Traditional Schools or Modern Curriculum
These days
parents are faced with a new crisis– ICSE or IGCSE. This is a dilemma most
parents face while deciding what is best for their kids. While traditional
schools offer the familiarity and comfort we’re all used to, know of and have
grown with. The new age curriculums offer the promise of getting our kids the
exposure we all lacked, the individual attention and focus on personality
development that will eventually differentiate them in this big world of fierce
competition (and stellar grades)
I have had numerous
debates with my husband over what is right and what is too new to try…but what
I have come to accept is that the conundrum will never end in my mind and as
long as I am the one making the decisions I will always unsure of the
consequence. That said I have had the privilege (if I may call it) to send my
son to both worlds and have compiled a list of good that can helpful to other
parents. In this post, I will not delve into what really is the difference between
IB/IGCSE and the traditional NCERT curriculum as there is a lot of material out
there for you to consume. This is a general op-ed based solely on my own
experiences with sending my child to both these worlds. Again as my son is only in primary school, my experience is limited in terms of the practical application of his education .
Advantages
of traditional schools.( aka Convent Education)
1. Discipline! This may work either way
depending on your parenting style but the one thing that I liked about my sons
convent education was the focus on discipline early on. The need to lay a mat
before eating, having school shoes polished, nails and hair clipped, books
covered and almanacs signed– everything had a bearing on making him responsible
for his own school work. One of the things that helped me in my career ( and
business school) when I started living alone was the discipline of keeping
things in order so I had more time to focus on what was more important. I’d
like to believe that a lot of that came
from my own convent education
2. Rigor – the rigor of primary
education made it very easy for me to breeze through college and later business
school. It didn’t matter how tough any subject was, I was always ready and was
used to the pressure. I noticed that with my son as well. It is surprising how
easy some kids take to pressure and he always amazed me by managing his school work
with ease (even though in some cases I was worried its too much for him ).
3. Values of a grounded middle class
education – The need for uniformity helps in providing grounded values that
make us who we are . A lot of it relates back to the respect for authority that
we all get used to in school. Also with RTE and a general intake parameters (
alumni, sibling preference etc) there is
a good chance that your child will have exposure to the real Indian diaspora. Something
that will help him later in life
4. Handwriting! – The extreme focus on
writing is crucial today. In this new age of technology we have forgotten the
use of the simple pen and paper. And the ease of the ‘backspace’ gets in the
way of our thought process – so I think that the focus on writing and making
that a habit has helped me think clearly and put my thoughts on paper better. I
do wonder if that is something that the next generation will lack
5. Cost – these schools are on an
average much cheaper than an average IB school
Advantages of an IB Curriculum
1. Exposure! The breadth of activities
that your child will be exposed to will make you want to go back to school
again. My son is enjoying his new school. It is here that he has discovered his
love for yoga or I have discovered how good he is at writing poetry.
2. Self-esteem – he has learnt to
question authority, he is not scared to challenge the norm and he has overall
become a more confident vocal human being with an opinion – something that he
was always scared to do in the convent.
3. Class size – the class size being
smaller with more faculty at hand he is able to get the attention he needs in
the early years. PTMs are way more meaningful and the teachers handling smaller
groups of students find it easier to chalk out each kids individual learning
pace
4. Lack of stress- for a parent it is
much easier as most of the teaching happens in school and homework is only a
reiteration of what was learnt there. In the convent my son did not understand
the concepts and a lot of the heavy lifting was left on the parents to do.
5. An opportunity for strength
development – I believe not everything will be Einstein – but every child has
the potential to move mountains. The new school gives my son the chance to be
big and best at something other than studies – it allows for him the time and
space so he can find his strength in something and excel in it – it allows the
kids to celebrate their differences and enjoy the glory for activities outside
of studies!
In the end I
would say that the best decision is always made by forces that are not in our
control. I used to be stressed about not getting into my ‘dream school’ for my
child when my mother told me – some things are best left to destiny. So relax
and breathe. There is a school for your child and there is a child for every
school. You have you’re your best, and we need to leave the decision to God on
giving our children the right platform for their growth and development.
