What Happens To Your Kid In A School?

What Happens To Your Kid In A School?

(jakjaison)

Do you have a sweet kid in an air-conditioned school? Are you happy with an A+ grade report card that your child brings to you with a cloud nine smile? It won’t be a bad time if you spend some time with me here. I know there are thousands of parents worrying about a well-negotiated payment seat in a premium advertised and well furnished school for their sweet kids. I am sure I will disappoint some of them. There are a considerable number of parents sharing their bit of stress and dissatisfaction on their experience with their kids’ schooling. I just want to be fair with some of the plain truths related to schools that speak loud in their advertisements. A good amount of reality will help you not to risk your kid’s future on which you hold a considerable share of responsibility.

Happy kids

A collection of stars or a top grade in your child’s report card and frequent good remarks by dear teachers may make you feel proud and satisfied with your dear son or daughter and also with the school. Even though I respect such feelings, I would like to place a caution signboard before them. Stop! This may be the starting point where you are being misguided and taken to a false zone of satisfaction. I know you may wonder why I am this much cynic in my view.  A sincere analysis of some characters and situations, usually not known outside the campus, we find in any such school will give you some clues.

Between the wheels

   

Let me introduce you Miss Priya. She is a sweet, good-looking teacher being loved by many children. She has the reputation of being a good teacher by parents too. She holds a fair amount of jealousy from other teachers too!

I would like to take you to some of the newly established assignments and roles (rare in traditional schools where you wouldn't send your kid these days) Ms Priya has to complete as a part of her professional life:

• Her official day starts with pressing the punching machine on time to record her physical presence in the campus.
• She has to prepare a detailed lesson plan for each class and make the same submitted in time.
• She should carry a number of registers and files to the class and back to their resting place. (She is healthy enough to carry some load!)
• She has to maintain six to ten records of files for an individual student according to the newly stipulated guidelines by the council to which the school is affiliated.
• She has to collect the fee from students and make a follow up for the same. (She is not less than an accounting specialist!)
• She should collect, record, and keep all the evidences about a student under her custody. Some of these include files regarding students’ class behavior, attitude towards others, social skill indicators, progress in studies, absence in the class, achievements in extra-curricular fields, and physical and health parameters.
• She has to allot marks or grades in tests or class activities dividing and sub-dividing each mark into its fractions. Each sub-point is to be written clearly and is to be kept classified as an evidence for later analysis. (Better get some advice from a bank clerk!)
• She has to enter these scores in different files or registers, numbering not less than four.
• She has to tabulate these micro scores and convert them into grades. (Or get a software herself!)
• These scores should be entered in the school computer system and relevant reports are to be taken and submitted on time in the office.
• If the performance of a student in a particular test or task is below the average, there should be a re-test and all the above steps should be repeated.
• This is not the case restricted to any term-end or annual examination, but is the standard procedure to be practised for all assignments including unit tests and causal classroom assessments.
• All such documents should undergo verification and remedial measures should be recorded and executed.
• She has to use all modern communication systems installed by the school including computer-aided smart-class technology, smart-labs, smart-registers etc. and any below par usage would invite a notice from the authority. (An advanced diploma in technology is must!)
• She should correct copies of students, suggest remedial measures, and keep a record of the same. (Better she has a diploma in proof reading!)
• She should send relevant communication messages (SMS) to parents about the presence of students in the class, improvement in different subjects, things to be brought for projects etc. and keep a record of the same.
• She should submit her course of action in teaching-related tasks and get permission from different levels of hierarchy that includes co-ordinators, subject specialists, department head, lab in-charge, and the Principal. (Loyalty is the new key to her safety!)
• She has to conduct experiments, role plays, discussions etc. in the class and each of these should be recorded and verified. Such records should be linked to the grades of students. (A network with a heavy server would help her!)
• Each day she should dispatch some creative assignments to students and the same should be collected from each student and grades should be allotted.
• Question papers should be prepared and typed with proper blueprints and answer keys, and in most cases there should be two sets. (She should be an excellent DTP operator!)
• Being a member of one or two various school committees she has to organize, manage, and record a list of activities and assignments. (She is more than any other competent MBA professional!)
• She is supposed to teach satisfying a minimum number of activities in the class. (She is not a teacher in the class but a moderator!)
• Above all, she should complete the portion for examinations in time and there should be enough time for revision! (She should make a 25 hours day!)
• She has to take at least seven or six periods in a working day that normally includes eight periods. All the work mentioned above should be completed in the remaining one or two periods. (Even God may fail with such a list!)
• She should sacrifice her personal life and related commitments (even to her husband) should be minimized to make up the time needed to complete her professional tasks. (Or make her home a second staffroom!)
• She has to face and answer the feedback system that is set up as an additional point in the school advertisement. She has to ensure that she gets a proper ranking by her students and parents too! (It is the time of performance appraisal everywhere. Better keep your students happy!)
• She has to ensure that she follows the so called ‘tradition’ of the school in getting everyone of the students passed (or promoted?) with high grades.

