Thursday, August 1, 2013

" NO BRAIN"

    

      Educating children is very complex and labour intensified field.It is now generally agreed that children can perform with greater degree of understanding if specific instruction on reading or writing is held up until they have reached the mental age of  Six, Prereading  instructions nowadays are by chart reading ,chart stories,printed symbols, simple conveying of thoughts  ' what does it mean under the picture'. Some 25 to 30 years ago kids were in school by the age between 3 to 4 years- parents targeted 14 or 15 years for Matric ( 10th standard ), pre-university by 16 and graduation maximum by 19. Kindergarten program was not prescribed nor rigidly set. This subject cropped up when I saw my grandchild keyaa attempt to add new usable words to her speaking vocabulary with correct pronunciation and motivation learning perhaps from age suited film ( Disney ) strips , charts and of course teachers. Kids of our time were on school for long duration just one or two charts were shown repeatedly it was more of Day Care and were en mass promoted to learning class within 2 years , where they recited nursery rhymes in regional language/ English and numerical tables up to at least 10 all at a furious pace. I had memory issues on numerical tables particularly of table 7 and 9 ( both later in my life were lucky numbers including at Vegas recently) though it was bit easy if not interrupted the tables of 2,4,10 and even 11 my favorite it used to be then like a Nursery Rhyme :- Ten One Za.....10 . Ten Two Za ..20 bit confusing when at Ten Ten ZA. Sir Julian my class teacher one morning picked me with intent; what is Nine Six Za . no clue look down he said  vaidi ( my school name,) what is Six 9 Za - I thought of something to please my teacher and loudly spurted out " HUNDRED" - immediate response of julian sir " ISS CHOKARAI MAI THO DIMAG HI NAHI HAI "( this kid has no Brains).The teacher wriggled out is if he had touched a live wire and never once during the entire year did he pick me up for question/answer session , I felt of  having performed a great service to the teacher very happy that my answer pleased him and praised the teacher to my parents started liking the school and Julian sir in particular( he later became my mentor for all outdoor games ). I accepted this pronouncement (having less grey matter) till grade 9th when finally I bade adieu to maths and science course.The curiosity to explore the mysteries of Brain persisted and first read in the library about Human Brain the  knowledge impressed me about  all "Humans " are born with nearly all Brain Cells, some of these cells die as we age but even had to live to be a Hundred you will never come close to using all cells in your brain .This was in fact very comforting and it further stated that all BRAINS ARE WRINKLED AS A WALNUT adult Brain weigh about 1.5 Kg . The Brain reaches its full size by the time a person is 6 years of age ;(I realized my Julian teacher judgement was perfect, I definitely had less grey matter at the age Four to grasp 9x6 or 6x9 ).The brain as I read does need plenty of nourishment and uses 20 % of body supply of oxygen while makes up only 2% of the body weight. Scientist have estimated hundred billion nerve cells in the brain in every human being; my stress level reduced pursued the courses diligently as brains do not tire and aspired to be successful like Umesh Bhatnagar our D-643 gandhi nagar neighbor in jaipur.

3 comments:

  1. Fun article :) I think in India it was all about rote memorization and the worst offense was committed when we rote memorized complex arithmetic (like 6 X 9) at an age when one hasn't even come to grips with the concept of cardinal numbers (that numbers are used in counting to indicate quantity but not order). In my research with preschool children (3,4 years old), we found that the understanding of cardinality only comes much later. So multiplying with larger numbers is a much more complex computation for the little brain of a 4 year old. If I was your mom I would have told you "Chokra, good try, tumara teacher ullu hai" :-) :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good observation and comment on Rote Memorization.I believe our ancient"Spiritual Treasure" has traveled to this generation particularly -The 4 VEDAS, verse- by- verse unaltered with prescribed pronunciation,punctuation and enunciation only due to RM.Script originated much later...Thanks for keeping this blog alive,inviting more knowledgeable observation.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Interesting article.
    Genes and environment interact throughout brain development.
    Genes form neurons, connections among major brain regions

    Environment and experience refines the connections, enhancing some connections while eliminating others.

    The brain is undergoing explosive growth in the first years of life and needs organizing experiences to facilitate development.

    Learning results in more consolidation of neuronal activity—brain activity becomes more efficient

    ReplyDelete