THE SECONDARY SCHOOL AS WE VISUALIZE IT
 

In the preceding chapters, we have discussed the various aspects and issues pertaining to the reconstruction of Secondary education. In this chapter we propose to present a composite picture of the Secondary school as it would emerge if our proposals and recommendations are put into effect.

Provision of a Proper Environment

The first concern of the schools should be to provide for its pupils a rich, pleasant and stimulating environment which will evoke their manifold interests and make life a matter of joyful experiences. This is not an easy thing to achieve; it demands a many-sided approach. To begin with, the physical environment of our schools with the exception of a few well-endowed schools, is generally so drab and depressing that it is not conducive to the building up of an esprit-de-crops or a sense of pride in the school. We realise that many schools work under considerable financial difficulties and it is idle to expect that they will be able to put up suitable buildings or provide proper furniture and equipment. But, we are not prepared to concede the point that it is impossible for such schools to do anything to improve their present material conditions. In fact, our observations have convinced us that, where the staff and the management have shown some vision and have been able to win the active cooperation of the students and the local community, financial difficulties have not stood in the way of the schools becoming reasonably "streamlined". Educational authorities and teachers often fail to realize what tremendous resources they have at their disposal in the hundreds of eager, lively, constructively disposed youngsters in their school. If their enthusiasm and practical aptitudes are properly and tactfully mobilized, they can themselves change the general appearance of the school-plant almost beyond recognition and, in this effort, the parents and the local community can be of immense help. We have no doubt that, under proper encouragement, students all over India can, if necessary, carry out minor repairs, white-wash school rooms, keep the school garden and compound in good shape, paint and polish the furniture, decorate the bare walls of their rooms with charts, pictures and illustrations and enliven them with flowers, wherever this loveliest of Nature's gifts is available. And, if the schools do become, as we have envisaged, an integral part of the life of the community and they begin to realize that their welfare is their own concern, the problem of resources will become much easier, for there is no community of persons that is too poor to make some contribution for the improvement of its own school. We have stressed this question of the decoration of schools at the outset not only because it can give the students a new feeling towards their school but also because it cultivates a love of neatness and beauty and artistic taste which

210

CHAP.XV] THE SECONDARY SCHOOL AS WE VISUALIZE IT 211

are at present lacking in some of our youth. We are anxious that our schools should take the lead in the matter of improving their own physical environment. It is, however, essential that the students should actively share in this crusade for beauty-both in the matter of its creation and proper maintenance. If this is given to them ready- made like the furnished residence of a nouveauriche it will not have the same educative effect; for education primarily consists, as we have stressed more than once, in making and creating things of beauty and utility by our own efforts.

Promotion of Extra-curricular Activities

Given a clean, pleasant and well maintained school building, we would like the school to see if it can provide a richly varied pattern of activities to cater for the development of their children's entire personality. It has to formulate a scheme of hobbies, occupations and projects that will appeal to, and draw out, the powers of children of varying temperaments and aptitudes. Putting the problem in these words obviously implies that we do not visualize this school as merely a place of formal learning, whose main concern is to communicate a certain prescribed quantum of knowledge, but rather as a living and organic community which is primarily interested in training its pupils in, what we have called, the gracious "art of living". Knowledge and learning are undoubtedly of value but they must be acquired as a bye- product of interested activity, because it is only then that they can become a vital part of the students mind and personality and influence his behaviour. What this implies in terms of educational method we have discussed at some length in the relevant chapter. All that we need recall here is that the Secondary school of the future must be transformed into an "activity school", because activity has an irresistible appeal for every normal child and in his natural path to the goal of knowledge and culture. But the "art of living" is a much more comprehensive concept than the acquisition of knowledge, however intelligently planned. It includes training in the habits and graces of social life and the capacity for cooperative group work; it calls for patience, good temper, sincerity, fellow feeling and discipline. These can only be cultivated in the context of the social life and the many curricular and co-curricular activities that must find a recognised place in every good school. We have already discussed their place in the school programme and the many educational values that they can serve if they are organized intelligently and with vision. What we would like the teachers to bear in mind is that these have a double function to perform--on the one hand, they provide an opportunity for students to develop their individual talents and capacities and self-confidence and, on the other, they lend themselves to being made the leaders in co-operative work Which trains them in the division and integration of functions and in the allied qualities of discipline and leadership. We would like to see these schools humming with activities in which each student will be able to discover himself. One great advantage of the activity methods, that we have advocated for teaching curricular subjects, will be that the present rigid line of demarcation between the classroom and the extra- curricular activities--carried in the leisure hours,

212 THE SECONDARY SCHOOL AS WE VISUALIZE IT [CHAP. XV

on the playground or in the hobbies room or in the library-will dis- appear and all work will partake of the quality of play. We do not visualize that these schools will have dull, routine ridden, formal lessons in the class plus a number of independent, unrelated 'extra- curricular' activities which have no intrinsic relationship With them either in contents or method. The entire programme of the school will be visualized as a unity and inspired by a psychologically congenial and stimulating approach, the so-called "work" being characterized by the feeling of job and self-expression usually associated with play and hobbies, and these letter having something of the meaningfulness and purpose which are normally considered a special feature of academic work.

