Learn to use the feedback of your child's marks properly

During 1995-2000 and 2001-2012, Gujarat increased its annual rate of growth from 8.01% to 8.68%. During 2001-2004, the rate of industrial growth for Gujarat was 3.95% and during 2005-2009, it was 12.65%.

If someone shows you this kind of data, you will think that Gujarat is growing at a rapid rate. But this is data. Data, by itself, does not help. It helps only when sees it in relation with the proper context. When you see data in context, data becomes useful information.


For instance, if you compare this data with other states, you will find that states such as Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh have grown as fast as Gujarat. For instance, between 2001-2012, Uttarakhand grew by 11.81%, while Haryana grew by 8.95%. What is remarkable, Bihar and Orissa, the two most backward and poverty-stricken states, also had a growth rate of 8.02% and 8.13% during this period. Even smaller states like Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh grew by 11.01% and 8.96%, respectively. The same is true about industrial growth. For instance, you will find out that industrial growth for Orissa was 17.53% or Chattisgarh was 13.3%. 

Data, in isolation, often distorts the real picture. To make it speak the truth, one has to see it, in its proper context. Sometimes the ready context is available, as in the above picture. Sometimes it is not.

See what happens when you see the data of your child's marks in a test without context. For instance, if your child gets low marks in physics test, what does it mean? Is it low because the test was tough? Or is it low because your child was not prepared for the test that day? Or is it low because your child cannot manage the 'last minute anxiety' of test despite knowing everything? Or is it low because the child did not understand the 'chapters' involved in physics test?


Sometimes the marks are also low, not because of your child's inability. It is low because of inadequate teacher or teaching method, such as Mathew's teacher.

Mathew had been scoring poorly in physics till VIIth class. He found a teacher in VIIIth class who made it so easy to learn physics, that Mathew's learning disability of physics changed by 180 degrees. His marks in physics jumped up considerably in VIIIth. 

Sometimes the marks are low, because the 'teaching method' was not suitable for your child's learning style. For instance, did Mathew learn physics from his new teacher, because the teacher was using a 'working model route' to teach physics instead of 'conceptual route' as is the usual method followed by schools.? Or did Mathew learn faster because the teacher managed to teach 'concepts' in a lucid manner? 


In other words, the 'low marks' of your child may show your child's inability to learn something through the teaching method, or the teacher's incorrect use of teaching method? Both possibilities exist. But we often tend to use 'data' without it's proper context. We need to take effort to understand the context and take the action, and not jump to the first 'conclusion' that comes to our mind. Only after finding the 'right cause', we can 'correct' it. Otherwise we will be spending effort on useless activities.


Worse still, we convert data into knowledge and misuse the data.Data becomes knowledge, when we use data to convert it into action. For instance, when we conclude that our child is 'dumb because he is getting low marks in 'mathematics', we misuse data. When data is used for such purpose in a hasty manner, we do grave injustice to our child. We 'brand' the child as 'poor'. That prophecy becomes self-fulfilling. As the child loses more and more confidence, he starts believing that he is not really 'good enough'. And then it causes unintended consequences in his other life too. 


How do you use your child's data of marks? 

Early to bed and early to rise is not always good

I read this interesting article in TOI. Please read this if your child's bioclock is different than normal.

More than anything sleep dictate our hormonal balance. Michael Breus is one of the leading figure in sleep medicine. In his book, Good Night, he describes in detail the key function of sleep in our lives.

Melatonin, also called sleep hormone, actually helps regulate our entire 24-hour rhythm as well. Once released after the sun sets, it slows body function, lowers blood pressure and body temperature. That is why it is important to fall into a specific sleep habit, instead of changing it. Not all of us can change our sleeping habits easily because of this.

For more information about sleep disorders, visit www.sleepfoundation.org. It provides different kind of information on sleep related disorders like snoring and inability to sleep properly.More than the hours of sleep, it is important to ensure the regularity of sleep. For instance, shifting sleeping habits for weekends is not a good idea, because it disrupts our circadian rhythm ( our internal body clock)

Rise and decline of engineering career-path choice

Read this interesting article on 'Decline and fall of engineers'. It is depicting the world wide phenomena that  has been occuring as more and more career-paths are becoming popular. Three points to highlight are :

1. Lot of engineering students do go to MBA. Last year, in IIM Bangalore, 80% of the IIM graduates ( not engineering graduates) were found to be Engineers. Are engineers going ahead to become MBA's? Does that mean that these engineers leave Engineering because they realise that their career-path choice was wrong? Or does it mean that they leave engineering path to chose higher 'paying' path of management? I have met both type of engineers - some who are enamored by money, and some who chose to go away from engineering because they found Engineering is not their cup of tea. And how can one blame the money-seeking engineers, because even Maslow's need of heirarchy tells us that man strives first to fulfill his need of security and money, before he strives for satisfaction and actualisation!

