Just let them be…..
Each human being is born to be different from other.
Biological processes bless us all with no possibility of being completely identical. This evolutionary fact is not debatable and no matter how much social media gets polarized there can’t be a second opinion on it .
This knowledge of acquired and inherent variation needs a slice of a wisdom hence it is a part of NEP 2020.The vision of New Education Policy very clearly highlights the need of recognizing unique capabilities of every child. India being a country of vast cultural diversity it is inevitable that the population of school going children are born within equally diverse cultural environment which eventually becomes decisive factor in developmental consequences.
Though language or the mother tongue will preferably be promoted as the medium of teaching across the states, as mentioned in NEP, it is obvious that language is not the only difference one state has from the other. States have their own heritage of architecture, music, dance sports as well as physical features and biodiversity.
Physical environment plays a major role in formative years of development of a child. To find common threads to weave a success story of educational development across the country is and will always be a challenge.
Theory of Multiple Intelligences by well-known developmental psychologist Howard Gardener embraces diverse core competencies children are born with.
Many a times there is a discomfort and unease among us all , whether we are parents or teachers in accepting a child as unique unless the child validates it through grades and certificates and above all marks. Beyond a restrictive framework of terminology or parameters, a child may struggle for acceptance and encouragement.
While teaching Biology to board classes using multiple intelligences inside and outside the classroom for years and equally long stint in administration with the same approach my faith and interest in Multiple Intelligences grew many folds.
After attending a long session of Howard Gardner on his visit to India way back in 2012, thanks to Steven Rudolph an educator, researcher and founder of Multiple Natures framework ,I could see the wider application of the concept as well as strengthen my belief in Gardner’s theory proposed in 1983 ( Frames of Mind ) that all children are blessed with diversified cognitive capacities or in simple words are born intelligent .
Be it linguistic, kinesthetic, interpersonal, logical, musical , visual , intrapersonal or naturalistic. All human beings are born with multiple intelligences .Undoubtedly an open minded approach that accepts that a child is born with multiple core capacities will help immensely in liberating psychological behaviour of an educator eventually making a class room highly dynamic where in every child is unique .
It can make teaching flexible ,natural as well as successfully sail through the deep waters of counseling ,teaching ,mentoring and parenting .
Multiple intelligences in the time of online or blended learning and above all AI , needs to be reinvented today by initiating dialogues and critique . An open platform for exchange of ideas and experiences post Covid can integrate developmental psychology to achieve curricular, co-curricular, extracurricular and assessment goals as proposed in NEP 2020.
MI can make this process simple and achievable . It eventually will help us accept that being unique is not just what we are but also what we are not. we can be more compassionate, caring and understanding as teachers and parents. And on other hand create a huge space where in children develop inherent as well as acquired unique abilities .
The sooner we introduce this approach to parents and teachers the better it is specially during formative years. In early childhood adoration ,appreciation , love and acknowledgement, received from parent and teacher by a child for every hop and jump immensely help a child build his confidence as he takes first step to run.
As the years pass by the parents take a U turn while the child is blissfully unaware of why jumping and hopping upsets them so much. Parents are equally unaware of unlearning imposed by them driven by unwarranted apprehension. What follows is,
Be quiet!
Stop running
Sit still
Its time we as educators and parents accept our share of responsibility in our existing education system for the sake of our generation of today and tomorrow. And surely, we will find a huge support from children themselves.
Undoubtedly to educate parent along with children during foundation as well preparatory years as framed in NEP and beyond, a teacher needs job skills, resources, tools. methodology as well as a road map to define, identify, accept , retain, explore, observe and measure unique capabilities of each child .
NEP brings into focus a fact that every child is unique you don’t need to make them one.
