The Litmus Test

In educating a child we face many choices and dilemmas. Is CBSE better or SSC, Is English medium better or Marathi. Should there be Sanskrit or Hindi ? How much home work is enough, is good handwriting required, should we arrange for tuitions ?  How many marks are enough ? Is the school worth the cost ? How much of the money actually goes into learning and teaching ? So many questions and options.

Naturally most of us think that better education can be arranged if only we can make the correct choice or resolve conflicts. When push comes to shove, we change schools, start tutorial classes, put pressure on teachers or worse, put pressure on the child. We split hair on these things and yet remain dissatisfied. The whole affair is very stressful, come to think of it.

So let us step-back for a while and ask the original Question. What is a good education and how do we know we are getting one ? If we have a 'litmus test' for this , then that is exactly what we should  look for. We can use such a test to resolve all our seemingly difficult questions.

There is a simple answer to this very fundamental question. What is a good education ? If learning is a fun-experience for a child then that is a good education. You need not look any further. Any school, any school-board, any teacher, any text-book or any medium of instruction can be tested against this criteria. Mind you, I did not say learning should be  entertaining, I say it should be a fun.

The principle also works in the reverse. What is good fun ? The 'litmus test' is again very simple. If the fun is a learning-experience for a child then that is a good fun. It doesn't matter if its TV, reading books, talking or singing. The important question is, is fun a learning-experience.

Unfortunately, we have convinced ourselves that good education is a matter of making correct choice, or pay right amount of fees, or have certain facilities, or choose the right medium of instruction. Media, schools, government, educators and money has scared-us into thinking this way. I believe all of this is completely irrelevant to our primary goal- the need of good education.

That education is the best which makes 'learning a fun-experience and fun a learning-experience for a child'. Such education must be sought after.