Striking a balance in the world of children

During a recent bus trip, I came across a group of school students singing Maati Kahe Kumhar Se, Tu Kya Rondhe Mohe — a philosophical poem by Kabir that projects the point of view of soil, which they often began their days at school with.

A few minutes later, they followed it up with Chaar Bottle Vodka, Kaam Mera Roz Ka — a song that often accompanied them when they were ‘chilling’ with peers during the later part of the day: Kabir and Honey Singh, one after the other. 

This perhaps aptly brought out one of the challenges that today’s schoolchildren face — the trapezing between different worlds.

In some of these scenarios, the children can express themselves clearly. A few years ago, I overheard a child convey her frustration to her friend. It was election time, and her father and her teacher were at opposite ends of the ideological spectrum. When at home, she would have to listen to her father admonish his political counterparts. At school, her teacher was a woke person who generously shared her ideological views in the classroom.

Neither of them was willing to engage in conversation, to agree or disagree, or even to seek the child’s views. Both, however, were keen to catch her young and make her subscribe to their worldviews. All they succeeded in was making her feel miserable.

‘Ideology’ is not the only animal in this forest; there are other species like ‘food’, ‘importance ascribed to marks’, and ‘freedom’.

It is not just the chasm between homes and schools, but also the chasms children observe within their homes and schools. It is also the difference between preaching and practising. Parents who seldom read insist that their child read books.

Children often come across parents who, on social media, are all for patriotism — aka love for their country and its grand history, and for protecting it. However, they choose Switzerland for pleasure trips, Australia for studies, or Canada for a new citizenship.

Then there are challenges that we, as a society, force on them. Challenges the children find difficult to grasp. Today, the divide—the distance—between the haves and have-nots is only getting starker. As we increasingly interact and exist only within our worlds, we are unaware of the worlds beyond ours.

To add to this, the actions of those in power and our choices ensure that we will soon be, if we are not already, insulated from all that is not part of our world. Today, a child in an English-medium school in Gurgaon or Noida is more aware of the lifestyle in New York and San Francisco than that of a child living in a slum a few minutes’ drive from her home.

Trapezing is exciting, but it’s effective only when you have good balance and coordination. The lives of children warrant deeper introspection and serious course correction; however, before parents and teachers can be of any help to the children, they need to get their act together.

(The author works in education sector)