In the planning of these activities, it is important to remember that they should be as varied as the resources of the school will permit. Academic activities like debates, discussions, dramas, school magazine, social magazine, social activities, like the organizing of different functions for the school community as well as the local community, sports activities, manual and practical activities, social service projects, art projects, must all be woven into a rich and unified pattern, within which every child will be able to find something to suit tastes and interests. In the actual working out of these various activities, academic, social, practical and sporting-the teachers will find that there are really no rigid boundary walls, between them. The production of a school magazine, for example, involves a number of activities and processes, which can, coalesce together to form a most valuable experience to train the personality of the pupil. And the impact of a really well work-out of project, whatever its nature, does not remain confined to its own special field but spreads out to irradiate various facets of personality. Thus, by planning a coherent programme of different activities, rich in stimuli, the school will not be frittering away either the time or the energy of the pupils but will be heightening their intellectual powers also side by side with training them in the other fine qualities.

Provision of Craft and Productive Work

We expect this school to devote special attention to craft and productive work and thus redress the balance between theoretical and practical studies which has been upset for many, many years. It will have a lively appreciation of the basic truth that "the education of a mind is essentially a process of revivifying in it the latent values contained in the goods of culture". In this process, educationally productive work, both intellectual and practical, plays a very important part; in fact it is the finest and most effective medium of education. It will, therefore, be reflected both in its curriculum and methods-that is, on the one hand, different practical subjects and craft work will find a place in the curriculum on the same status as the so-called "liberal" studies and on the other, the teaching methods will partake of the nature of activities and stimulate independent work. Every well established and reasonably well financed school will have workshops and craft-rooms where students will learn to handle tools and to fashion different kinds

CHAP. XV] THE SECONDARY SCHOOL AS WE VISUALIZE IT 213

of materials into form. They will not be merely "flirting" with some- thing called hand-work which often offers little stimulating challenge to their practical aptitudes, but will actually be confronted with real jobs of work which will genuinely stretch their powers. These craft-rooms, workshops (and farms), no doubt, are specially meant for students who offer practical subject like agriculture, engineering, domestic science, etc., but they will also provide suitable practical occupations for all students including those who take up sciences or humanities or art subjects. Likewise the school laboratory will not be a toy affair, where a few simple and carefully planned experiments are performed under vigilant eye of the teacher who sees that the prescribed routine is followed. It will endeavour to give them something of the thrill and the joy of discovery and the educative experience of learning through trial and error. It would be wrong to imagine that practical work of this type cannot be carried out in Secondary schools. It has been done by many progressive schools in different countries and one of the finest and stimulating accounts of what has actually been accomplished, in this way will be found in the story of the Public Schools at Oundle (England) as it is developed under the inspiring leadership of its Head Master, Senderson.*

School Library Service

This school of ours will also endeavour to build both a living library and an efficient library service. We have already stressed the importance of school libraries and given a few practical suggestions which can help to quicken the present dormant and depressing libraries into life. The library will be the hub and the centre of the intellectual and literary life of the reorganized school and play the same part vis-a-vis all the other subjects as the laboratory plays for science subjects or the workshop for technical subjects. In fact, even in the case of scientific and technical subjects it will have a very important role. An intelligent teacher and an interested class will raise, or find themselves confronted with, many issues and problems in the course of their work-in history, geography, science, literature etc. No text book could possibly provide the solution to all these problems or offer the information necessary for the purpose and no intelligent teacher will commit the folly of trying to do all the thinking, or discovering all the material, for his pupils. They will, therefore, naturally have recourse to the library as the source of the desired knowledge and the trained and understanding librarian will meet them half-way, direct them to the books and reference sources, provide comfortable facilities for them to read and take down notes and cooperatively draw up their plans of work. Thus they will be trained in the art or purposeful reading and making their own way in the world of ideas. In addition to this purely utilitarian function, the library win also provide facilities for developing their taste in the reading for plea- sure which is a most valuable and meaningful hobby. We feel that, if the teachers and the pupils are keen about it, they can certainly do a

214 THE SECONDARY SCHOOL AS WE VISUALIZE IT [CHAP. XV

great deal to improve the physical environment of the library resources and to ensure its proper use even within limited finance.

