Tuesday, August 17, 2010

then what does one do

AB is a gifted caring and creative teacher. He has the knack of entering a childs brain, knowing what would work and getting that done. 

Teaching in Mumbai, entering his class is a treat. There are things like (extracts from a mail) ' number wall, my investment tracker, my behaviour tracker, my class mascot, my contracts made my kids, and the giving tree'

You read the above and you smile, because you can imagine the thrill of a class that even has the space for these little moments. I remember in class 3, must have been 8 years old, we did a little excercise where one had a paper pinned on their back and you had to write something nice on someones back. 

Was not a particularly creative thing to do,  but the paper remained with me for a long time..... or my class 2 teacher handed out little paper cards to each child at the end of the academic year and we memorised each word of the personal note she wrote their. 

AB i am convinced is that teacher for them. He is crafting memories that they shall write about as they jot down the memories of a CEO book someday. 

But that is not the point. AB for all his creatively, is facing a modern day Ravana/demon. The morning school teacher.  She has torn down, ripped and thrown in the dustbin each piece of art that has been made by them in front of them and gone to the extent of ridiculing him in class.

He meets 20 wailing visibly upset kids, who fail to see the problem. What can he say in that case? Jealously? Bullying? Power play? what does one do when there is an adult who insists on remaining the playground bully and the other adults are too weak to stand up?

Dont know what the right course of action is against a bully. To fight them is obvious but the question is HOW? What do you do when someone whom you have no authority over tramples you? Complain to somone or seek revenge or escape. We all would possible say revenge, but few know how.

Dont think i would know how to seek revenge... sometimes am too lazy and let karma do my dirty work. Flippancy aside. this is serious. a reflection of the mentors./teachers of the coming generation

The right to education bill has been passed. The changes mentioned are so vast so rampant that there is no clear side that one can take.. but irrespective of the outcome, there shall always be bullies that need to be set straight!


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