Failure can be the best teacher for today's students
When educating the minds of our youth, we must not forget to educate their hearts. – This remark of Dalai Lama should become the motto of education. Of late an incident of Andhra Pradesh had astonished entire country in which a school kid killed another for trolling his mother. This bizarre incident has reflected the kid's love on his mother at the same time lack of control on his emotions at this tender age and made him as a felonious. The education that has imparted to him hasn't instilled the credentials that are required for a good societal being.
The academic activity of today's school has been aimed only on the grades and ranks and blatantly ignored the remark of John Dewey "Education is not preparing for life; education is life itself". The prime objectives of education and classroom activities have confined their role for the transmission of information. We know that the school is the miniature of the society but it has failed to produce an individual that can adapt to divergent situations.
It is very saddening that the schools that are built for making the children as compassionate, honest and empathetic have become castles for hatred, dishonest and brutal behaviour. This is due to the failure of all the socialization institutions such as home, school, and society. We all know the significance of the remark of Lon Watters" School is a building which has four walls with tomorrow inside "but it seems the existing system has forgotten that fact. The education that has been imparted in the school hasn't able to enrich the humanitarian values that are very essential for achieving harmony in society. The curriculum designers should have to remember the words of his holiness Dalai Lama "How can we advance the sense of our common humanity? -Through education". We have to become aware of that education is the only potent device that will promote humanity.
The technological advancement and explosion of science are making individuals more materialistic than benign. It is noticeable that a kid is walking directly from the lap of the mother into the premises of school anticipating the same kind of treatment. But the same is experiencing an unalike which is promoting negative emotions. The negative emotions are such as worry, stress, impatience, anxiety, anger, grief, loneliness, shock and jealousy and envy. These emotions will force an individual to become a brute to commit heinous offenses.
So, the school should have to develop the curricular credentials that will tap the negative emotions. To make the kid devoid of negative emotions the school should focus on the learning experiences that could promote love and kind towards living beings.
But the practices that are followed by all types of schools targeted only for the development of cognitive intelligence such as memory and problem-solving. It was rightly said by Daniel Goleman" In the best cases, the Cognitive Intelligence seems to contribute 20 per cent of the factors which determine success", and the emotional intelligence will play a significant role in converting us to act accordingly to the situation. He has emphasised also that the emotions are very essential to the existence of the man; for self-regulation; to communicate appropriately and promote emotional bonding. Though the society because of plurality will remain united to realize old age adage "Beliefs will divide us but emotions will unite us". The negative emotion stress will induce hormonal imbalance by releasing cortisone and cause a rise in the levels of Adrenaline that will force an individual to choose between "fight or flight". This effect of negative emotion was proved physiologically and medically that is why today's doctor is advising practicing yoga and meditation.
It is better to make "Yoga" as a curricular component that will promote self-motivation, help in stress management, regulate negative emotions and channelise the skills and abilities to reach a specific goal. It is noticeable that when an individual had his control on his emotions he is considered as fair-minded being. This is achievable only when the schools focus on "Emotional intelligence "along with intelligent quotient. This effort will produce more fair-minded than imbalanced.
It was noticed that by some psychologists that negative emotions also in trace quantities will promote some positive effects such as cautiousness, Atychiphobia (fear of defeat), group dynamics and self-reliant nature. So, the education system should have to design the concepts and learning experiences that will promote both Intelligence quotient and emotional quotient that will make an individual a better human being. This should start from the primary level and continued to the university level uninterruptedly for a better society. We should not forget that failure in the provision of the right kind of education to our kids is the prime reason for all the problems that we are facing. The education should have to seal the negative emotions right from the tender age. It is very appropriate to recollect the Buddhist proverb" If a seed of a lettuce will not grow, we do not blame the lettuce. Instead, the fault lies with us for not having nourished the seed properly".