Dear Parent
It’s not unusual these days to meet youngsters unwilling to conform with formal schooling systems. A growing number of smart and savvy students are disillusioned with the annual scramble for marks and grades, and rebel against the system in different ways.
Recently I met a class X student who refused to write his exams, though he was a good student. His parents had been strict, and demanding, which was partly the reason for his rebellion. Later he continued his education through the open schooling system, and signed up for a vocational course.
Another rebel student completed her engineering diploma, then switched streams to work as a copywriter in two advertising agencies.
Tech-savvy children are beginning to think more about the way the world works, and aren’t always as tolerant as the previous generation. Child rebellion prompts parents to introspect where they may have gone wrong. They probably did their best to ensure that their children studied hard and qualified for admission into ‘suitable’ institutions.
Maybe it wasn’t their parenting efforts that failed, but their parenting style. Maybe it wasn’t a failure of guidance but that the rebellious child was cut from a different cloth. Parents should interpret such behaviour as not the end of education, but a new beginning.
It’s time parents learnt to accept the idea of free joyful learning, unblemished by a mad scramble for marks, rank and prestige. We need to accept open schooling, home schooling, vocational training and apprenticeship.
If a child becomes aware that she has the aptitude for a totally unconventional vocation, why not investigate that option? Surely 20 years later, you don’t want your child to regret having become an engineer instead of an artist.
Also read: Heart to Heart
