ENGLISH – JOURNAL WRITING
A. short
reflective accounts of significant life experiences.
This
morning, I woke up smiling, no particular reason but probably because I slept
weeping and then the dream that followed : Me living in my young age but not so
long ago. It was somewhat around January 2002 when I came to realize that each
and everyone in this world is mortal, whether it’s a human or an animal. You
all might be thinking why I am saying this and what is the relationship of this
with my life. But I would like to say that this incident had changed my life.
The time when every child enjoy their childhood with full of joy and happiness.
At that time I was making myself stronger and kept saying whatever be the situation
you are going to face, you don’t have to react but to respond.
I think at every moment we learn something. We cannot say that only one
incident can change someone’s life. My father was not with me not because of
job but because he passed away earlier. I was too small to understand what is
going to happen next in my life but as we know that time doesn’t wait for
anyone, it keeps going on and we need to move it. After this incident I used to
sit alone and kept on thinking that why this happened to me? My family helped
me a lot to overcome this situation. They told me that there’s must me
something good waiting for you, so don’t be upset and keep working hard. A time
came when I was unable to concentrate on studies my aunt told me don’t worry I
will take you to someone who can council you and can solve your problem. When
she took me to a woman who was eventually my school principal. She asked me do
you want to study? And want your parents to feel proud? I said yes I want to.
Then from that moment I realized the change that had taken place and this
motivated me to change myself. Therefore I consider this to be my first
incident that had taken me to a different level. When I stepped into my
adolescent age, as we know this age is full of stress, strain and storm. At
that time I met another teacher who changed my thoughts, view and helped me to
move in a positive direction. According to me, I think our life is full of an
experience which motivates us to follow our dreams. My aim has been being
influenced because of teachers who came into my life from them I learn that
teachers are those people which help individuals to behave in a society follow
certain code of conducts, moral values, cultural values, etc. Now if I talk
about my college life there I was the member of the theatre group and I used to
be the coordinator. One day our group decided to do a play in which we
portrayed eve teasing from that we wanted to convey to people that girls should
not feel shy and reserved to defend themselves and keep the suffering to
themselves, it’s time for them to raise their voice. Although we can always
pretend to ignore the comments but thing would be much
better if we can just look straight into eyes of the offenders and loud our
voice.
As we all know understanding life is very difficult it’s a mixture of every
emotion. So with every step it makes us experience experiences which led us to
become more sensible and mature so that we could be able to tackle the
situations and led a happy life.
B) Observations of life situations
that evoke questions and responses.
Today I woke up in the morning with a
cock’s crow. My mother asked me to go and get a packet of milk from the mother
diary. As I reached there, a girl wearing shabby clothes and carrying a torn
book .With a curiosity I told her what happened? Why are you looking so upset?
To which she replied,” Didi do want to study”. Her response left me speechless.
As the day drifted alone, people outside in the neighborhood were
actually talking about the ‘gender discrimination’ that our country facing. After this conversation my thoughts
took me too far and forced me to think, that what is wrong with our country?
Why such gender discrimination taking place still in the 21st
century? Is our country really developing, where a child could not get his/her
universal rights? Everyday in newspaper,
television or in radio’s we heard of girl abuse ,molestation, child
trafficking, etc. when this all be stop? Each girl child should have the same right
as that of a boy. As a citizen, it should be each and everyone’s duty to ensure
that each child whether it’s a girl or a boy should get
their rights and elementary education.
Talking about the socialization of Hindu
middle class, a woman says-once a girl is married, she too cannot expect to
visit her family often. “Is it really necessary to follow such customs or
traditions?
We often see that in an Indian family, the
girls are being neglected in terms of food and nutrition , healthcare,
education and decision-making. Even at the time of birth, the family members
keenly want a boy child. The desirability of having sons and undesirability of
having more daughters is made explicit. We often heard a statement: Four
daughters? Each one will take ten thousand (Rs.10, 000) and walk out of the
house. Bringing up a daughter is like pouring water in sand or like watering a
plant in another’s courtyard.
There is another aspect of the process of
socialization i.e. training for feminine task like work around the kitchen,
dirty household work and childcare generally in the feminine sphere. The
distinction between feminine and masculine work comes early in childhood and
becomes sharper as the child grows up.
A girl who
does not like to do feminine work is reminded that if she thinks that she
becomes a male,” she has mistaken”. How can she escape it? Having been born a
female? Even in the serving and distribution of food within the house is that the
leftovers food should be eaten by female and not by male members of the family.
A country where we worship women as a GODDESS then why on the other hand women
gets deprived of their basic rights. This can be stopped only when we will give
our best bit of contribution to raise a voice against this discrimination and
an equal proportion of equality for women. Then our country can get rid of this
discrimination which has been practicing in our society.
One more
situation that every girl has faced at any point of their life is that of
eve-teasing. Why this crime is getting more and more? Are we responsible for
this or the perception that society think for girls? Eve –teasing is a form of
sexual harrasement by strangers. Even Delhi, is considered to be most dangerous
cities for women. The structure of Indian society is always been male dominated
but in the modern era, women tried to break this male domination. Though, we
have grown by leaps and bounds yet, the most basic structure of society is
showing no sign of improvement. A large percentage of Indian women have faced
or facing this menace, whether it is a public transport system or public places
or shopping malls, a women find themselves vulnerable to threat of eve-teasing
everywhere. Eve-teasing is a complex problem and it required more attention
than what it has actually got. The term ‘eve’ actually signifies that the eves
are the women who provokes male for vulgar comments and behavior. But that is
almost like blaming the victims for their sufferings. Every man needs to know
how to behave with women.
