My blog post yesterday reminded me of a specific instance on my first day at Aurobindo Vidhyalaya. I walked in to school for the very first time that day in October 2016. Got introduced to a few teachers & observed a few classes. In one such class, the teacher was explaining to her grade 6 students about how durable plastic is & it is because of this characteristic, they have grown in popularity. The teacher went on to say that plastic cannot be broken by simply dropping it. One student stood up with his water bottle & said, “But ma’am, if I fill this bottle with water & drop it from our terrace, it will surely break”, for which the teacher replied, “Keep quiet & sit down!” and moved on. Was her response due to the fact that she was challenged? Did she not know the answer? Or may be she didn’t expect it. Or may be it was my presence at the back of the classroom. Whatever it was, that was a sin & I silently observed it and walked out determined to have it not repeat again.
But now that I think about it, should I have said something then? What has happened to the child whose face I don’t know, as I only saw his back as he energetically erupted with a curious question and slowly sank back to his seat with disappointment. Will he have asked questions again? Would that moment have had a lasting impact on him?
So, we have this question box (pic attached below) at our school right at the entrance. Children are always filling these with questions, & every morning teachers & students take turn answering these. Now our online sessions are all about learning through questioning..& sometimes answers are not even needed!
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