EDUCATING Your Child

[bamalli]

I Want My Child Back!

Introduction – hopes, ambitions, dreams and actions

We want our children to get a good education. So we spend in large amounts and send them to all sorts of institutions, from big and famous national schools to international schools to local and foreign universities.

What are our children being taught? What are the motives of these universities and other educational establishments?

Do we take a moment to ponder? Like the saying goes, "We were born intelligent and education ruined us!" – does this make sense or can anyone argue against this?

We complain that we don't have control over our children anymore – have we taken a moment to think WHY? Have we considered implementing remedial steps?

Here is the answer, insha Allaah.

A child is born with the innate belief in Allaah (the Fitrah of tauheed) When a child is born, he arrives on this earth with an inner belief, the fitrah, that confirms the oneness of Allaah. It is his parents who corrupt his thoughts and make him an idol worshipper or anything other than what he is (meant to be). As we learn from the teachings of Islaam, it is the parents who make the child a Jew or a Christian.

So we see that a child with nothing being taught to him does not worship idols. He does not ask a stone for favours. He does not expect a bottle hung on a wall to bring him blessings. He instead asks those who can respond to him – his parents. And it is the parents who change his course of thinking. He (i.e., the child) blends naturally with the environment – both, real and artificial

Now, a child grows with the inner belief in God – although he does not see God. He now accepts that the almighty is capable of doing anything although He is invisible to him. With this belief, although it is not recognized by all so-called educated adults, the child attributes his interests to nature and whatever else his environment FEEDS him.

The environment diverts his interests and narrows it to worthless exercises

Case 1:

A little boy had interests in plants at the age of three. He would literally open up a flower and study its parts and question his parents about it. When thunder strikes, he questions his parents and thereafter explains to the others, how the clouds bang in mid-air. The parents add to his self-education and interest the du'a (prayer), and remind him that the almighty is behind the whole scene. This is not the case with most children who would just run or cry through fear – again, because of the training and threatening fright indoctrinated by his parents or other adults.

Subsequently, when this child, due to the influence (or more appropriately, the training) of his mother who was a "trained montessori" teacher, HAD to go to school, all he learned was songs, that gave him no value, and writing of letters and numbers, which he did not enjoy at the age of three, and drawing things that he did not want to draw, which from a different angle, is forbidden in Islaam. Thus his infancy was torn apart. His right of learning what he deserves was snatched away and he started to repel... the mother lost control of him. He had no way of expressing his disgust towards the narrow, and meaningless path of education that was set forth for him. So he would respond in different ways:

·        He would pretend to be sick – this was the easiest way of getting attention. After all, children don't WANT attention, they NEED it.
·        He would really be sick – this was a biological reaction of the body of this child. His thoughts could not be translated into words, so his body took over the task of communicating what the mind wanted to say.
·        He would try breaking things or hating things that others liked – If another child agreed on something, he would disagree. If someone commented about something nice, he would oppose it. He needed to take control of himself and when he could not, he would react "rough".
·        He would refuse to play in a team with the others – since he has "liked to hate", he often found it difficult to take a share in teamwork. His interests were different. So were his attitudes towards others.
·        He would refuse to have meals that others had or disliked what was given to him.
·        He started to become very self-centered and refused to share his things
·        As he started to get control over his activities, he would collect simple tools and pieces of wire, wood, paper, etc (which most of us would consider garbage). He would then get on to a hobby of his own of building something or playing in the garden by planting seeds, plants, etc. he would then use old pipes and divert water to those areas – now he is doing what he likes.
·        The moment he hears the call for homework, or study, he goes back into a shell or repels with disgust – this is because on one hand, he was made to hate study as an infant. And on the other, he is not taught but more appropriately put, he is given data – about things that he dislikes.

Analysis:

So we see how from the very infancy, a child is moulded into what is called education, away from those natural interests which may really be a more useful and productive learning experience.

From the above case, we may learn the following points:

·        Children like to learn – not data, of course
·        Questioning is the tool of learning and to deprive a child of this is to say "Stop learning"
·        Every task for a child has his own "age". So rushing it is going to cause dislike. And when this happens at an early stage, corrective measures become harder to implement.
·        We should encourage a child in his field of study that naturally interests him, but set guidelines so as to discipline him and keep him as an obedient slave of the almighty creator, ensuring that what is taught to him doesn't contradict basic religious teachings.

Case 2:

This is about a girl who used to be a cheerful, friendly and a superb personality until she reached the first grade. Her school, decided to keep these little infants, for one hour of self-study after formal education was finished at 12:30pm. Surely, these administrators who had not the slightest of awareness about the child's psychological or biological constancy, refused to accept a written explanation from the little one's father about their action. They boldly went on with their fancy to experiment with the children. The result, the little one would arrive home past three in the evening after having set off to school at 7.30am. She used to be tired, and too tired to even have a meal. Her afternoon prayer was either missed out or delayed. She started to hate school.

Once again, she, like our previous case, had her own ways of reaction. Those administrators in her school NEVER got it! They would argue that the child could bring an extra meal, for the second interval. Hey, they weren't the ones to prepare it! These shallow scientists would further argue about certain other schools or madrasas (Arabic colleges) that made children spend the whole day out of home. About the success or otherwise of these schools, and their candidates, we need not ponder. These folks went further to argue that they were experts or professionals. I agree. They are professionals in accounting or other disciplines but not in religion and education. So all they can do is count their money and identify when it hasn't reached them on time, full stop.

It took these scientists (administrators) one term to fail, learn their errors and rewind their decision! As for the little one, she comes home early once again. But the damage is done.