Eve-teasing
in India has to be removed with women empowerment and girl education. What’s
the point of education if the people are not willing to respect women? The
traditional mindset often blames the eve teasing incidents on women that they
provoke male by wearing scanty clothes. That is actually a lame excuse. Even if
females wear modern dresses it does not give man license to harase women, the
answer lies in the changing the mindset and inculcating morals and values in
our education. Women should empower ourselves to fight back. Same story
everyday and now you are wondering what to do? Many women have been found
carrying pins, chilli-powders and even daggers to protect themselves. Self-
defence classes have been practiced in metropolitan cities that teach karate
etc. Joining those classes will not be a bad idea. If you feel too shy and
reserved to defend yourself and keep the suffering to yourself, its time you
get up and raise your voice. Although, you can always pretend to ignore the
comments but things would be much better if you can just look straight into the
eyes of the offenders and speak up. So, I think a change can be there but it
needs effort and needs to be implemented.
C) Question on education, learning
and teaching that he/she is facing.
Now, I am 23 years old but still when I
go out for any interview or any exam I always feel low and very less confident
attitude towards everything this is not because of my personality but because
of my education which is always in doubt for me. Somewhere the reason of my
lowness and less-confident which I feel is because of my school and my higher
school or somewhere because of the education system. In school we must have
gone through the situation where the teachers are expecting from us to mug up knowledge
rather giving us the moral values of education so that we can understand things
in a simple way. They always go with the difficult one. The system in which our
school regulates I think it should be change. We all need
some rules and regulations but when so many things go wrong then the rules and
regulations no long can be same.
Have you ever thought of changing the rules?
If not, then we should not blame anybody for our difficulties and if we really
think that the impact that has been with us in every moment then we all should
raise questions. Have we ever thought that why education is being changing from
year to year? Why it is necessary? Why do syllabus get revised after every ten
years? I think this is because of the change in the society, advanced technology
, morality, mentality and so many other things which forces us to make changes.
If we look back to our history, the way of teaching practices, thoughts and
belief delivered, were very different and more understandable than what it is
now. For example, there were “GURUKULS” in which a child came at the age of
4years and remain there for about 10-12 years. Generally, this age group is
considered to be the age of “childhood” where a child can learn more than what
it used to. Here each and every child gets equal attention from their Gurus.
Each child was taught and trained according to their need of interest and
habits. Nothing was being done forcefully. But if we talk about our education
system, the concept is being totally different. Nowadays, children used to mug
up rather than to understand it. They
are more concern about marks that they are obtaining in exam. This is even
because of the family pressure as well as from peer group. The education system
needs to be change so that a man can prepare himself to earn his livelihood and
support his family to the best of his ability. Education, however, has another
vital responsibility and that is to prepare a man to face life itself and all
struggles, problems and joys with a calm mind and to be able to make
appropriate decisions when a crisis arises. Even, after class 12th a
child could not make out what should he do next? Why he/she is not able to make
out? Does our education system really make us self-reliant? I do not think so,
because if a child after his graduation, is not employed then it is obvious
that something is wrong in the teaching methods. Our system manufactures
employees but not employed. When this be change? The changes which can be get
only the help of leaders, teachers, administrators and society. The way of
teaching needs to be changed. Students can no longer be fed information, they need to learn to be leaders
equipped with the knowledge as well as vocational skills to solve unknown problems.
Education researchers foreseen a major
disruption in the education sectors. The political leaders need to find a way for
educators to best nurture today’s youth as they are the future of our country.
What qualities should leader possesses in the future? Leadership is not only
about giving and following order, rather thinking critically and serving
humanity. The future depends on inspired leadership and that every society must
be very intentional about how it trains its leader.
Most
students ask virtually none of these thought stimulating types of questions.
They tend to stick to dead questions like “Is this going to be on the
test”? Most teachers in turn are not
themselves generators of questions and answers of their own, that is are not
seriously engaged in thinking their own subjects. We must continually remind
ourselves that thinking begins with respect to some content only when questions
are generated by both teachers and students. No questions, no understanding.
Superficial questions equal to superficial understanding. Most students have no
questions. They not only sit in silence, their mind is silent as well. Hence,
the questions they do have tend to be superficial. This demonstrates that most
of the time they are not thinking through the content they are presumed to be
learning. Most of the time we see that in school teachers scolds students even
if they were asking for pencil, eraser, etc. Have we ever thought why education
system is divided into four levels i.e. primary, middle, secondary and higher
secondary? Why teachers do not give us practical knowledge? Why they are tend
us to focus on theory and not on practical use? According to me practical
knowledge should be there and teachers should change their teaching techniques
according to the need of interest and aptitude of the child.
As children
we are born with infinite curiosity and lack fear to use it. The new system
should be implemented this understanding by: Letting learning happen instead of
making it happen. The new future needs a new method of preparation. As, Sir
Albert Einstein says: “Everybody is a genius but if
you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree. It will spend its whole life
believing that it is stupid”. So, I think our curriculum should be flexible and
each child can opt their subject as per the need, aptitude and interest of the
child.