s a bigger theme – awareness & adaptability. In today’s life, you’ve to be really very aware of what’s going on out there around you. Moreover, you need to adapt to any condition, no matter good or bad, without changing your personality. You may sometimes need to stay with some bad guys, but you don’t actually have to change yourself. There’ll be lots of situations that you’re going to face, but you need to survive everywhere surviving your personality too. Adaptability is applied for students only. But awareness is for both parents & students. Students must be aware of what’s going on with them & what to do & what not to. And parents must be aware of the activities of their children outside home.

I just want to be little bit clearer & would like to clarify that by this article, I’m not saying that going to school is a bad thing or school is simply not a good place. As far as, school is concerned, there’s no problem. Your teachers or your school authority wouldn’t ask you to be spoilt. But the problem is with your classmates or simply, friends. You may be an honest guy in the beginning, but later, it’d turn out that by staying with some bad guys, you are spoilt. And this is not something which doesn’t happen or this is also not something which happens with everyone. But, majority of students get affected by this. So there’s nothing like that everyone would be affected. There’re lots of good students, & are always good & live a successful life. But you really don’t know whether your children would be among those lucky students or not. So I think it’s better to be little bit aware about these things. Sending children to school is not bad at all, but believing that school will do everything is bad. Always remember, in a school, your children would get to meet with both good & bad students. So, you can’t determine which side your children would choose afterward. And don’t think that you’d know it so easily. Every bad student pretends be good in home. No one would show the real colors. It just needs very attentive eyes & a long amount of time to determine this. And if you get the negative result too, it’d be too late. You’d not be able to change your children. So, very good education since childhood can be effective. Otherwise, honestly, I’m telling you, there’s no other solution to this problem.

So don’t stay in the misunderstanding that your children are getting ‘education’ (recall the meaning of education, it’s not only study, its overall personality) by going to school. Rather, there’s 90% chance that your children are ‘de-educating’! Beware of what’s going on around. Prepare your children mentally for the coming obstacles in life since the very beginning. Remember, your children’s turning color is both unexpected & inevitable. It’d happen before your eyes & you’d not be able to figure it out. So, prevention is better than cure, and by the way, here, there’s no cure too!

Ask yourself – do children really get education by going to school?

 

Copyright©2011-12 Sandeep Deva Misra