Friday, May 11, 2007

L 178 M

One of the greatest changes in our lives is when we go to primary school at the age of six. Being separated from the family for whole days is something new at that age and it frequently shocks children. Unfortunately, the system of primary schools is based on two counterparts: the teacher and the pupil.

The first is the head of the class and also the dominant one, and the other is the one who is expected to be obedient to the teacher. I think that the attitude toward children is basically wrong in this system. They are considered to be empty-headed persons who are not able to percieve the world around them and not able to decide what is good or bad, neither what they want to do. It is very peculiar to me how people can forget that once they were also young and how they felt as little children in the school. However,without this it is difficult to understand them and impossible to teach. In teachers' training schools students have to learn a lot about subjects, even pedagogical ones, but they are scarcely motivated to recall their own youth,and so lean on their own childhood experiences. Dealing with children, however, is equal with understanding them and helping a forming personality with feelings and full of energy to find the best way to create things. Where children can find this attitude they will love that place.

The problem is that we never can easily give bitter experiences to a child which have impacts affecting the whole life of a man. It is enough to think about the subjects one hates. Students are forced to learn certain subjects taught by certain teachers, regardless of their interests and personalities. I suppose that many of the 'adult'-troubles root in the childhood. As far as I can remember I have always had problems with mathematics. Not really manipulation, but with recalling numbers. I suspect that in those early school years I had terrible maths teachers. I can remember them and since then I can hardly force myself to pay attention to numbers. This is a very simple example, but I am afraid that most people are not aware of the importance of the early childhood memories. The same thing happens in grammar school where the pupils are nearly adults - they are not children anymore, but not yet adults. Actually, children have to grow up as if they were small adults. Today the material they have to acquire is so vast that they have no time to live the real life of children. Besides, they are always told that the main and only duty of a child is to learn. Of course, learning is very important, but school is only one source to learn from.

It is absolutely natural that after a hard week pupils would like to do something else at the weekend, but they should do their homework again. It is proved by statistical figures that schoolboys and schoolgirls work as much as adult intellectual workers. Being admitted to university, life changes radically. Students are not forced to study anymore. They can do anything they want to, e.g. playing sports, going to the theatre or to the cinema, and many other things. This is the world of possibilities. But who is able to make use of the opportunities if he had not seen any before? The posibilities should be realized and it might be taught. Open-mindedness may be formed by school.

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