The two-bit nut factory
Back in the old days when I was still in grade school I used to run a small home library where a large collection of teen novels (ranging from Hardy Boys to Famous Five), comics (from Superman to Asterix) and other texts were available for borrowing as any real library. I also charged a modest fee of 50 laaris per book. Unsurprisingly, little by little, less and less books were returned and eventually I had to close down my business.
In many ways I was fortunate enough to have had friends who were interested in reading as I was and tremendously fortunate too that my parents could actually afford to purchase books - book that I admit to have quite carelessly lost in my effort to provide a public service. True, it is unfair on my parents but I like to think that whoever actually did not return their borrowed book must've liked it immensely to have it unreturned. Or perhaps they were just being careless.
All the same, it wasn’t so much about my loss as much as it was about what I gained from having a vested interest in reading and learning about the world and beyond. Or how back then schooling was not simply about memorizing passages word for word but it was about laying a foundation for absorbing more complex knowledge in the future and also a fun social experience – though it could be argued that the education system itself did little in the way of making the learning experience enlightening, future-ready and fun.
For instance, I remember there was a specific period allocated for the visit to the school library but hardly any research and referencing techniques were ever taught as part of the formal curriculum in that period. In fact, I always thought the library period was just a break from the usual dull classes. The library period could have become one of the most important foundations for grade school students – learning to use a library properly for research and reference work to advance the student’s knowledge of science or arts instead of just glancing over page after page of illustrations in books. It could, in fact, be the class that made students learn how to learn.
And what about instilling the sense of wonder in students? I did science in grade school and I do not remember feeling awe and wonder at seeing a chemical reaction or learning about momentum and gravity. Obviously, as teens we were much too busy with being a general nuisance and annoying the wisdom (if there ever was any) out of our teachers. That is teen nature but I still think that science, even the elementary science taught at grade school, has the immense capacity to inspire wonder in the minds of students – if delivered properly and passionately. But, blame it on lack of resources or failure of the system, the wonder wasn’t forthcoming, the inspiration was lost and it was just another reading from another boring text for many of us.
Today, of course, everything is very different. We’ve got satellite TV spewing out science for anyone interested and curious to know. Add to that the arrival of the Internet which alone may have helped to teach more to students than the entire syllabus and texts taught at school today put together. But even the Internet, the almost infinite bank of information or library that it is, cannot auto-magically deliver the vast amount of knowledge stored in it to students. There are ways to do research, find information and use it as a viable educational tool. So I wonder if such methods and techniques are taught at schools today. Do we have the resources to do that? If so, I tell myself, we were definitely the unlucky bunch.
If we do a proper survey of the level of scientific knowledge acquired by past and present students regardless of whether they are students of science or not I think we will be shockingly surprised. There are a few things in this world that a person, whether he or she is interested in science or not, has to know. The most important of which is methods of scientific inquiry on matters that are (or were) essential for our survival. This is not a new thing. We might think that our forefathers lacked the tools to dwell into the realm of scientific understanding of our environment. But this is clearly not the case. We have volumes of information on alternative and natural medicine, navigation techniques, weather and season data, boat building and other arts and crafts – all collected over the centuries and passed down from generation to generation. The knowledge of whether a particular type of fish is found where, what kind of birds feed over what type of school of fish and so on. This isn’t supernatural stuff that some jinn narrated to a channeler or something that was divinely sent. No, this is scientific knowledge gained from scientific observation, however you see it.
Today I feel that situation at schools is actually worse than back in those days. Today schools are in competition with each other marching forward with one mission: to achieve the most number of As in O’Level instead of producing creative, curious and smart students. Few may cram over page after page of texts and may even achieve great many A’s but even fewer will ever leave school with a sense of wonder, curiosity and thirst for more knowledge. Today, I see students enduring 12 hours of schooling everyday. Why? Because there is a lack of instructors and teachers and the race against other schools to get as many A’s as possible for the schools namesake is putting enormous pressure on students. Lack of instructors and a race - two very contradictory issues working to create a generation of lackadaisical students who are gullible, mechanical, prosaic and incurious about the world they live in.
In computer science, a field that I happen to know a bit about, very few students at grade school level show any kind of real interest in the subject. The drive, the spirit of challenge and the enthusiasm for logical problem solving are simply nonexistent. We need a sense of curiosity that is almost childlike to be able to solve logical problems – a cornerstone of any computer science subject. By the time we arrive at our mid-teens we’ve all but extinguished our childlike curiosity and replaced it with a desire (and ultimately a mission) to just attain good grades by absorbing prescribed texts in it's entirety. That, simply, will not do.
I will not argue against the system and call for reforms in the education department here because I know not enough about it to make any constructive comments. But if subjects like the library period still does exist perhaps it is time we rethink the whole concept and actually made it beneficial to the future of students. After all, we're not operating a two-bit nut factory here, are we?
maldiveshealth | March 11, 2007 9:16 AM | Reply
I think there is an urgent need of reference materials, hence real upgrades to our libraries. We dont need Asterix or Obelix or Hardy Boys or Mills and Boom in our shelves. We need is journal articles, the real stuff which can be used to further enhance our knowledge. In the early days how ever we need Books that stmulate our minds. Books that provoke thought in the minds of our children. And we need to start early. By the time children start schooling , we need to instill that deire to read a book before they go to bed.
