BLACK HOLE INFORMATION SYNDROME

I watched Alia Bhatt's Genius of the Year video yesterday and found it to be hilarious...a number of laughable moments...but at the same time as an educationist, I found it disturbing underneath. It takes so much for a girl to prove that she's not dumb.

It speaks a lot about our society's obsession to know trivia of general knowledge...and also the impact it has on people who dont know this trivia called general knowledge. It has a huge cost especially if you see from an educational angle. Thousands of teachers despise their students when they dont know whats obvious...and not all students reach the Dumb Belle Mental Gym.

Knowing or not knowing something doesnt make a zilch of a difference as far as education is concerned. And the biggest mistake an educationist can do to make somebody learn is to mock that person about not knowing something.

Now I know she said Prithvi Raj Chauhan was India's President or something and I dont know why she said what she said. And you could consider it as an information important enough. But frankly speaking how does it matter if she doesnt.

Though it was a spoof kind of thing, but when Alia cried in the end. It was all the pain of the person, who has to prove herself...prove herself for what. Thousands of people make this effort to attain trivial general knowledge to prove that they are cool. They dont even know the pain they are in...of having to know everything...because its endless. Thats what I call Black Hole Information Syndrome. Are you suffering from it.

I was just sharing with a friend how annoying it is to sit with people who know everything...music, politics, films, international affairs, food, science, history etc. And then my friend remarked...actually all these people must perhaps be very lonely in life and have nothing else to do but to gather information. Dont know if thats true...but I am sure they are out there to prove...they are not dumb.

Guys you are not dumb...stop gathering this information...stop proving yourself.

Its all right to know something and not to know something.

On a different note and I have written a lot about it earlier...Quiz is the most dumb thing educationists created. Testing people on information they memorised. When I was in school people memorised country capitals and currencies. Why would any sane person do it? What use is this information? But somehow Quizzing has reached our DNA...Imagine KBC. We enjoy us being challenged around the information we have? Its a sport or a game to get more marks or less? Hardly do we realise that in this game of information gathering we kill the real learning? No wonder then the information gatherers are in IITs and in IAS, while the real learners do some odd jobs. Ha ha.

P.S- The movie also has a pedagogical discourse on teaching methods...teaching through dance etc. Enjoy the film...even if you are not an educationist. Its meant to entertain not to educate.

Learning from Conflict

The entire country and especially Bangalore is protesting the rape of a 6 year old in a school. Parents are out protesting on the road demanding action. CM’s remarks are making the news. All parents with school going children know about the issue and are talking about it at home, office and public places…everywhere.

But what about the children? Somehow we tend to leave children out of all conversations with regards to the ugly side of the society. For most parents and even educationists, children must live in a cocoon, not only unharmed but even uninformed about what’s happening in the society.

But do you think a child doesn’t get to know when the parents fight? Of course they do because they have been watching you closely. However, the same may not happen when it’s a social issue. Children often get misinformed or illinformed, making their own meanings of a situation.

Having said that, what most of us parents and even educationists miss out is the opportunity available to us to talk about these issues with children at such points and consequently impact their learning. This is the time for parents to talk to their children about the menace of rape.

I checked with a fellow educator friend. Thankfully, she told me that she spoke to her daughter about it but not the son. She now plans to have a conversation with her son as well.

Krishna Kumar, former director NCERT had taken this matter up beautifully in the book ‘Learning from Conflict’. He shares that every time there is a riot or bomb blast in the city, while everybody talks about it, the schools remain silent. The teachers don’t talk to the children about it. I am told that’s what’s happening in Bangalore.

While the entire media is talking about the issue, all that the schools around India are doing is gossip about it in staff rooms and corridors. It’s a time for schools to ‘learn from this conflict’ and engage students in a discussion around the issue, appropriately. There is a lot of learning which will happen in the process. They will be surprised of what comes out of it. At least get the teachers in a room and have a discussion on the issue.

There is a lot of discussion around the issue of sex education in this country and its still a big taboo in the top schools of this country.  People see the Bangalore incident as related and desist from the topic. It’s the same mentality of women not talking of abuse. But what would explain the schools not discussing the Muzaffarnagar riots or the Gaza invasion and killings?

Its high time we realise that we could utilise conflicts as great learning opportunities for us as well as our children. Are we really educating children merely to become great professionals (read Maths/Science) or are we educating them to become citizens of this world? who know how to deal with issues like hatred and conflict. Its time to reorient education. Its time for education for peace and sustainable development.