2. Rise of humanities, liberal arts and design as career-paths. This is happening both because many students and parents are choosing their career paths instead of following treaden paths; but it is also happening also because these paths have become financially rewarding. As the markets have matured, these professions have become well paid. Their is a discernible shift from 'behind the hood' engineering industries to human-interface industries where behaviour scientists and designers are at the forefront. Success of a company like Apple is one example.

3. Remuneration ratio of 10-40-50 is shifting to 20-60-20 in many professions and industries: As a profession matures in the market, the remuneration ratios shift. When a profession is immature, only 10% of the top performers get the best salaries, 40% get average and rest of 50% are languishing in almost poverty. Think of cricket before 1980's or music in 2000 ! ( in India). Even the best of the cricketers had to work in a company to sustain themselves ! As the profession matures, the industry shifts to more balanced ratios.  Even if one does not reach the top, one can still earn enough. It becomes more and more easy to move into these professions.Today, even without playing test match, today's cricketers earn a lot. The same phenomenon is happening with other professions in humanities, designs and others in India.

Take-away to learn

What is more important is reaching and remaining at the top 20% of the group. That does not depend on what career you choose. Even if you choose the most paying career, that is not enough if you fall in the bottom 20%. Contrary to popular belief, it is not enough to choose career paths based on one's 'passion and liking'; because even passion dies if not fuelled.  More than anything else, your ability to remain in the top 20% depends on how you shape your career-path actively and how you utilise your personal life and people life to re-fuel your work-life.

Career does not happen automatically by just choosing it; it has to be shaped consciously and constantly. 

Use these 3 mechanisms to identify your child's gift

Just read this news today :

Aryaman Neelakantan, a Grade 3 student at Bangalore, won global rank 1 at 14th International Science Olympiad. The article in Times of India quotes that "his fascinations change over time.Initially it was dinosours, later it shifted to fossils, insects and bugs, and then to Rocks". At the grade of 3, he says he wants to become a Geologist !

These olympiads are taken by over 3000 schools. These olympiads conducted by Science Olympiad Foundation are for different subjects such as science, maths and language, and even IT knowledge. These tests are very good means to enhance your child's knowledge in these areas, starting from Grade 1 to Grade 12.

If the child likes a specific subject, he is more inclined to study that subject. But the curriculum of a traditional school does not allow the child to study 'ahead', and to know more about something that interests her. In Montessori method, as a child is placed in mixed age group of three years, a child can learn deeply about a subject from his seniors, if he is interested. In IB curriculum ( offered through International Schools), one can also take advanced tests of 'graduate level' if one is exceptional in a subject.

However, if your child is in a traditional school, these olympiads are very good for your gifted child due to three reasons. One, these Olympiads tests her proficiency visavis other similar students through which she finds that she is ' really good' in a specific subject. This itself is a good 'information' which the child uses to 'channelise' her energies. Two, by offering stiffer challenges, it grooms your child in developing her capabilities. By constantly offering challenges that are stiff enough, these olympiads therefore provide automatic motivation to a child to stretch his abilities. in our days, this function used to be performed by excellent teachers !

Besides Olympiads, some schools also offer special 'labs' in subjects like science and maths. These labs, if manned by good teachers, also offer the child the same advantages that these olympiads offer.

More importantly, these Labs and Olympiads offer your gifted child third unique advantage, the best learning environment of an informal group. It connects your child with other children who have similar interests. This 'informal social' group of 'similar interest' students is the best mechanism for your child to grow his abilities: because this group enables the child to find answers to his difficult questions, find one's solution in someone's question,  prod each other by finding difficult challenges and undertake projects that cannot be done by a single individual. Psychologists today have recognised that such informal network is a best learning crucible one can offer to a child.

