Schooling and Learning.

The purpose of good schooling is to train children to be fully equipped to deal with the world as an adult – adults with characters and knowledge that will lead the society to grow and prosper. If that isn’t the purpose I don’t know why we spend years learning about subjects that don’t matter in day to day living. You learn history – but what about lessons from history? Geography – my favorite but are you instilling in them a love for mother earth? Science is great if it increases your curiosity to learn more and dispel myths. As for Mathematics and language, they are the tools that lay the foundation for your life after school. Lots to learn and add to it the array of electives you get to choose from, school life can be perplexing. Yet I dare to say at the expense of my kids getting mad at me, these are topics that should be made mandatory in schools.

Ø      Ethics: Teaching a teen what constitutes right or wrong, will help them in making ethically right decisions in future. Good work ethics will lead us to develop a generation of honest and socially conscious adult with a realization that interest of society and the world is higher than personal growth.?  Instilling in children the awareness of working towards a larger goal is more important than just teaching them how great Napoleon Bonaparte was.

Ø      Stress Management: Honestly nothing will be more useful than learning how to deal with stress when you go out in the world. Stress cannot be avoided, but yes we all can find means to deal with it and you are never too young to learn that.

Ø      Financial Management: In today’s time, teaching teens the importance of not only making money but managing it wisely is very important. Not to say that all kids will be handling their finances wisely as adults, but at least they would have a better understanding of how to make their money work for them.

Ø      Etiquette:This wouldn’t have made it to the list, if the disregard for any form of politeness wasn’t so obvious in the youth or adults. Showing consideration towards others is what it is all about, and what better age and place than schools to teach them.

Ø      Compassion: I sincerely believe nurturing a fine heart is as important as training your mind. Happiness is impossible without having compassion or empathy for others. No religious sermons, no spirituality, just plain old compassion and good heart.