Education system kills creativity

http://www.ted.com Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity. TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers are invited to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes -- including speakers such as Jill Bolte Taylor, Sir Ken Robinson, Hans Rosling, Al Gore and Arthur Benjamin. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, politics and the arts. Watch the Top 10 TEDTalks on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/top10

Today is the day when you have to decide for yourself!

Decision making is an art and fortunate are those who can do this wisely. 

Education helps us decide for ourselves, by helping us experiment and find the best way ahead. There is nothing known as perfect education and what is the best decision for an individual to take. The art of decision making is best perfected with experience and most important by the ability of an individual to take a risk and what is often referred to as 'take the call'.

Listen to the voice within before you decide for yourself, and this is the most difficult step for many of us. Many are drowned in the din and the continuous flow of thoughts that will not help you think and take the call. You can only decide if you can concentrate, and in today's world to concentrate for many young folks will be a challenge. To listen to yourself with the deafening noise in today's world is becoming increasingly difficult. We multi-task, look here and see there, have peer pressure, have the want of the consumerist society pushing us, there is the pressure to perform, all this makes you weak and thus you often are not able to decide for yourself.

We are at a point today where we have had to develope a profession of Counselling, and this today seems a necessity for most of the teens and people who need to school themselves. The Counsellor is none other than your inner-self. Your best counsel will never come from a person who does this for money, as they only preach and often do not even practice. We have today advisers, guides, mentors, gurus... and then we have followers and simply those who follow the herd! This happens as we do not listen to ourselves and take the decision, when the guru states the obvious and what we like to hear, we find this positive and feel that you can take the decision with his best advice.

Every individual is special and needs to have her/his personality develope completely and live to the fullest. For helping you fulfil your very own aspirations, you have to decide for yourself, and this happens every moment. With a cool head and a warm heart, you must evaluate what is best for you and then take the decision. Taking a decision to simply what to eat, what to do, where to go and many more what we feel inconsequential moments, but what is common is that you need to decide for yourself. As we grow up we start taking our decisions, and this is what good education must empower us to do.

When we take a decision we have pros and cons, and every moment is unique for yourself, so best you breathe easy and decide for yourself and go along the road less travelled.

Hope this small article helps you think and find the leader in yourself, welcome to email me on sd@ebd.in and share your thoughts.

Cheers!
Sandeep Dutt
www.SandeepDutt.com

Ziauddin Yousafzai: My daughter, Malala | Talk Video | TED

Pakistani educator Ziauddin Yousafzai reminds the world of a simple truth that many don’t want to hear: Women and men deserve equal opportunities for education, autonomy, an independent identity. He tells stories from his own life and the life of his daughter, Malala, who was shot by the Taliban in 2012 simply for daring to go to school. "Why is my daughter so strong?” Yousafzai asks. “Because I didn’t clip her wings."

In many patriarchal societies and tribal societies, fathers are usually known by their sons, but I'm one of the few fathers who is known by his daughter, and I am proud of it.

This talk was presented at an official TED Conference. TED's editors featured it among our daily selections on the home page.

Ziauddin Yousafzai

Education activist

Despite an attack on his daughter Malala in 2012, Ziauddin Yousafzai continues his fight to educate children in the developing world.

The Transcript of the TED Talk
Malala started her campaign for education and stood for her rights in 2007, and when her efforts were honored in 2011, and she was given the national youth peace prize, and she became a very famous, very popular young girl of her country. Before that, she was my daughter, but now I am her father. Ladies and gentlemen, if we glance to human history, the story of women is the story of injustice, inequality, violence and exploitation. You see, in patriarchal societies, right from the very beginning, when a girl is born, her birth is not celebrated. She is not welcomed, neither by father nor by mother. The neighborhood comes and commiserates with the mother, and nobody congratulates the father. And a mother is very uncomfortable for having a girl child. When she gives birth to the first girl child, first daughter, she is sad. When she gives first to the second daughter, she is shocked, and in the expectation of a son, when she gives birth to a third daughter, she feels guilty like a criminal.Not only the mother suffers, but the daughter, the newly born daughter, when she grows old, she suffers too. At the age of five, while she should be going to school, she stays at home and her brothers are admitted in a school. Until the age of 12, somehow, she has a good life. She can have fun. She can play with her friends in the streets, and she can move around in the streets like a butterfly. But when she enters her teens, when she becomes 13 years old, she is forbidden to go out of her home without a male escort. She is confined under the four walls of her home. She is no more a free individual. She becomes the so-called honor of her father and of her brothers and of her family, and if she transgresses the code of that so-called honor, she could even be killed.

And it is also interesting that this so-called code of honor, it does not only affect the life of a girl, it also affects the life of the male members of the family. I know a family of seven sisters and one brother, and that one brother, he has migrated to the Gulf countries, to earn a living for his seven sisters and parents, because he thinks that it will be humiliating if his seven sisters learn a skill and they go out of the home and earn some livelihood. So this brother, he sacrifices the joys of his life and the happiness of his sisters at the altar of so-called honor.