We all are gifted in a specific subject or topic. We could be good in any of the streams of subjects, be it language, arts, design or science. Olympiads, labs and informal groups offer us a mechanism to explore our interests, find 'what we are good at' at an early age and even develop it.

If you understand this, you will realise that Internet today offers one of the biggest benefit to your children: an opportunity to join a virtual community of similar-interest students who could be located in any part of the world. Through internet, your child can become part of group of similar-interest students, even if the interest is as narrow as corals or butterflies or as wide as astronomy or mathematics. This was not possible in earlier days. And as you would have observed from Aryaman's case mentioned above, the interest may vary from dinosour to rock to animals. Finding such a group on internet,that is of interest to your child, is therefore a very easy way to 'identify' your child's gift and nurture it. And once he finds his interest and develops it (either through Olympiads, labs or informal groups), the next step of finding 'career-path' is as easy as Aryaman, who has found his path at Grade 3 age! 

Teach your child interdependence, not just independence

Most of the school systems today are run based on competition, where every child works on his own and tries to show he is better than others through his marks and awards. On the other hand, the real life is all about competition between 'Group of cooperators'**, whether it is the competition between companies, or the competition between individual players.

Contrary to popular perception, even competitions between players in individual games like tennis, badminton and golf are not competition between the two individuals, but competition between two teams. For instance a tennis player like Roger Federer has a team of coach, physiotherapist, tour manager (who manages the logistics and other matters in the various cities), agent ( to manage the activities outside sports), psychologists ( who is required to tune the mental conditioning), playing partners ( who play with the players) and others. So when Roger Federer sustains his game for ten years, it is not just the raw tennis-playing skill of Federer that is critical, it is the result of eco-system that Federer has created through his team.

In other words, cooperation comes before competition. Even our ancestors survived the harsh environment because they 'grouped together in tribes'. But we seem to have forgotten this simple lesson when it comes to helping our children gain this important skills of working together.

We rarely teach this skill of working together to our children in schools. Although psychology tells that after the age of 7, the student likes to socialise and work with other students, our school system do not encourage this 'working in group'. That is why, i guess, in a recent survey conducted by a education group in Bangalore, when students of VIIIth class were asked 'Which is the best time in your school?', majority of the students replied "Our best time in school is when we come/go to school in a bus". Isn't this a classic symptom of what students crave in a school?  It was Judith Harris, who found that more than the parents, the children are influenced  by their peers.Unlike traditional schools,  in a Montessori school, children from the age of 7 always work together in groups.

The skill of managing interdependence is not only about learning to work together in a group, although that skill is critical. More important part of the skill is understanding the 'interdependent loops' of which we are the part, and utilising those 'loops' to help us. For instance, if your child is learning 'language' such as French, the best way to learn the language is becoming a part of group of students who are learning French, and utilising that Group, to gain the skill of using French language ! When one is in a group of such students, they prod each other, correct each other. They find activities like going to French movies, or joining a web 'seminar' on 'French architecture', or go to a talk by 'French writer' who has published an English book. It is the cooperation of the group that not only creates learning, but also motivation to learn.

Last year, when i was coaching a college student, Astha i found that she was a student with average marks till 12th standard. But when she joined an Engineering college, she was in the top 5 in his Engineering college. When I found that she had become part of a group of students who were like her, i helped her find different ways in working with her interdependent group. I gave her few lessons on  conflict management, understanding one's role in the group, and simple skills of communication. They studied together in library,  challenged each other, worked together in a project. Astha had managed to use the 'interdependence' to her advantage.

As we live in a society, we are part of different groups. We work together with other building members of different neighbours to maintain our society clean and safe. We are part of political group which is setting up a library in our community. We are part of a NGO who is helping street students in our community to educate. We can utilise these different interdependent groups for helping our child 'be part of an interdependent' loop and learn both the skills: the skills of working together with diverse people, and the skill of using the relationships to one's advantage. 

If your school is not helping your child build his skill of interdependence, what are you doing for your child?

** If you want to read more about this concept of competition between group of cooperators read The Gardens of Democracy: A New American Story of Citizenship, the Economy, and the Role of Government by Eric Liu & Nick Hanauer

How to evaluate learning-centric schools?

As we discussed in our earlier blog, we require two different set of schools: one for urban towns and one for rural villages. As school is part of its environment, there is no 'universally good' school. The school, to be good, has to be compatible with the environment around it.

