Creativity in Children

Schools are places where most children spend a large part of their life. Traditionally, schools focus on education, often without realizing that education is not just academic. It covers all-round development. Education turns students into thinkers. A question worth asking is: Do schools foster child development by encouraging creative thinking?

The following video by Sir Ken Robinson gives a viewpoint on whether schools are doing enough to encourage creative thinking:

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Opening the Doors to Education

We pass through several important landmarks in our life marking the transition from one stage to the next. One such important landmark is the first day of school in a child’s life – the beginning of formal education. The child turns into a “big kid” all of a sudden on this day. In most cultures and countries, this day calls for joy and celebration.

In ancient Indian culture, the beginning of education was a ritual – the eleventh out of the sixteen rituals of an individual’s life. It was called Vedaarambh Samskaar. During this ritual, the student who was about to begin the journey of education was blessed by the family-elders and teachers who prayed for his success and guided him towards being a disciplined, humanitarian, well-behaved, knowledge-seeking, hard-working and diligent individual.

 Celebrating the first day when child enters school serves as an important reminder that human beings are the fortunate species with the ability to participate in organized education and make their lives better as a result. Our dreams of worthy living can turn to reality through education. We are able to become critical thinkers, collaborative team-workers and responsible citizens of the global community.

Even though a child gets ‘educated’ since the very day he is born, yet the day he steps into the world of formal education is a good day to ponder upon what we want our kids to achieve through education. Here we are not talking about making your kids Engineers, Doctors, academic toppers or turning them into specific professionals. Instead, we need to believe that education will bring out the best in our children. Education provides us an opportunity to explore multiple avenues and to realize our true potential. The purpose of education is to grow intellectually and to help others grow. It is nothing less, but nothing more!

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Students of Twenty-first Century!

Today’s children are different from how we were as children. The implication of this fact lies in how we deal with them in the capacity of parents as well as teachers. Here’s a YouTube video created for teachers showing the change that students of today desire and actually deserve:

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