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ABOUT
The White Doves
religion bond
Linguistic bonds
language brainstorming
Loanwords
mutual intelligibility
flabbergasted !
India
Some thoughts
music
taste buds
Wrong School
poem and snaps
games
Research and surveys
conclusion (click here)
Acknowledgement
bibliography
Behind the scene
comments
SCHOOL
(this is a must read)
the children's mind is like clay.Once shaped won't change with time.So, parents and teachers are mainly responsible to teach them
about peace and religious tolerance.But in schools nowadays, some teachers teach exactly the opposite and create hatred in their
minds.
I had talked to a paediatrician and she shared her experiences with me.She had been to a primary school many years ago in South
Mumbai for
students' health check up. She was passing by a class and she saw a teacher insulting a Bengali Muslim. Calling that 5th
grade boy a
"bloody Bangladeshi" and a lot more just because he did not finish his homework.She informed his parents about this.The
parent the
took necessary action against him.The child actually started hating himself.The teacher had been calling him a 'Bangladeshi
musalmaan' repeatedly and this inculcated his mind with many bad things like hatred for both Bangladeshis and Hindus(the teacher was
a
Hindu).
She met that boy after a long time just a few months ago.Now he is about 24 years old and still she saw that he discriminates and is
religiously intolerant.
This perfectly proves that what a child filled in with in childhood will persist even unwillingly in the future.
Another example of this was given by our coach.She is very open minded and so was her father.But in school she and her classmates
were always given forms in which they had to fill in their religion, caste and ethnicity.Unwillingly even now she has a tinge of dislike
for other religions .
The same paediatrician had another similar experience while she was talking to a dyslexic child.Although he was dyslexic he was very
intellectual.The only problem was that he wouldn't be able to write what he know properly.They were talking about his classmates and
friends.He started "I have a LD (learning disabled) friend and he is ......".She asked him why he addressed his friend so? He said we
LD friends call each other like LD +xyz name and our teachers also call us like that.
Look at how simply he says this. This is how much the teacher can influence the children and when they grow up it becomes a common
thing for them.
I experienced another example.When I was sitting with my coach discussing about the project I saw a boy from the class whose class
teacher she was.After completing 8th grade the child needs to decide whether he takes Hindi or Sanskrit as a language.He got that
from and showed it to ma'am. She saw that it was overwritten many times.He had switched choices many times and the reason was t
hat
his mom said he should take Sanskrit but he felt that Hindi will be better for him. But his mom thought Sanskrit is much easier. At the
end he was sure of Sanskrit as his mom had said that.
-Ujwal
Our coach also shared with us many experiences as such.One was when she was new to her teaching career.She gave a presentation to
small children about nutrition and foods rich in different nutrients.The next day itself many students got food that ma'am had mentioned
about and said that they were rich in the parrticular nutrient.She remembers a boy who got spinach and telling ma'am that he got
'palak' because ma'am had said that it was rich in Iron.
The other one was she happened to meet one of her very old students after a long long time.She went to his house and he showed her
some artistic knots ( I forgot the name ) and asked her, does she recollect something? She couldn't figure out.He then revealed that it
was the same life saving knots that she had taught him when he was in the 8th grade.She was deeply touched that he still remembers all
her teachings well.
-Vivek Singh
Even today in all schools children are asked to fill forms asking for their religion, caste etc. We too are.Mostly children don't even
know what caste they belong to but this forces them to go and ask their parents and then they come to school the next day aske each
other what their caste and then say hey! I am of a higher caste than you , Yay ! I am better than you.This thing is what i have actually
eye witnessed over the years.
After singing our national anthem we are taught to say 'JAI HIND' which means VICTORY TO INDIA.But I have stopped saying this.I
have just realised this somewhat because of this project.Thanks to Thinkquest.I s India going for a war?Then what is the need to say
this.Nowadays, this segregation is within the country itself people have started saying 'JAI MAHARASHTRA(a state in India)'.If they
don't say it then they reprimand the children.This wrongly pricks the children's conscience.
So if the Indian education system mends all these problems then the Indian part of the budding future of the world will certainly bring
peace to the world.
I also was deeply infuenced by many of my principals' thoughts
and I remember one really well.You see the picture besides this?
If I ask you what you see, you will say "black spots".No one
says that it is a white stencil like thing on a black paer etc belo
w.
This is a natural human instinct to catch hold of the negative
thing easily as it is very apparent.That is the same case I fell
with religion.Religion was created intending to solve problems
and achieve betterment of the world but we looked it as black
spots on the paper and ended up in a totally different place.