Why my daughter doesn't deserve school

Schooling ke side effects(a.k.a why my daughter doesn’t deserve school)

When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life. - John Lennon

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Drunk for a pennyDead drunk for twopenceClean straw for nothing

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England in 1800 vs The Stone AgeEngland in 1800 vs The Stone AgeEngland in 1800 vs The Stone AgeMaterial Lifestyle England c.1800 Forager Societies

Calories Per Day 2322 2340

Protein per day (g) 48 61

Male Height 67” 66.5”

Male work hours per day 8.5 5.9

Life Expectancy at Birth 38 33

Life Expectancy at 20 34 39

24.3% of World GDP

Let all that’s Indian within you die.“”

We must at present do our best to form a class of persons Indian in blood and colour, but English in tastes, in opinions, in morals and in intellect. -Macaulay’s Minute on Education

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A familiar pattern(destruction, conversion, education)

School propagates the same injustice

Imagination is the source of every form of human achievement. And it's the one thing that I believe we are systematically jeopardising in the way we educate our children and ourselves. - Sir Ken Robinson

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Bells and Cells- Aarti Rajaratanam

Education = Job

Really?

26 million births(at a minimum, per year)

Most will go to school under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

(96.5%)

389 Universities

14,169 Colleges

1,500 ResearchInstitutes

3,500,000 Graduates

850, 000 Post Graduates

(per year)

(per year)

550,000 Engineers(per year)

Second Largestpool of scientists and engineers in the world

Second Largestpool of trained doctors

17 million enrolments into higher education(in 2012)

450,000 jobs(per year in the best years of economic growth - 2009/2011)

Small IT Shops30,000

MNC/ IT Companies50,000

Going Abroad for Studies20,000

Approximate hiring numbers per year

70%engineering graduates remain unemployed

30%remain unemployed a year from graduation date

Most are not in Engineering jobs

Youth Unemployment - 10.5%

93% unorganised workforce(labourers, owner manned general stores, handicrafts and handloom workers, rural traders, farmers, etc)

52% are farmers

The Side Effects

1. English Rules the World

2. West is Best

ackwardand PrimitiveB3.

4. Invention of Failure

School forcibly snatches away children from a world full of God’s own handiwork …It isa mere method of discipline which refuses to take into account the individual…a manufactory for grinding out uniform results. I was not a creation of the schoolmaster:the Government Board of Education was not consulted when I took birth in the world. - Rabindranath Thakur

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You do it my way, by my standards, at the speed I mandate, and in so doing achieve a level of output I ordain, and I’ll pay you handsomely for it, beyond anything you might have imagined. All you have to do is take orders and give up your way of doing the job for mine. - Frederick Winslow Taylor

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5. Forget initiative, just conform

6. Consume! It’s awesome.

7. Be fiercely competitive

8. Environment is an externality

The great purpose of school can be realized better in dark, airless, ugly places. It is to master the physical self, to transcend the beauty of nature. School should develop the power to withdraw from the external world. - William Torey Harris, U.S. Commissioner of Education 1889-1906

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9. Eew! Working with hands?

Real freedom will come only when we free ourselves of the domination of Western education, Western culture, and the Western way of living. - Mahatma Gandhi

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So what do I want?

Dearest Avni,

1.Enjoy your childhood and grow organically

Dearest Avni,

1.Enjoy your childhood and grow organically2.Develop a respect for nature

Dearest Avni,

1.Enjoy your childhood and grow organically2.Develop a respect for nature3.Experience the dignity of labour

Dearest Avni,

1.Enjoy your childhood and grow organically2.Develop a respect for nature3.Experience the dignity of labour4.Build respect for tradition and indigenous livelihoods

Dearest Avni,

1.Enjoy your childhood and grow organically2.Develop a respect for nature3.Experience the dignity of labour4.Build respect for tradition and indigenous livelihoods5.Gain mastery over all our family languages

Dearest Avni,

1.Enjoy your childhood and grow organically2.Develop a respect for nature3.Experience the dignity of labour4.Build respect for tradition and indigenous livelihoods5.Gain mastery over all our family languages6.Pursue knowledge for its own sake

Dearest Avni,

1.Enjoy your childhood and grow organically2.Develop a respect for nature3.Experience the dignity of labour4.Build respect for tradition and indigenous livelihoods5.Gain mastery over all our family languages6.Pursue knowledge for its own sake7.Follow your passion without fear

Dearest Avni,

1.Enjoy your childhood and grow organically2.Develop a respect for nature3.Experience the dignity of labour4.Build respect for tradition and indigenous livelihoods5.Gain mastery over all our family languages6.Pursue knowledge for its own sake7.Follow your passion without fear8.Question the status quo of the current world

Dearest Avni,

1.Enjoy your childhood and grow organically2.Develop a respect for nature3.Experience the dignity of labour4.Build respect for tradition and indigenous livelihoods5.Gain mastery over all our family languages6.Pursue knowledge for its own sake7.Follow your passion without fear8.Question the status quo of the current world9.Learn to work with others, not against them

Dearest Avni,

1.Enjoy your childhood and grow organically2.Develop a respect for nature3.Experience the dignity of labour4.Build respect for tradition and indigenous livelihoods5.Gain mastery over all our family languages6.Pursue knowledge for its own sake7.Follow your passion without fear8.Question the status quo of the current world9.Learn to work with others, not against them10.Find challenges in life to drive your learning

Dearest Avni,

1.Enjoy your childhood and grow organically2.Develop a respect for nature3.Experience the dignity of labour4.Build respect for tradition and indigenous livelihoods5.Gain mastery over all our family languages6.Pursue knowledge for its own sake7.Follow your passion without fear8.Question the status quo of the current world9.Learn to work with others, not against them10.Find challenges in life to drive your learning

Dearest Avni,

Love, Dada

A journey. Not a Formula.