Childhood

Play to Learn; Learn to Play

Children learn gradually and in tune with their body capacities as they grow. For them learning is fun and they are as naturally doing it as breathing. Children learn by observing and modeling, children learn emotionally, physically, cognitively and children learn through various experiences and sort out world information in their own inner representations that are continually evolving into finer and finer neural circuits. Their understanding will always amaze an open minded teacher, they may grasp a meaning which was never discussed before and may not be the expected answer to the closed mind trainer. This distinction of what we expect out of children makes whole difference.

A teacher may have asked a kid to tell about an apple.

Expected answer- it is a fruit, it is red/green in color. It is sweet in taste.

Surprise Answer- I love banana.

Now in a conventional system a child would flunk his test, be reprimanded for not paying attention and would be ordered to study harder. This crushed his knowing , love for a banana and confident answering then and there. Whereas a holistic system accepts that child knows something, will appreciate his knowing that may be little different from expected answer but the teacher would assume, may be child does not like apple, or has never tasted it yet, even more it may be called  by some different vernacular name. The teacher would respect a kids answer and may ask further what you love about banana, when did you have it last, which other fruit do you like to have and so on with possibility of maneuvering his learning to expected answer and expanding his knowledge base. 

Conventional school system are biased towards abstract-symbolic modality. School lay emphasis on learning methodology, facts, figures with prime focus on “right” answer. Further, such demands are made in a highly competitive environment and at a age (3-8 year old) not neurologically mature. A child is given tasks that he is incapable to do yet neurologically, physically, emotionally and cognitively. Reading print in book, looking up and down to notebook from board which demand high foveal vision, hand-eye coordination when eyes are yet prepared only for field vision and unable to focus on page. Hearing consonants, words, commands when child is more able to learn emotionally charged rhymes, invent stories and play characters.

Forcing him to the same stresses and exhausts his system impeding natural learning pace. This is where learning problems first begin to start and show in form of reading, writing, comprehending, retaining or in form of learned failure, cranky mood, hyperactivity or physically manifested stress as weak eyesight, low stamina, ear infections, pain and/ or some form of disease. A child will associate any learning with a “task” and stress which will further lower his self-esteem and joyful living. At an age meant to climb trees, roll down hill mounds, catch butterflies, jump and race, rhyme and dance we order kids to shut up and sit quietly in a non stimulating classrooms to listen, hear, remember and reproduce lessons without a mistake. If unable to do so he is often labeled as slow learner, hyperactive, inattentive and child “learns” that he is worthless.

Academic learning is a specific system developed on line of industrial revolution and is concerned only with efficient output with left brain oriented tasks- reading , writing, remembering the facts, figures and concepts! All this without much emphasis to experiential learning. Learning is a disembodied mental exercise in schools. Academics behave as if body is a mere vehicle to transport brain (assumed to be only important and located in scalp) from one place to another.  There, kids are fed in info via visual and auditory channels, without permission to move, to talk and tested only on how efficiently they can reproduce in same mediums. There is biased emphasis on memorization and regurgitation rather than knowing and understanding.

It is drastically different from learning per say which we are all naturally tuned for , to make best out of this life.

Body/mind is stressed when it is asked to perform beyond its capacities. Each child is as able as his body/mind developed. A toddler cannot be expected to run because he is not able yet so does a 4-5 year old is not capacitated yet to reconstruct a lesson perfectly verbally and written without forgetting a word.  Such unreasonable demands would stress a kid- physically, emotionally and cognitively!

Stresses form in fields of reading, writing, learning and comprehending (cognitive stress as result of physical stress). Reading print (demands foveal vision) when eyes are only prepared for field vision and not able to focus on page (close distance) yet. Hearing consonants, words, emotionally devoid commands when a child is more able to learn emotionally charged rhymes, invent stories and play characters. Further, such demands are made in a highly competitive environment and at a age not neurologically mature. Till 6-7 years old a child is still exploring his body, extending its capabilities each day and ideal for him would be to play in mud, climb trees, sing songs, melodies, learn to emote and respond and what schools ask is a complete conflict.

It further takes toll on self esteem (emotional stress) and becomes associated with struggle, effort and frustration (attitudinal stress).  Consequently a child becomes physically tensed, emotionally withered and brain shut off with blocked attitude. Anything associated to “learning” becomes a task far from fun exploration and adventure. Motivation suffers, self-worth suffers and downward spiral ensues.

These problems can be balanced by opting a holistic system of school that teach in synchronization with child’s development. There are scattered examples of such schools like Danish school system and Krishnamurthi Foundation Schools to name few. In ancient Gurukul System of India (a child was sent to formally study only after 8 years of age, until then his play and interaction with world was his source of learning).

In a conventional school many problems would be rectified if all learning modalities are respected and flourished, a child is judged on his own growth scale rather than negative competition, and child is given opportunities to expand his strengths, capabilities and more focus on process rather than results.

It is in the process that mysteries of learning unfold, individual to each.