Let me ask you some simple questions. What will be done to your child if the teacher is surrounded by a big list of evidence making and other professional duties? Who has time to worry about your child’s doubts? What will be the preference before the teacher, satisfying the student’s learning and behavioral needs or keeping herself in a safe zone by completing all such non-sense commitments?

The simple rule makes everyone happy!

It is better to say some words about Mrs Indira Gupta, the Principal of the school, and about her agony. She is a great circus artist skilled to perform on the thin net anchored by a money-oriented manager, increment-conscious teachers, ever-complaining parents, and ever-naughty students.  Her task is always the same; she has to keep the school at the top of the region, not allowing a down-scale curve in the revenue graph of the school. She knows the best ways to achieve this target are stamping a high grade in all report cards and keeping a good rapport with parents, the real stabilizing element of the school.  She has to keep the parents happy at any cost. She delivers her task by passing the untold burden to teachers. The clever teachers (as Ms Priya) execute the silent command by being the agents of good grades to students though their actual learning index is below average. Thus, a student, who needs sufficient care and revision in some subjects or in some areas of a subject, becomes happy with a blind award of high grades. The chances of getting learning   concepts clearly understood remain a mirage throughout his or her academic life.  A sweet grade by a generous school kills the future of a student. Teachers are told by managing bodies not to dissatisfy children with a low (but real) grade and also their loving parents, who don’t like to see a low grade at all for a good amount they spend for their children. 

The one who knows all

Who knows this invisible practice? Well, I would say children! They know what they do and what they get. Every time the new generation is smarter than the older one. They know how to please teachers well. They have learned essential life skills (as suggested by many modern educational philosophers) of how to score well with the available resources and minimum effort! Children know the poor teachers and how they are struggling with their unreal tasks to be executed within the limits of time. They know their teachers have no sufficient time to go through each assignment. They know a highly decorated cover page would give them a high rank than a good written content. They know a ready-made learning model would give them an A+ than a self-made model. They know how to download content from the internet and present them well for a good grade. They know a sweet talk would fetch them a good behavior mark in the card. They know how to impress teachers with social media numbers. They know parents would do anything for a good grade. Even if one student does not know all these tips, he or she should not worry; the teacher sanctions a good grade to him or her automatically. Because, it is the teacher’s own priority that none of her students should get a low grade. It is the priority of the Principal; it is the priority of the school. It is the policy of the various educational councils that compete with one another. And, when we look through a bigger mirror, it is the product of a consumer world where one who spends a dollar defines the nature of the product.

 Wish you good luck to have a reflection next time, when your kid brings you an all A+ card. If you are really concerned about the real worth and a bright future for your son or daughter, take time to find a good tuition teacher or spend some time with a real teacher who knows your child well. Still, there are some good teachers left in schools! Be happy with the real grade than a fabricated super grade.

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