Cultivating Curiosity: Rethinking Education at Home
“The public is indoctrinated to believe that skills are valuable and reliable only if they are the result of formal schooling.”
― Ivan Illich, Deschooling Society
The narrative around the 19th-century factory model of education isn’t uncommon to read or hear. Be it a public school teacher or an academic, the concerns about the current education system seem never-ending. And, everyone has their perspective in addition to hope and optimism for the future. However, with every new generation and emerging technologies, Education is a complex contextual domain.
This blog post is based on a recent conversation with my mother on the topic of the Education of my niece. This is a bit strange as I never had so seriously discussed anything with my mother on the topic of Education. It was a fruitful one, I feel happy about it, so I decided to put up a note in the form of this blogpost.
My niece is now attending an elementary school in my village. She’s in the first grade. I always keep thinking about her schooling, but it seems there’s little I can do. Part of the constraints come from my current occupation and location. Nevertheless, I can share some ideas with my parents on what learning activities can be done at home.
So, getting back to the topic of my call. We spoke at length, and my mother informed me how my niece was interested in dance, and apparently she did quite well during the last school function. However, she also informed me that hopefully, she will do good in her studies.
As it was my turn to speak, I started advising on how my niece could learn from my mother. I requested that she take my niece to her kitchen garden whenever she’s planting seasonal vegetables. My mother has been quite an expert in agriculture. She supported her parents in farming from a very young age.
Beans, potatoes, peas, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, the list will go on. I remember growing up relishing the vegetables from our kitchen garden. My mother would even distribute fresh vegetables to our neighbours and relatives.
I told my mother, she could take my niece to the garden and teach her at art and science of farming. How to till the soil, clearing weeds, watering the saplings, and other tasks. To see seed germinate, and grow up to bear vegetables is so much of the nature work. Not less than magic.
I also told my mother to help my niece learn when and how to take care of cattle. Observe when the cattle are fed. When to feed the poultry. To take my niece along with her, when she goes to bring fodder for the cattle.
I believe the lessons she will learn at home will be of immense value, and something that her school won’t facilitate these learnings. I am curious, and I look forward to putting up a blog on how my mother takes charge of facilitating some amazing learning experiences for my niece.
I end this post with another excerpt from the Deschooling Society by Ivan Illich.
“Most learning is not the result of instruction. It is rather the result of unhampered participation in a meaningful setting. Most people learn best by being “with it,” yet school makes them identify their personal, cognitive growth with elaborate planning and manipulation.”
― Ivan Illich, Deschooling Society
