- The computer generation needs human interfacing
By: Mohammad Asim
Play is the highest form of research –Albert Einstein.
For humans sport is the most natural and spontaneous act of life. A baby in the mother’s womb seeks to enjoy by kicking and fluttering. These playful acts create prenatal bonding with the mother. It requires no wisdom to state that the favorite toys of children are their own parents. They play on their laps, run around, babble different words with different voices, and mimic them. The fun attached leaves an indelible impression in their minds, as well as of their parents, to be cherished for life. But in today’s society our children are growing up with machines and gadgets like iPads or iPods, computers, X-Boxes, video games and a multitude of varied devices. The obsession with technology is creating laziness, obesity, impatience and many other undefined behavioral problems among them. This compulsive technological disorder is a cause of consternation for parents and severe concern for society at large. Deep down everyone knows that this electronic medium of sports is not compatible with the health and wellbeing of children. For how long the parents will keep on bickering about the animated life of their own children and blaming the surrounding technology? The idea is not to dispense with technology but at the same time not to be overwhelmed by it. There is always a solution to the problem if we are willing to find it.
One of the greatest historians of the last century, Will Durant, once wrote: “Health of a Nation is more important than Wealth of a Nation.” Let us go back to playgrounds
Technology is nothing but a tool that has been used in different forms since time immemorial to bring ease to our work and create comfort in our lives. These were the inventions that brought us out of caves to enter the agriculture, industrial and now information age. So the problem is not in the gadgets but in our inability to integrate them with our value systems. Ask yourself a simple question: Is playing cricket and football on computer simulation the same as playing in the real world? In the former, it uses only mental activity with little tactical movement, guided much by software programming inherent in the system. In the real world it demands imagination with simultaneous movement of mind, body and spirit in harmony against real human beings while carrying out active interaction with nature. A simulated set-up is souring for eyes after some time, but a natural set-up in fresh air and salubrious surroundings is exhilarating and healthy. Exposure to technology is necessary, but substituting human experiences of learning with technology is something that needs to be addressed.
The biggest mistake our society has made is that Sports has been de-linked from Academia. The very definition of education has wrongly changed from an indivisible whole to a compartmentalized concept of only classroom sedentary learning. What has to be learned through sports and other extra-curricular activities was substituted in computers and labeled as “State of the Art education.” Parents only want their children to revolve around their books in complete disregard to any other activity for their socialization which is vital to human personality development. We love to know when our child quotes that Man is a social animal but discourage the same very act by not providing the opportunity to execute the same concept. Our schools sell them in the name of grades scored in exams, state-of-the-art infrastructure and learning means air-conditioned classrooms, latest number of computers, access to internet and English as medium of instruction,. Nobody asks about the playing grounds. The centuries-old adage, that sports develop character, is just a passing reference during any academic discussion. Regulations by different government educational bodies make no mention about any infrastructure specifications related to extra-curricular activities. It has been observed that classroom learning only develops general skills and mental muscles, but it is only through extra-curricular activities where a student awakens his joy for creative expression and knowledge. There is a race among parents to settle down their children as soon as possible only to earn their livelihood. By taking away real sports from the life of children we have usurped their inalienable right to be happy in the pursuit of happiness.
The modern educational system in our country has its basis in the English-medium missionary schools introduced by the British. Today their infrastructure communicates spaciousness with large sports fields and big classrooms. “Nature” through plantations and water structures and above all missionary zeal of the well trained and disciplined teachers. Our educational system today has dispensed with everything except English as the medium of instruction. A gross folly on our part is to compete with and emulate the modern Western educational system based only on following their medium of instruction and syllabus. The developed nations with all the advancements have been able to integrate and balance their educational systems with modern technology without compromising on sports. If they are leading in the lists of Nobel laureates, they are also ahead in Olympic medal lists with subliminal performances. The credit goes to their basic educational system that has complemented well the co-curricular activities with the classroom learning.
My 25 years of experience in academia the world over has taught me one thing, that you cannot discipline, inspire and control children through sermons, lectures and force. The only way you make your child learn is by giving balanced “routine” which should cater to his mental, physical and spiritual development in harmony. This involves time for both academic and non-academic activities. The purpose of schooling is to nourish the natural talents of the children which will find their expression by their contributing in their different chosen professions.
Our government must declare an educational emergency in order to redress our basic educational system not only on modern, but on natural, lines. Our schools without sports facilities have become an object of abhorrence for our own children. They enter their classes with a burden attached to perform according to the wishes of their teachers and parents. The irony of fate is that parents, instead of guiding, inspiring and motivating, convert their children dreams into nightmares by making them hostage to their own unaccomplished ambitions. These complexes are exploited by schools where they have replaced regular extra-curricular facilities with tuition centres. No academic activity can make children learn the life skills like patience, commitment, self-control, tolerance, motivation, leadership and coping with pressure with as much excellence as sports. Schooling without extra-curricular activities is “De-Education”, which is worse than illiteracy.
I have heard a story which may be a mythical, a chimera or even a figment of imagination to be called just a parable. But the moral of it has a true meaning and veracity. There was a King in ancient Greece who found a large youth bulge in his subjects. He was popular and had the ambition of developing his people . He surrounded himself with the best available advisors to guide him in making policies to rule justly. The country became rich and prosperous and thrived in agriculture and trade. But the youth of the kingdom was very much involved in vices like gambling, drinking, robbery and idleness, and sufered many physical diseases and plagues. The kingdom’s exchequer became burdened and the wealth was running out. The king decreed every kind of punishment not limited to only arrests, flogging, and even death sentences to control the crimes, but of no avail. Despondent and worried about the welfare of his subjects he went to the Oracle of Delphi and asked for her counsel. She advised him to start sports to channelize the energy of the youth.
The king came back and ordered that a sports festival be held at the end of every season. This led to the creation of small sports societies across his kingdom to hold events like footraces, wrestling and chariot races where youth started participating. The people from the surrounding states and cities thought of holding a cosmopolitan festival in honour of Zeus and called it the Olympics. The crime rate dropped and moral lethargy was replaced by disciplined valour. With the passage of time the kingdom found the health of its people back followed by mounting prosperity. The kingdom of Greece became cradle of civilization for centuries. One of the greatest historians of the last century, Will Durant, once wrote: “Health of a Nation is more important than Wealth of a Nation.” Let us go back to playgrounds.
The writer is Chief Instructor, Civil Services Academy, Walton and can be reached at : [email protected]