All in all, partly , there lies a resonsibility of parents for making this "nut factory" you are referring to. This is because of the way our education system is made up of. If not we could and there is a slight possibiliy of blaming the "others".
athena | March 11, 2007 2:10 PM | Reply
I really enjoyed your article. These days, kids seem unable to think for themselves. Atleast about real life stuff. If its not in a text book , then its not worth the hassle.
Also the lack of reference material is annoying. You don't need to have journal articles physically there, a simple subscription would do in this day of internet. But non exists. How crappy is that. especially the students from the college come rushing looking for acedemic articles and end up just using Wikepedia.
This needs some further thought.
hamza | March 11, 2007 10:12 PM | Reply
Old people have this tendency to rant about how much better their time was which usually implies a "kids-these-days" blanket put-down on the entirety of the present generation of youths. However I like the emphasis you put on the eye-opening potential of fictional works and graphic novels (barring superman: American propaganda does not constitute a healthy dose of brain-food to me. Just a personal side-note). I'd like to go one step further in condemning the immense pressure on students to over-achieve academically by saying that this over-emphasis, especially in the Maldivian context is highly counterproductive. If the recent movie awards is any indication, any valuable representation of the fine arts is almost non-existent in our country either as an industry or as an interest. What depressed me most in high school was seeing a large number of my friends who could actually sing or draw or act have their dreams squeezed out of them by being made to feel that their talents were inferior to the intelligence of the brainiacs and book-nerds. Even true intelligence is held secondary, as you said, to conformist textbook-thumping.
This bias continues into college-life as well as most students of science (especially those on a medical degree. sigh!) look down on those in art school or just about any other degree for that matter. What makes this a hard problem to solve is that this attitude isn't particular to high-schools but extends to homes, workplaces and society in general. Still there's much to be hopeful about. The present generation X has done quite a lot for the Maldivian music-scence and they've also become considerably more politically conscious.
I think it would be prudent to remember that voracious readers were never the norm in high schools at any time or in any place. Also, the drop in the average I.Q. of high-school students in Male' over the years may have something to do with the fact that in previous generations, resources were even more limited therefore, after admitting the truly gifted students, the filler-kids (if you will) couldn't really dilute the solution that much (now there's some science for ya).
moyameehaa | March 12, 2007 1:34 AM | Reply
today kids are far better than us in many things (compared to how we were in the same age as them).Maybe that curiosity and enlightenment u r tellin is lacking.but they have more chances,TV,internet,and yes,language(English).so, i say they have more opportunities but it is a responsibility of the society to create the thirst for knowledge and curiosity and all in them.The education system is not good as we all know,specially for the islands.headmasters,teachers,supervisors are all far back in general knowledge they MUST know in this age (this i know personally..most of the people i have met in the education sector are almost 'dumb' i say.compared to what they should be while educating our future generations).but we cant blame the teachers ..as i have read in a comment on a haveeru article by a guy from education sector says...they dont get time to read even a single book. they are so occupied with school,and extra activities...they dont even get chance to refresh their knowledge.so it all goes back to the point..yeah the golhaa point sitting no everything we have...from economy to education.but it does not end there.we all have responsibilities towards the society.how about ngos workin for educating the people?how about parents make sure their kid is getting what he/she needs...not just what is in the syllabus.we need social change as much as we need political change...or even more.
subcorpus | March 13, 2007 3:48 PM | Reply
we operated the same kinda library when we were kids ...
we had the same kinda books and comics ...
we charged fifty cents too ...
this is getting too similar ... its a bit freaky ...
I operated the library with a guy named Thoo ... a neighbor ...
All my tintin comics were lent to a guy called Masdooq ...
Masdooq was also a neigbor ... hehe ...
He seldom returned any of the comics ... hehe ...
If Thoo is reading this ...
Bro, our idea wasnt that orginal after all eh .. ?
If Masdooq is reading this ...
You better return my comics soon ...
Or you better have a damn good reason why u never returned my books ... hehe ... like got rich selling 'em ... hehe ...
Those were good days ...
And about the library period ...
That was a joke ... no one ever read anything in the library ... we just enjoyed the break away from class ...
It would have been the same if were under the mango tree ...
About the lab period ...
That was good for a few weeks ...
Seeing the bunsen burners and beakers ...
Seeing the chemicals react and all that ...
After the novelty wore off ...
Everybody was trying to steal something from the lab ...
My mission was to steal the skeleton from Bio lab ...
Too bad a i got caught trying to dismantle it ... hehe ...
About the education system ... i dunno where its heading ...
I heard that you doont even need to pass to the next grade now ...
I cant see the logic in that ...
Some one please talk to me about that ...
Good post bro ...
ali as in light | March 20, 2007 2:21 AM | Reply
with all the in your face visual stimulation available to kids these days (games, tv, computer/internet) who would want to pick up a book (except maybe harry potter)..
the library period.. most students just took it as a quiet break (as opposed to the halaboli break where everyone played in the compound) i am a big reader but even i didnt read during library period, i just took books home to read, where you wouldnt be hackled (is that a word?) for reading..
someone mentioned about creative kids who's talents are wasted, and man do i agree! there are such amazing kids out there, who cud draw, shoot breathtaking pics, write poetry etc etc but there's really nothing for them out there, not even regular institutionalised art/photo/literary exhibitions.. such a friggin waste. One thing good abt the internet (among many things :P) is that it created an avenue for such people to display their amazing skills..