The School as a Centre of Community

Another thing which will distinguissh this school from most of the existing schools is that it will be organized as a community. We have discussed the raison d'etre of this transformation at some length we have stated that the starting point of educational reform must be the re-linking of the school to life and restoring of the intimate relationship between them which has broken down with the development of the formal tradition of education. How can that best be done ? We would like this school to become a centre of actual social life and social activities where the same kind of motives and methods are em- ployed as operate in the life of any normal and decent human group. It will not confine itself to book learning and the teaching of prescribed knowledge and skills but it will give full room for the expression of the pupils' social impulses. It will. train them, through practical experience in co-operation, in subordinating personal interests to group purposes, in working in a disciplined manner and in fitting means to ends. Discipline in the school will not be a matter of arbitrary rules and regulations enforced through the authority of the teachers helped by the lure of rewards or the fear of punishment. The students will be given full freedom to organize functions, to conduct many of the school activities through their own committees and even to deal with certain types of disciplinary cases. In this way, discipline will be maintained through the influence of the social group and it will gradually lead to the development of self-discipline. Above all discipline will be ensured by providing for the students psychologically congenial types (and methods) of work which will fully capture their interest and thus impose their, own inherent discipline on them. Many teachers must have seen how, when a group of students is working on a really inte- resting project like staging a drama or arranging a prize distribution function, there is usually no problem of discipline. The sincere and spontaneous desire to do the work as satisfactorily as possible ensures discipline automatically and, if some members of the group interfere in any way with its smooth working, the group opinion asserts itself and puts them right. It is this kind of discipline that we should like to see built up in the school.

The school will, no doubt, be a community but it will be a small community within a large community and its success and vitality will depend on the constant interplay of healthy influences between it and the large community outside. What we would like to see is a two-way traffic so that the problems that arise in the home and community life and the realistic experiences gained there should be brought into school so that education may be based on them and be intimately connected with real life, and on the other hand the new knowledge, skills, attitudes and values acquired in the school be carried into the home life to solve its problems, to raise its standards and link up the teachers, parents and children in one compact and naturally helpful

CHAP.XV] THE SECONDARY SCHOOL AS WE VISUALIZE IT 215

group. This principle will have other implications too. It will mean that students will take an active part in various forms of social service for the good of the community and the school will not only inculcate the ideals and a desire for social service but also provide opportunities and the necessary material facilities. If the village or the town or the particular area of the city in which the school is located is unclean or happens to be infested with mosquitoes and flies carrying disease or is compelled to use water that is impure, it will be the duty of the students to rouse the conscience of the local community to those evils and handicaps through effective forms of educative propaganda and also to do whatever they can to improve this state of affairs and to win the enlightened cooperation of the public in this task. Likewise, interested members of the community, engaged in various useful vocations and profession will be invited to the school from time to time to talk about their particular work, to show its place and significance in the life of the community, to discuss its difficulties as well as its rewards. In this way, outside life will flow into the school and lower, if not knock down, the walls which at present isolate it from the currents of life operating outside. There will also be a close parentteachers association in the school-not the usual kind of formal relationship which means inviting the parents to the school once or twice a year on the occasion of the Prize Distribution or the Parents' Day but continuous contact and exchange of ideas which will help them to understand each other's point of view. They will thus learn to coope- rate in the common task of giving a better, more rational and more sympathetic deal to the children.

One of the dominant aims of the school in the provision of all these social and practical activities and in organizing class-work on a new basis will be to educate the character and inculcate the right kind of ideals and value in the students. It will be earnestly interested in the problem of moral and social training but will not hug the fond illusion that this training can be provided through lessons in morality or civics or exhortations by the teachers or headmasters on important occasions. It will utilize fully the only two media through which character and personality can be really formed-the living force of, personal example and the organization of every single item of school work in such a way that it will have the desired impact on the personality of the pupils. The teachers will realise that they cannot train character or inculcate discipline in the students unless they set before them an effective example of personal integrity, social sense and discipline. But their example will only point the direction and the goal; the actual process of training will consist in the students' discharging all other duties in such a way that it will irresistibly build up the requisite ideals and gualities of character. These will not remain "pinned to the wall" but will find hour-to-hour practical expression in that way they carry on their studies, Play their games, organize their social activities and perform all their talks in and out of school. It is only when this supreme purpose inspires their hearts and minds and enters into every day activities that character can be built on enduring foundations and

216 THE SECONDARY SCHOOL AS WE VISUALIZE IT [CHAP. XV

stand the strain and stress of later life. The teachers should, therefore, constantly think of how the academic and other activities of school life are reacting on the students' character and should frequently discuss this problem amongst themselves and formulate concerted plans of action.

