The Instagram School

The Instagram School

The gap between what we expect our children to learn and the final product seems to be increasing at an exponential rate. As a parent, how does one assess what their child has grasped? Whether you are the ‘laid back’ or a finicky parent, there is a sense of disappointment and resentment when it comes to your child’s educational journey. Are our expectations too high or is the outcome unacceptable to us?

Activities and events captured on camera , edited and glorified to such an extent, that one feels that their child is in the best hands., but what about the final product? Why is the ‘real’ result a complete contrast to the ‘reel’ visuals?

In an overly ambitious attempt to impress current and potential ‘customers’, no stone is left unturned in order to produce a magnificent masterpiece , but on camera only. The content creators for instagram and other social media platforms have polished their creative skills to a level that new ‘customers’ are automatically drawn towards it, only to be disappointed later. However, what they don’t realize is that their own poor judgment skills are to be blamed for.

Artificial Intelligence

As AI sweeps over almost everything, we must realize that ‘artificial’ intelligence is not ‘real’ intelligence: without the latter the former would not have come into existence. This is a separate debate that can be pondered upon later. Here it is crucial for the ‘customers’ –potential and existing students and their parents to reconsider their objectives. If the goal is primarily to acquire knowledge, gain skills, prepare for the future, be able to withstand unfavourable situations-to sum up the final outcome that everyone is hoping for is to set the foundation and pave the path for self-sufficient individuals, who can not only survive independently, but also manage to take quantum leaps in order to succeed.

Child’s Performance

So, as a parent, how can we gauge our child’s performance? Definitely not by viewing ‘reels’. The old saying-‘seeing is believing’- is not relevant when it comes to technology. Rewind  atleast 35 years  and you will get the answer. The stories, the incidents narrated by children, the poems they proudly recited in the company of their loved once, the questions they randomly answered, the cricket scores and run rates they calculated, the sign boards they proudly read on the roads, the animals and insects they identified in parks, the landscape features they spoke about while on a picnic, the names of clouds based on their formation, how they offered prayers and knew about other aspects of religion……..The list goes on. How they performed in Scrabble, board games and sports also indicated what they learned at school, without the ‘ misleading reels’.

This does not suggest that schools are only misrepresenting facts; they are developing comprehensive curriculums and attempt to impart knowledge ( a topic that also needs an in-depth discussion). Both the producers (schools) and consumers need to understand that the reliance on social media is a major reason for the downfall of the quality of education. Parents must talk to their children, spend time with them and have meaningful conversations without making their children realize that they are trying to assess their learning. One must never be judgmental. Those who are imparting knowledge must do so in a manner to ensure life-long learning and understanding with a practical approach. Rather than the aim of completing a set curriculum to prepare students for an assessment test or exam, killing the essence of learning and creating resentment amongst the learners, educators must think and focus on the long-term goals.

Conclusion

A systematic change is required, which will start with a change in the mind set of all stakeholders. Rethink your objectives as an educator, a student and a student’s parents. Only then we can prepare the ground that will enable us to step out of the ‘instagram’ school and focus on what is important-teaching and learning in a meaningful manner.