JUGJUGG JEEYO

 

“You don’t have to wait until you get to

the top of the mountain, to enjoy the view.”

Eleanor Brownn

 

One of the guilts, which I have not been able to fully shrug off my heart, is for not making some of my students realize, that teaching is not spoon-feeding… that, a teacher like me is not there to make them dependent, but independent.

Fortunately, there is a sizable number of students, who realize the importance of independent thinking and self-study. They refuse to use a teacher like me as their crutch… They use their minds, their hearts and stay self-motivated.

In all this, what is the role of the parents?

Yes, spoon-feeding is a habit; and, like some other habits, it’s formed early at home through parents. There are so many parents, whose children go to some of the top schools affiliated to the great Boards, send their children to one tutor to another for every subject. Many go to these tutors directly from the school… from early morning till late nights, these kids keep tutor-hopping. By the time the young kid is home, he/she just drops dead!

If the kid is being spoon-fed like this, all through the year, how  would the kid find some quiet time to think on its own – think fresh, think creatively? All that the kid now knows is the stereotype patterns… All that it is programmed for -  is to score high marks. Besides this, the kid is seldom encouraged to think on its own, take risk, experiment, explore… learn from the mistakes, and grow through this, become self-confident.

Thus, when the young college-going kids come to a tutor like me, they bring along their hardened habits of dependency. I, many a time, find it extremely difficult to make these kids drop their old habit of dependency. You see, the parents need to drop first their own old habit of spoon-feeding their children. It’s tough… Old habits die very, very hard!

Imagine this. It’s just the beginning of the academic year. There is a class test – first of the series - being held at school for some of my CBSE and ISC students. The parents of some of my students are more worked up than their young ones. “Sir, do this, do that… Take some extra classes… Solve some more sums… Call them the day before the exam, too…”

After these parents finish saying all this, I give a long sermon, in the hope, that they get off their young ones’ backs. Yes, some do, and some don’t…

There is a test on coming Monday for some of my students in the subject I teach them. As requested by some of the parents, I had called a group of these students for an extra revision-session, today. Before the students arrived, a parent’s message did: “Sir, please solve with him sums from the text… Give him a lot of homework… He doesn’t solve on his own. Be strict with him…”

I replied: “Hello Ma’am, all this is being done, you know. What is needed is self-motivation. Hope it comes, soon.”

The extra revision-session took two long hours. As I said, the kids would have learnt much better had they stayed at home and done self-study. But, who will tell, and whom?

After these young kids left, I was on an important call with someone. While on this call, I  was getting the beep of another incoming call, incessantly. Finally, I cut short the ongoing call and checked whose call it was… It was the same mother who had messaged me before her son’s class… She sounded extremely worked up: “Sir, you know, Monday is the exam for my son… He has gone for a movie with his friends straight from your class… Is it allowed? He was supposed to come home and study for his exam… What to do now, Sir?”

I did not know whether to laugh or cry. I knew, this helicopter mother could do nothing… Her son was already inside the cinema hall. I took the lighter route… I asked, “Which movie, Ma’am – ‘Jurassic Park’?”

“No, ‘JugJugg Jeeyo’, she said.

“Ma’am, shall I tell you something?” I said lightheartedly, “You and your husband, both, go to watch the next show of the same movie. I heard, the movie is a family movie and a  big hit.”

Mercifully, my advice did not backfire. The mother seemed less worked up by now… “What you think, Sir?” she asked me like a child, “he will do well in his Boards?”

“Oh! Boards are months away Ma’am… Why stress out so much, now? He will do well, don’t worry,” I assured. Then, I reminded her, one more time, “Ma’am, please watch the next show of ‘JugJugg Jeeyo’, today itself."

 

GERALD D;CUNHA

 

Pic.: 1. pixabay 2. Gabriela Palai

 

Video: BKShivani