In urban towns, as learning-centric schools are not enough for our children's development to compensate for our non-conducive social-environment, we need development-centric schools. In villages it is the reverse. In a village, we need learning-centric schools, because the development-environment is conducive for the child's growth. The challenge of education in school is different for urban and rural schools. ( I am implicitly assuming that the purpose of education is to prepare a child for life, not just for job)

Implicit purpose of learning

The purpose of learning different subjects is to enable the student to understand (analyse) the world and then be able to synthesise it in his own way.

To make it easier, we use different subjects to understand the world - physical world through science, the living world through biology, the social world through history, the ecological world through geography and environmental science, the cultural world through languages and art subjects, and the manipulation of world ( via formalism) through mathematics. Please note the purpose of mathematics.

Characteristics of good learning-centric schools

At a broad level, we learnt from the best school systems in the world, that the three criteria for evaluating a learning environment schools are 1> find if they have the best and passionate teachers for a subject, 2> find how they guarantee that the teachers remain the best in their pedagogic approach and 3> how do they step in when the student lag behind.

At a more detailed level, I can think of five minimum characteristics of the good learning-centric schools:

1. Good schools use different styles and tools to suit a subject.

Every subject, due to its unique linkage with the external world, require different approaches to convert the understanding into knowledge. A student gains 'knowledge' only when the student can use the understanding of a subject in a different context. For instance, the student may understand 'gravity' by solving all the questions of gravity perfectly, but he gains knowledge only when he understands how 'laws of gravity' are utilised in flying an airplane.

In the same way, each subject/topic requires different teaching style, tools and methods to convert understanding into knowledge. While knowledge of language can be easily gained by 'taking part in debates and elocutions', it requires additional tools and methods to 'synthesise' language with different 'arts such as drama and literature' to understand the 'culture' of our environment. While the understanding of 'ecology' through geography can be facilitated by use of 'computer' simulation, computers are not useful in understanding the 'social world' through history. While the 'quadratic equations' can be solved easily by rote, the formalism of quadratic equations can be understood fully only if the teacher's quality is excellent !

The mix of teacher's quality, tool set and methodology of teaching should be appropriate to the subject. What is suitable for one subject, say language, is unsuitable for another subject, say physics. One cannot use a cookie-cutter formula that is universally applicable to every subject.

2. Good schools balance long term and short term objectives of learning 

Because school performance directly impacts the admissions in graduate and other important courses, it is imperative that the school also enables the student to perform well in 'time-based' exams and tests, while simultaneously enabling the student to 'gain' knowledge.

Both objectives are important to achieve for a learning-centric school. In 70', the exam papers were not as objective. We could learn a subject in-depth and hope to score good marks. But in todays's system of evaluation, the performance in exams have to be given a special guidance.

3. Good schools initiate a topic of a subject only after 'creating' interest

Without interest, one cannot 'understand' anything. This is the basic principle of learning. There are various methods of achieving this. Which methods school approach?

In schools with multi-age batch, a student observes other student taking an advance course because of which his interest is tickled. In Montessori method, an overall perspective is initially given so that the student can 'tie' the small picture with the bigger perspective and therefore get interested. In a primary school i have read of in Japan, every day all the topics to be covered are written on the blackboard at the start of the day so that students can chose and determine their own pace of work .

4. Good schools initiate students to self-create their knowledge

It is presumed that the purpose of teaching is to ensure that 'the knowledge in the head of the teacher' is transferred to the 'student's head'. Nothing is farther from the truth.

Learning happens only when the student 'uses the teacher's content' to self-construct his own knowledge by engaging with the topic. It is the student who 'self-constructs' knowledge. The teacher can only 'transfer the content' and create the right conditions for the student to 'engage with the topic'. If the topic for instance is Indian history, the teacher enables the conditions due to which student  understand the views both of the 'vanquished' ( Indians) and the 'victors' ( English), not just Indians. Without this self-construction, the students fail to gather differing point of views intrinsic in social world, and therefore miss 'knowledge'.

5. Good schools constantly verify if the teaching is delivering the intended result 

Teachers normally assume that a subject is learnt when they have 'taught'. It is forgotten that the subject is learnt, only when the student 'understands' it.

A school therefore has to design tests to measure student's understanding of a topic so that appropriate corrective mechanism can be immediately instituted by the teacher if the student is lagging. As we saw in the best school systems in the world, 33% of the students do not 'understand' a topic in the first time. Topical tests therefore measure teacher's progress, not student's progress.