And there is one more norm of the patriarchal societies that is called obedience. A good girl is supposed to be very quiet, very humble and very submissive. It is the criteria. The role model good girl should be very quiet. She is supposed to be silent and she is supposed to accept the decisions of her father and mother and the decisions of elders, even if she does not like them. If she is married to a man she doesn't like or if she is married to an old man, she has to accept, because she does not want to be dubbed as disobedient. If she is married very early, she has to accept. Otherwise, she will be called disobedient. And what happens at the end? In the words of a poetess, she is wedded, bedded, and then she gives birth to more sons and daughters. And it is the irony of the situation that this mother, she teaches the same lesson of obedience to her daughter and the same lesson of honor to her sons. And this vicious cycle goes on, goes on.

Ladies and gentlemen, this plight of millions of women could be changed if we think differently, if women and men think differently, if men and women in the tribal and patriarchal societies in the developing countries, if they can break a few norms of family and society, if they can abolish the discriminatory laws of the systems in their states, which go against the basic human rights of the women.

Dear brothers and sisters, when Malala was born, and for the first time, believe me, I don't like newborn children, to be honest, but when I went and I looked into her eyes, believe me, I got extremely honored. And long before she was born, I thought about her name, and I was fascinated with a heroic legendary freedom fighter in Afghanistan. Her name was Malalai of Maiwand, and I named my daughter after her. A few days after Malala was born, my daughter was born, my cousin came -- and it was a coincidence -- he came to my home and he brought a family tree, a family tree of the Yousafzai family, and when I looked at the family tree, it traced back to 300 years of our ancestors. But when I looked, all were men, and I picked my pen, drew a line from my name, and wrote, "Malala."

And when she grow old, when she was four and a half years old, I admitted her in my school. You will be asking, then, why should I mention about the admission of a girl in a school? Yes, I must mention it. It may be taken for granted in Canada, in America, in many developed countries, but in poor countries, in patriarchal societies, in tribal societies, it's a big event for the life of girl. Enrollment in a school means recognition of her identity and her name. Admission in a school means that she has entered the world of dreams and aspirations where she can explore her potentials for her future life. I have five sisters, and none of them could go to school, and you will be astonished, two weeks before, when I was filling out the Canadian visa form, and I was filling out the family part of the form, I could not recall the surnames of some of my sisters. And the reason was that I have never, never seen the names of my sisters written on any document. That was the reason that I valued my daughter. What my father could not give to my sisters and to his daughters, I thought I must change it.

I used to appreciate the intelligence and the brilliance of my daughter. I encouraged her to sit with me when my friends used to come. I encouraged her to go with me to different meetings. And all these good values, I tried to inculcate in her personality. And this was not only she, only Malala. I imparted all these good values to my school, girl students and boy students as well. I used education for emancipation. I taught my girls, I taught my girl students, to unlearn the lesson of obedience. I taught my boy students to unlearn the lesson of so-called pseudo-honor.

Dear brothers and sisters, we were striving for more rights for women, and we were struggling to have more, more and more space for the women in society. But we came across a new phenomenon. It was lethal to human rights and particularly to women's rights. It was called Talibanization. It means a complete negation of women's participation in all political, economical and social activities. Hundreds of schools were lost. Girls were prohibited from going to school. Women were forced to wear veils and they were stopped from going to the markets. Musicians were silenced, girls were flogged and singers were killed. Millions were suffering, but few spoke, and it was the most scary thing when you have all around such people who kill and who flog, and you speak for your rights. It's really the most scary thing.

At the age of 10, Malala stood, and she stood for the right of education. She wrote a diary for the BBC blog, she volunteered herself for the New York Times documentaries, and she spoke from every platform she could. And her voice was the most powerful voice. It spread like a crescendo all around the world. And that was the reason the Taliban could not tolerate her campaign, and on October 9 2012, she was shot in the head at point blank range.

It was a doomsday for my family and for me. The world turned into a big black hole. While my daughter was on the verge of life and death, I whispered into the ears of my wife, "Should I be blamed for what happened to my daughter and your daughter?"

And she abruptly told me, "Please don't blame yourself. You stood for the right cause. You put your life at stake for the cause of truth, for the cause of peace, and for the cause of education, and your daughter in inspired from you and she joined you. You both were on the right path and God will protect her."

These few words meant a lot to me, and I didn't ask this question again.

When Malala was in the hospital, and she was going through the severe pains and she had had severe headaches because her facial nerve was cut down, I used to see a dark shadow spreading on the face of my wife. But my daughter never complained. She used to tell us, "I'm fine with my crooked smile and with my numbness in my face. I'll be okay. Please don't worry." She was a solace for us, and she consoled us.

Dear brothers and sisters, we learned from her how to be resilient in the most difficult times, and I'm glad to share with you that despite being an icon for the rights of children and women, she is like any 16-year old girl. She cries when her homework is incomplete. She quarrels with her brothers, and I am very happy for that.

