Thair Saadam...
It's been 6 years since I graduated from High School. I did all my schooling, right from Kindergarten to Grade 12, in the heart of the heart of the city - Mylapore! And the school was none other than the famous PS Senior - fondly known as the "Thair Saadam" School :)
While kids aged 5 in the US get ready for the "play school", their counterparts in PS invariably get ready for their math test! Day after day, week after week, the tests never seem to end. Poor things! :)
"I've gone through the same when I was young."
But is that reason enough to allow our kids to "suffer"? Shouldn't we think beyond this aggressive way of "learning"? I recently saw a documentary on a popular TV channel on how forcing a kid to over-achieve in sports beyond its capacity might be harmful to its mental growth. But isn't the same true for academic education too?
I feel that there is a mysterious bond between these "thair saadams" and Engineering. Being an engineer my self, I somehow feel I wasn't provided enough opportunities to explore. I vividly remember a career advice forum that was conducted by my school. Men from various backgrounds ranging from the army to journalism were present. Each one gave a flowery speech about why their work was the best.
We students were so childish then that one guy ended up having a hot debate with the army general on why Veerappan remained uncaught!! It would only end on the intervention of our then teacher-terror Mr. Ramaurthy (I miss "outstanding" days ! Chikku and Sriram will know what I mean! :) ) I even got a chance to speak at the session, when I raised this question of monotony. I wanted to know why our school did not have an arts, or psychology or sociology department. My question was shunned by our principal herself, who pointed out to the 6th grade drawing lessons as being "art"!
Going a few more years back...I used to play Table Tennis, and played quite well too, to the extent of being seeded at the State Ranking Competition. It was my first such entry into such a huge tournament. And guess what! PS refused to sign a letter saying I wouldn't affect my academics! I ended not showing up at the venue. That was definitely the turning point of my TT career, when my coach refused to even speak to me. I don't remember regretting it that much (those playful days, you know!). But thinking back, I feel cheated.
PS could've done more than giving holidays for Nombu and Amavaasai! The good memories still remain, thanks only to the golden friends circle I was part of...the thair saadam gumbal :)
While kids aged 5 in the US get ready for the "play school", their counterparts in PS invariably get ready for their math test! Day after day, week after week, the tests never seem to end. Poor things! :)
"I've gone through the same when I was young."
But is that reason enough to allow our kids to "suffer"? Shouldn't we think beyond this aggressive way of "learning"? I recently saw a documentary on a popular TV channel on how forcing a kid to over-achieve in sports beyond its capacity might be harmful to its mental growth. But isn't the same true for academic education too?
I feel that there is a mysterious bond between these "thair saadams" and Engineering. Being an engineer my self, I somehow feel I wasn't provided enough opportunities to explore. I vividly remember a career advice forum that was conducted by my school. Men from various backgrounds ranging from the army to journalism were present. Each one gave a flowery speech about why their work was the best.
We students were so childish then that one guy ended up having a hot debate with the army general on why Veerappan remained uncaught!! It would only end on the intervention of our then teacher-terror Mr. Ramaurthy (I miss "outstanding" days ! Chikku and Sriram will know what I mean! :) ) I even got a chance to speak at the session, when I raised this question of monotony. I wanted to know why our school did not have an arts, or psychology or sociology department. My question was shunned by our principal herself, who pointed out to the 6th grade drawing lessons as being "art"!
Going a few more years back...I used to play Table Tennis, and played quite well too, to the extent of being seeded at the State Ranking Competition. It was my first such entry into such a huge tournament. And guess what! PS refused to sign a letter saying I wouldn't affect my academics! I ended not showing up at the venue. That was definitely the turning point of my TT career, when my coach refused to even speak to me. I don't remember regretting it that much (those playful days, you know!). But thinking back, I feel cheated.
PS could've done more than giving holidays for Nombu and Amavaasai! The good memories still remain, thanks only to the golden friends circle I was part of...the thair saadam gumbal :)
posted by thegaad at 11:14 PM
1 Comments:
machi.. u werent even allowed to take up section c in math board exam da.. lol
anyway nice topic da.. when u said u've written abt PS i thought ur gonna heap praise abt the school and on ur fav athai ;)
we used to have azignments every alternate week.. torture!!
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