Year-end exams have different purpose than that of 'topical tests'; year-end exams measure student's progress.Both progress have to be tracked. Very often, teacher's progress is not even measured; it is just ignored. Good schools do not ignore it !

How is your child's school rated on these five measures?  

Lessons from the excellent school system of the world

Howard Gardner, the man who invented the concept of multiple intelligence( as against academic intelligence) was recently in India. In his lecture in Bangalore, which I happen to attend, he mentioned that India should follow Finnish or Singaporean Model of school system instead of US and UK. I went to the web to inquire about the Finnish Model and found some interesting information.

Here is a original paper of Mckinsey findings, who had done study of 25 of the top school systems in the world. ( Please remember that, in the last blog, we discussed education system, not the school systems) Governments spend about 2 trillion dollar in education, but despite this spending, the quality of education has barely improved.The study was meant to find the 'few' factors that significantly determine the quality of the education, despite the variation. Surprisingly, it was discovered, that money does not matter so much. Even though Singapore spends less on primary education ( it ranked 27 out of 30 school systems studied), it provided one of the best quality of education.


Even in the study of Finnish school system, the study discovered some surprising findings. For instance, it was found that although Finish school teachers were not paid as highly as German and Spain teachers, it did not matter. Neither the long duration of compulsory schooling period, or the extended daily school timing, or the small sizes of class improved the schooling system;  which were supposed to be primary determinants of school quality till then.  


The three factors that impacted the quality of education most were:get the best teachers; get the best out of teachers; and step in when pupils start to lag behind.


1. Get the best teachers


In Finland, the top 10% of the cream of the students join teaching. In Finland, it’s not the money but the status and prestige of teaching that attracts the best and brightest into the profession.


Even in India, you will find this to be true. If, for instance, you visit Kota, the town which sends about 4000 of the students to IIT ( out of 10000), you will realise the correlation of quality of teacher with the quality of education. Teachers in Kota are the best. Many of them come from IIT's. If you see the wait-list of the candidates wanting to join these coaching classes, you will find that best of the teachers queue up to the coaching classes to join them.


If you see the quality of teachers even in best of the private schools in India, it is barely above the mark. And more important than the high academic credentials of teacher, another quality matters more in teaching : Do the best want to teach? In schools, we need the best and the passionate teachers, not just best. In teaching, passion is more important than high academic excellence, I think.


2. Get the best out of the teachers


In Finland, groups of teachers visit each other’s classrooms and plan lessons together, in a system called “lesson studies” that include “rounds” just like the medical profession. Teachers learn from each other's strengths. Teachers also get an afternoon off per week for professional development (including for school substitutes).


Even if you see the best of the private schools in India, where best of the teachers are hired, hardly any time and effort is spend on 'improving and maintaining' the quality of the teachers. This is surprisingly the easiest 'location' to invest money and effort; but this is also the most neglected area in school education in India. It is my guess that this happens because the school administrators ( who run our schools in India) do not understand 'education' and therefore do not know 'how to improve the quality of teaching' by these coordinated efforts. 


3. Step in when pupils start to lag behind


Finland schools have an excellent diagnostic system ( called as formative testing) to find that a student has fallen behind, and then it has a special-needs teacher to ensure that the 'gaps' in the student are filled in quickly. Mckinsey report found that 33% of the students receive this early correction in Finland schools. This will give you an idea that even a best education system works well only when it has early feedback and correction incorporated in its design.


What comparable design do you see in Indian schooling system? If the teaching system is teacher-driven, there is hardly any effort by Indian schools to incorporate this corrective feedback into their teaching. If the teaching system is however student-driven, like that of Montessori, then the quality of education is obviously better ! Which teaching system is your school following?


If you want to know more about Singaporean model of schooling, please read this interesting comparison done by Yee Jenn Jong. 


Lessons from the above findings


If you are evaluating learning-centric schools ( visavis development centric schools which require different questions)  for admitting your child, you must ask these three questions to the school administration:

Question 1: Are your teachers best in their subjects? And if they are the best, are they also passionate about teaching?

Question 2: What mechanisms and tools have you adopted to develop your teachers on the continuous basis?

Question 3: What testing do you conduct to identify students who fall behind? And what do you do to fill the gaps in these students quickly?