People ask me, what special is in my mentorship which has made Malala so bold and so courageous and so vocal and poised? I tell them, don't ask me what I did. Ask me what I did not do. I did not clip her wings, and that's all.

Thank you very much.

An open letter to the teachers of my daughter

My dear teachers,

It appears you had difficulty understanding my daughter, and being her responsible father, who may clearly see her flaws and weaknesses, I am trying to reply to some of the direct and indirect questions you posed to my daughter during the last one year. Before I begin, I would like to remind you that maybe my child is having some problems related to carelessness and she may be less focused compared with your favourite children, but each child is unique and has their own aptitude to bring to the world. Our duty is to help the child bring out those talents and encourage them to develop their own individuality. All the time we don't have to agree with them but making them understand the same with a little care and support may give them more confidence to explore ideas on their own.

You had a problem why my daughter laughs a lot. Please permit me to mention here that now her unfortunate father is searching for her lost smile for the last few months. I am sorry for the inconvenience (which you may have considered trouble), if any, you had because of my daughter, but it should be understood how much she means to me. I taught her to laugh when she is happy, I taught her to laugh when she is sad, I taught her to laugh when things do not happen as she wanted and I taught her to laugh at herself every time she made a mistake. 

You made a strange discovery that my little girl is having giraffe legs. As she is growing so fast, I sometimes wonder where my little girl is. I taught her that she should stand tall and be confident and proud and never feel any fear; she still has to walk a million miles to achieve all her dreams and goals. You told her that the entire staffroom knows that she would walk up to the Principal if you scold her. A fact you must know is that with God's love in her heart and parents' courage in her soul, and your school's Principal as her ideal, she feels comfortable to open her mind. In fact, I see her as one of millions of kids who will build a strong and happy India. Today we need our young people to speak their mind, not just listen to the leaders, but ask questions, tough questions, so tomorrow they become a source of courage and happiness to others.

Its seems you always find her a happy-go-lucky girl student with a bad handwriting who also keeps her bag and books carelessly in the classroom. I may agree with you here but cracking jokes about her and asking her best friend how she could tolerate my little child is unbecoming of you as a teacher and such behaviour is unwarranted and uncalled for.

During the last PTA, you had a complaint that my child is always interested in taking part in the school's extracurricular activities and annual day functions. To the best of my knowledge, students should always be advised to participate in extracurricular activities such as sports, debates and discussions, because these activities would help in all-round personality development. I am also surprised that in this 21st century you still follow the age-old formula as they say in Hindi: "Kheloge kudoge hoge kharab".

Just a few days ago, during her final exams, you asked the classroom whether anyone had any query regarding the question paper and when my daughter raised her hand, it appears you told her that she herself is a problem thus belittling her in the class and giving the classroom a chance to laugh at her cost, and this was not the first time she faced this humiliation. I am deeply sad to say your unwarranted behaviour shattered her confidence and now she hesitates to ask even basic questions. I am still wondering if the school authorities have bestowed upon you any right to belittle my child in front of her class. All children are God's gift and as a teacher you should have the patience to treat them all alike and to instil in them loads and loads of confidence, but not to shatter it.

The mental abuse of a child is as bad and dangerous as physical punishment. Because it could put a comma, maybe even a full stop, to her mental growth and development.

Don't you understand that by your unkind and unreasonable behaviour you are stalling the mental development of a child through your misunderstanding of a corrigible deficiency in a child? I hope you agree that making fun of a student repeatedly in front of her classmates is as bad as mental torture. Such behaviour on the part of a teacher is deplorable and such a person does not deserve to be called a teacher. By such behaviour, you are in fact stalling their growth instead of allowing them to blossom. Perhaps the school and the society can do better without such teachers if they do not mend their ways.

In conclusion, I would like to say that the teacher instead of insulting and rebuking children in front of their class (and thereby stalling their mental growth) should work for the development of the children. Instead of belittling them, help them understand about the wonderful gift of human life, build strong roots in them about the social, ethical and moral values of life, about their positive participation in the inclusive growth of school life, family, society and the nation. Teachers who cannot participate in building the life of the students have no place in society. The society is in need of teachers who treat their student with an equal eye, love, compassion, understanding and consideration, and not teachers who belittle them in front of their class and thereby destroy their confidence and future.

A teacher has to be full of love and compassion towards his/her students and treat them as his/her own children and work for their all round personality development. For your relief, I would like to inform you that I am withdrawing my daughter from your school and for my little happiness, my daughter, is responding well to the counsellor and now she has agreed to leave this school with the condition that she will visit all her friends once a month. I am sad to say your sarcasm won once again and another poor child lost, but hopefully after reading this letter you may consider putting a full stop, and not a comma, to incidents like this.

(Rahul Verma is founder of the grassroots non-profit Uday Foundation, fully dedicated to children, health and human rights.)

Mar 20, 2014, 09.52PM IST Times of India