Education is to draw the best in children and to develop their faculties. Education is a complicated affair as it is supposed to equip children for life. Since lifestyles are always changing, the contents of education must also be changed accordingly. The school is supposed to provide the necessary experiences to the child. When a child leaves school, he may lead a useful life.
But in the traditional school, the child was supposed to learn mainly the 3 Rs. So the chalkboard and the textbooks were the mainstays of the teacher who was to shape the character of the child. Rote memory was insisted upon and examinations were based on this learning technique.
There was not much of a difference from year to year in the way children were tested. The examinations conducted did not test all the faculties of the child. So, it was necessary for those who got through examinations to be trained afterward. In short, children were very rarely taught to learn for themselves. This had continued for so long and the practice had to be abolished.
Once this was realized, many new methods of teaching were tried and many new aids had been used for better education of children. Today the school is a very complicated organization; the teacher is no longer the sole arbiter. The children, instead of being passive listeners, have been made active participants.
They are handling, feeling, planning, creating, and learning with newer tools and aids. Subjectivity has given place to healthy objectivity. In order to make education relevant and meaningful, children are exposed to almost life-like situations. They must know how to live as good citizens and honest members of society.
They must know how to live as good citizens and honest members of society. The way the school creates situations with these ends in view is important. On the intellectual side, the library and the laboratory must play a vital role. They complement and supplement more and more, and the use of the library and the laboratory must be encouraged through proper assignments. The playing field, various camps, and many organizations like the Junior Red Cross, etc. have to be fully utilized to shape the character of the child.
Besides textbooks, there are other aids for learning. They are judiciously used. In fact, there are hundreds of ways in which audio-visual aids can be used with advantage. Examinations must not be used to show weakness but must be a yardstick for proving the all-around education of the student.
The questions must be objective and reliable. The examinations must be welcomed by the students. In order to satisfy the diverse population, there must be diversity in programs, approaches, resources, aims, and room for experimentation.
Examinations should be a challenge for students. The world is shrinking and nobody can feel parochial. So education must equip students for world understanding and world citizenry. Science and technology must find their places in any scheme of education. Any system of education must help turn out a fully developed and all-rounded personality.