Analysis:

Here we see a different set of answers:

·        The school did not mind experimenting with the kids – they had nothing to lose
·        They succeeded in holding on to their experiment against the advice and protest by parents – whether this is arrogance, I wonder...
·        They did not take constructive advice but stuck to their whims for reasons we do not know. Perhaps this "stubbornness" can be observed in several schools and institutions among administrators.
·        Although their idea of overtime study, whatever they may call it, was withdrawn, they did not apologize to their customers – so this means poor business practice.

This is the information age – the time of destruction

The educational system of today, is based on choking in facts and figures (i.e., data) to students from infancy.  They suffocate as they sometimes find it difficult to stuff it all up in their memory.

Just recently, I noticed in a book of a 4th grader, how absurdly he was being made to remember the LESSON on transport. Without confining the lesson to modes of transport, the book was filled with, excuse me, rubbish! It had for example, shipping routes, railway routes, and you name it, and you have it. It just gets worse because he then is expected to know the names of different ports, lengths of different tracks, distances between cities, oh! May Allaah save us all!

What is this? No, it is NOT education. This is the information age. This is mere destruction of a personality. Do you expect a 9-year old to retain these facts until he grows up to be what, railway engineer or pilot? This is sheer rubbish. Nonsense. Depression. Or still better, oppression of a child. I can challenge anyone of you readers that, even that little fellow's teacher will surely not now all these facts. What is the purpose of this information then?

Going further, I observed recently, the biology text book of a grade 7 student having a whole lesson on reproduction. Excuse me, I am talking about human and animal reproduction. What is more interestingly weird is that it carried not mere drawings but actual photos of "reproduction in the happening" – yes, I mean mating. Surely, after having studied such comprehensive content at the age of 12, what do you expect the kids to do?

The reasons for data transmission (and not education)

Success is measured in monetary terms:

Today's society is built upon "economic success". Everything is measured is terms of money. Here are some evidences if you find this difficult to digest.

·        People say, "so and so is improved now" and they mean that he is financially well off.
·        Students, like a prayer, fancy university education and think of themselves as "not qualified" if they don't have it. The reason behind such study is supposedly better financial gain. We all witness the reality of this.
·        A good amount of higher studies is not achieved through actual study itself, but by "outsourcing the work" to others for a price!
·        A considerable number of parents don't get their children involved in household chores because they need to supposedly focus on their studies.
·        Quite a number of people consider it inferior to partake in household chores as they presume these to be duties of servants. Again, we see the use of money in achieving their objectives.
·        It is common to see how several people take advantage of bribes to achieve whatever they need, be it legal or illegal.
·        Some go to the extent of "using the buck" to overpower others.

Schools consider their objective to be moneymaking and not necessarily deliver education:

How can this be true? Let us classify the schools and see whether this statement has any truth in it?

·        International schools: 1 – these are among the clear types of moneymaking institutions. This is mainly due to the fact that the majority of international schools are registered as Private Limited Liability Companies. Now what do you call an entity that is registered as private limited. Of course, yes, a BUSINESS. Now then, what is the motive of a business, if not making money?
·        International schools: 2 – there are a few schools that fall in as FOUNDATIONS, for numerous reasons and I am not going to discuss these reasons here. But from what we know and observe, these so-called foundations and registered charities often make good money and its employers and employees are quite well off (I mean financially) .
·        Private schools – in addition to making profit, these institutions are purpose-built. They serve several purposes and among them is to be the bin where government school rejects are accepted. Is this all for free? You know the answer.
·        Government schools – one may wonder how on earth government schools are dragged in as moneymaking centers. If I were to explain the fine lines of strategy behind this together with its side and after-effects, I couldn't finish this paper of mine. What's more, I might be a target of the system that needs to be "debugged".

Anyway, since I have mentioned that these centers are moneymakers, let us take a simple example.

Ask yourself where all the secondary school candidates are. You'll find that they are enslaved into what they think is higher education for bettering their future (again financially) and so they are in some university or college or private institution pursuing some course or the other. Some of these folks can barely afford transport. But we find that the generous educational system is ready to lend them a hand in terms of scholarships (the field name for discount), low-interest loans, promised work after studies, and so on... the options are endless.

So why do these students anxiously strive towards such courses and programmes? This is because of the FALSE demand created by the SYSTEM. These candidates are being taught the subjects that make them slaves of the system. Then why do the state schools teach such subjects? Oh, I thought you knew... in any case, let me not put you in a dilemma after having come so close.

The west creates problem in this country. Then the World Bank, for example, comes to the rescue. They tend to like us it seems... but here is what really happens – they lend us the money, yes, often on interest, and demand that certain subjects be taught with certain elements being compulsory. They even rule that certain subjects not be taught. So we don't need their money, one can argue. But oops! Then what will happen of the politicos?!!

Is it always about making money?

Is what has preceded always true? Well, yes and no. if not directly related to money, the motives of modern, west-driven education are not always, honestly "educational". They need more and more slaves for the corrupt system. So they need to train these slaves. And schools are the best places to make it happen.

Whether it means transmitting some idiosyncratic theory of demand and supply or teaching re-written history in class, the system is designed to enslave its customers. Yes, in business they call it customer-locking. Once they have the audience, breaking out of the circle is either difficult or impossible. An impasse indeed!

So this valueless system is designed for competition against elements similar to it. The government bank competes with the private ones. The insurance company with its customers. The private universities with the local government-run institutions. And all this is for "economic achievement". So it is up to the policy makers to decide if they wish to be part of the system or run an independent show. See, you only have to play to the rules if you are in the game.