Reorientation of Teachers

Teachers must develop a new orientation towards their work. They will not look upon their work as an unpalatable means of earning a scantly living but as an avenue through which they are rendering significant social service as well as finding some measures of self- fulfilment and self-expression. They will work as a team engaged in a high endeavour with the headmaster as a valued and more experienced member-and as new problems and difficulties arise, they will be constantly conferring amongst themselves and using their collective wisdom and experience to find their solutions. They will not be dominated by routine but, will keep an open mind-receptive and experimental-and look upon their work as a great social and intellec- tual adventure. This would naturally imply an eagerness on their part to continue their study of psychology, of educational literature, and new educational ideas. Their relations with the students will be free and friendly; they will try to study their psychology and their individual differences with sympathy and help them in their difficulties with tact. No school can develop into an educative community, capable of releasing the students' creative capacities, if the teachers maintain a stiff, forbidding attitude, towards their pupils and try to maintain their authority through various kinds of punishment whilst the pupils, on their part, stand in awe of them and are not prepared to share their problems and difficulties with them. That is an unnatural relationship which brings out the worst in both parties. It is not only a false but dangerous conception of prestige which builds up a, wall between teachers and students. It is usually the weak and the diffident or the temperamentally handicapped teacher who takes refuge behind that kind of artificial prestige. The good teacher, in our reorganised school will endeavour to win the love and confidence of these children and establish his prestige on sincerity, integrity, hard work and a sympathetic handling of their problems.

The school will also considerably modify its methods and system of examination. As present, as we have pointed out, teaching is en- tirely dominated by examinations. Students are educated not so much to acquire knowledge and understanding or the right attitudes as to pass examinations. In this school the emphasis will shift from examination to education; teachers and children will concentrate on the real purpose of the school and will take examination in their stride. It is true that the pattern of the final Secondary school examination is beyond their control and it may take some time before that is appreciably modified. But there is no reason why, for the lower classes, there should not be more rational and intelligent examination technique, as it is the headmaster and the staff who largely decide the matter at the stage.

CHAP.XV] THE SECONDARY SCHOOL AS WE VISUALIZE IT 217

Much greater credit can be given to the actual work done by the stu- dent from day to day, of which careful and complete records should be maintained. Moreover, in assessing his progress and his position, factors other than academic achievements, should be given due weight --his social sense, initiative, discipline, cooperation, leadership, etc. Even in academic achievements, they should not use one rigid yardstick but judge them with reference to the individual capacity and intelligence of each student. We are confident that, when the teachers' whole outlook on education is changed and they learn to appreciate the real purpose of the school, they will be able to make necessary adjustments in the methods of examination and make it an ally, rather than a hindrance, in the process of education.

Freedom of School

Above all, this school will enjoy a much greater degree of free- dom than is vouchsafed to the schools at present. We have pointed out in our Report that there is a general complaint from headmasters that they are unduly fettered by the rules and regulations of the De- partment and axe not able to put any new and creative ideas or sugges- tions into practice.

The teachers have, similarly complained that they have not enough freedom to work out their ideas and, in their case, it is stated that often it is the headmasters who stand in a way. We trust that the Education Departments and their Inspecting Officers will see their way to giving greater freedom to schools in the matter of organizing the syllabus, selecting text books and adopting teaching methods. But in addition to that----or even before this is done-there are certain elements of school work which the teachers And headmasters are really free to effect improvements in. We have already referred in this connection to class examinations. They have certainly to follow the general pattern of the curriculum but there is no reason why they should not, for example, enrich it by encouraging greater use of the library and the reading of significant books of general interest. They can adopt methods of work in the classroom which will allow students to work more freely and progress at their own pace. They will be given full freedom in organizing their various activities and extra-curricular projects. This freedom, which will embrace within its scope both staff and students, is a very exacting responsibility and all will have to be gradually trained to bear it worthily. But there is no other way of doing so than giving them the chance to work under conditions of freedom and to accept the risks that may be involved in. the initial stages.

This is the picture of the reorganised Secondary school as we visualise it. We realise that all schools may not be able to work up to it immediately. But it is not an impossible or unduly idealized picture and it does point the correct direction of advance. If the educational authorities and the teachers accent this conception of the school, we are of the opinion that, in spite of the many difficulties and handicaps

218 THE SECONDARY SCHOOL AS WE VISUALIZE IT [CHAP. XV

that exist, it will be possible to bring about many welcome improve- ments in our schools. For, after all, what we have advocated is in brief, a transformation of the schools into social communities where the healthy, normal motives and methods of group work are in operation and children have an opportunity of learning by doing, of gaining meaningful social experiences, and, thereby being trained in the supreme "art of living". All the changes in the methods of teaching, in discipline and examination, all the improvements in the physical environment of the schools and its general atmosphere are meant to assist in this basic transformation. We repeat that it is a difficult, but not an impossible task and, if faith and enthusiasm are kindled in the teachers they can move whole mountains of difficulties. For the teachers there can be no greater or deeper joy than providing for their students an educative environment in which they can lead a rich, joyous and meaningful life and not only acquire knowledge and skill but also find a release for their creative capacities.