Today's "touch me not" schools!

When Tenali Rama was in school, the teacher asked him, “Where are the Vindhya mountains?” Tenali Rama answered, “I do not know”. The teacher got annoyed and said, “Stand up on the bench!” Rama stood on the bench and said, “I still do not see the mountains!” We chuckle at Tenali Rama’s retort.

Imagine if this incident happens in modern times. The next day, Tenali Rama’s father will rush to school and will meet the principal. He will express outrage that his ward was made to stand on a bench. The CCTV footage of the incident will be all over social media. The school will be blacklisted and as far as the teacher goes, his tenure will be over.

Punishment is totally unacceptable in today’s schools. Back then, parents trusted the teacher and gave a free hand to reprimand the child. If there was a parent-teacher meeting, it was not unusual for the teacher to hold the mischievous boy by the ear, even as she conversed with the parent! They were equal partners when it came to the child’s wellbeing.

Punishments came in different flavors- if the mistake was occasional, you were let off with a scolding. A serial offender had to write an imposition, “I will not talk in class”! Sometimes, you had to stand outside the classroom, or asked to run around the playground! If you were distracted, a piece of chalk came flying as a wake-up call! If the offenders were too many, the entire class got whacked! And if the offense was grave, the whole class was detained till the offender owned up! These incidents were never blown out of proportion, and as the saying goes, what happened on the field, stayed on the field.

Along the way, you picked up soft skills. You learnt to deal with the “class monitor” in an astute way. The equation with the rest of the class was equally crucial- like the loyalty of a soldier towards his regiment. At no time could you let your comrades down. Later in life, these learnings helped to be a natural team-player.

Decades later, now an adult, you went back to the same teacher and recounted these punishment tales! The teacher’s eyes moistened, she placed her hand on your shoulder and smiled, having lost all context.

While severe corporal punishment is reprehensible, we have now veered to the other extreme where teachers are asked to stay totally aloof. The loser is the child. In life’s journey, there will be challenging situations. The preparation for life’s battles must begin upfront, in our schools. Mathematics is important; so is the mindset to deal with criticism and to endure a degree of hardship.