Hello readers!! So far I've talked about clothing, food, language & friendship. Some of these posts were more controversial than others, but all were based on the idea of balancing the Indian culture in me as well as the Americanized part of me.
One topic that I feel very knowledgeable about it education. In addition to being a certified teacher w/ 10 yrs of teaching experience, my personal experience of attending school in America and now having two sons in the American school system allows me to have a solid opinion on how we should educate our children.
Growing up, I was told that my level of education would determine my entire life. My parents made sure we had time to study, kept our grades up and if needed, got the help we needed. All three of us children attended college and became professionals in our own fields.
However, there were many other ways in which I, along with my siblings were able to learn. We traveled alot, throughout the US as well as overseas, including trips w/out our parents starting as young as 14. Watching our parents run the family business also gave us alot of insight on how the real world works.
Finally, one other way in which we gained a great education is all the time we spent with our extended family. There was alot of we gained from watching our elder aunts/uncles & cousins on a frequent basis
I believe very strongly in children having a well rounded education as children grow up. In recent years, I have noticed many Indian families focus so deeply on their children getting perfect grades and always excelling so far ahead of the other children. The result is that these children do very well in school and that is great. However, they often lack in other areas. They are not able to fit in socially with their American peers, or able to relate to the typical experiences that their peers are having. In addition the pressure that parents are putting on their children often becomes too much for the children, who sometimes rebel by studying even less. I want parents to allow children to experience many different ways of learning, in addition to supporting their children at school. Children should have opportunites to travel (locally or far), meet with their friends outside of school and even gain work experience once they are old enough. In my opinion, these are all ways for children to "learn" and grow into "educated" adults.
I am sure this topic will have different opinions, and I welcome them all.
