What A Kid Wants From School 0

A kid’s world is a different world all together. A world where homework doesn’t exist, games and toys are abundant, colours are rampant and there is no end to the imaginations right from blue foxes to yellow elephants. A make believe world that keeps these kids so glued to the TV set and Play stations. A school recently conducted an opinion poll on what children wanted from school and discovered some startling responses from children randomly selected from different age groups.

The children felt happy to be a part of the opinion poll and felt happy to be questioned. Infact some even wrote out their answers and memorized them to answer when their turn came. One child didn’t feel like going to school everyday and felt school shouldn’t be everyday. A 12 year old said should display work well done by a student open for comments. Yesufu,in senior school was part of the school parliament in his school and enjoyed being a part of it.

He felt every school should have a system to voice student concerns. Benjamin liked the fact that his school encouraged his projects than look at his academic scores. This had even made his mother happy with him. Meira felt uniforms were such a waste. Pursuing a specialization in class ten, Meira wants to be a designer and feels uniforms could be given a more modern look, retaining the colour combination but introducing with customized changes to suit a student’s style. Michael added to say uniforms shouldn’t be made compulsory if a student didn’t want to. Shyla in class 5 said, children should choose the subjects that will make them what they want to be from start.

Mohan in class 8 felt the canteen food was lousy and schools must change with the taste of the generation. A diverse range of opinions, the school opinion poll was an eye-opener for the management who thought their students were happy with the way things were. As providing education to all has become the priority over the recent years, OSA is India’s leading portal for school admissions to schools in the city of your choice. We provide accurate information about all the schools in Mumbai. You could also check from our List Of Schools In Chennai on our portal that would help you to take an informed decision while choosing a school in India.

School Readiness for Boys 0

Is He Ready for School?
Parents of 4, 5 and 6 year olds begin to wonder about first grade readiness: Is he ready for school? How is he ever going to be able to behave in school? He can’t sit still!
It is important to think about what schools are asking of children. The pace of education has increased. However, our brain structure and development has not changed since our brains evolved when we were hunters and gatherers.
What are we asking our children to do that they don’t actually have the brain structure and development yet to do?
When you observe kindergartners or first graders, the boys are typically 1 to 1.5 years behind the girls in their fine motor development, their ability to sit still, and their ability to follow directions.
Send him to school as late as possible! That way, he’ll be the oldest in his class. This will benefit him through all the years of school
An extra year of kindergarten is advisable. A rising trend in America, and more established in Europe, are outdoor kindergartens. This gives boys, especially, an opportunity to be outside, to be physical, learning in a way that suits him much more. It is better than teacher (93% chance she is female) saying, Here you are in the classroom, it’s time to sit still and learn.”
Another part of development is the language areas of his brain. They are slower to develop than girls. So, while there are girls in first grade who can write complete stories, follow sequences, and read, your boy may not be ready to read until second or third grade.
Of course, there are boys that read when they are 3 or 4, each child is different. But overall, trying to teach a 5 year-old boy to read is like teaching a 3.5 year-old to read! Can you image?! Developmentally his brain is not yet ready to process language, track words across a page, and be able to match sounds and symbols.
In school, we’re asking too much, too early, of many of our boys.
Having boys enter school before they are developmentally ready and attempting to teach them to read before they are ready, sets them up for failure from the beginning. In first grade, they feel school isn’t for them, they see the girls succeeding where they can’t - yet.
What are their alternatives to this stress? They become withdrawn. Or they get even more rambunctious, perhaps becoming the class clown because somehow they have to act out, to process what they’re feeling.
We see this pattern of failure manifest at the other end of school, too. Fewer males are graduating from high school than ever before. And even in college, here in America, only about 44% of the college population is male. The males that do go to college are less likely than their female counterparts to finish their degree program.
We’re setting them up for failure by putting them in school too soon.
10 Ways to Bring out his Best at School:
- Boys need to move. If he travels in a car or rides the bus to school, he needs to move before he enters the classroom.
- Arrive early and jump rope, play basketball, run around the block.
- Recess. While schools are shortening recess, it’s being shown that academic performance actually increases with more movement.
- Active learning. Lessons designed with an active learning component builds social relationships and increases memory retention.
- Water. Frequent sips of water reduce stress and hydrate the body and brain.
- Relevance. Boys want their learning to matter and they want to know how to apply it and how it will impact the world.
- Allow gross. Boys express themselves with different subject matter. We need to make blood and guts as acceptable as unicorns and flowers.
- Free time. The kind of free time you remember when summer days seemed to stretch endlessly because there was nothing on the schedule. Be sure to schedule in some quiet, free play time every day. He needs time to process his day.
- Nature. Nature is the antidote to all the stress of school, media, family dynamics, and just simply growing up. Time in nature is essential to healthy bodies and minds.
- Teachers. Gently bring them on board. Let them know about resources such as Boys Alive Bring Out Their Best! by Janet Allison and Boys and Girls Learn Differently by Michael Gurian. Both available at Amazon.

Have Women Contributed to The Formation Of Modern Civilization? 0

Almost ending all discussions, Freud thundered, ‘Women can’t contribute to civilization’. With there being very little input from the fairer sex in history compared to men, Freud almost got scot free with his statement. However, with women going through suppression, due to, what the feminists call patriarchy, while it was natural for him to say so, as a reaction, it was not unnatural for feminists to accuse him of being a male chauvinist either. No wonder, the endless clash between feminists and Freudians reminds one of clash of civilizations.

However, irrespective of the clash, her lack of noticeable contributions to history’s pocket civilizations was not due to her innate inability. It was due to her lack of awareness. With men having the key to her awareness, feminists, again, were not wrong in blaming patriarchy for her small contribution in history. Having no education, being stuck at home and not really allowed to express their views outside, it was, in fact, difficult to expect contribution from them. In fact, with no rights, their lives at times were miserable and women’s empowerment was never even thought of.

Almost constituting empowerment of women, today we see that women are not only contributing but are fully reaping the benefit of modern civilization. With its help, they in fact, have unleashed their powers, never known in human history. Their success statistics in many fields is staggering. They have achieved this success in just a single century, when they were given the opportunity to educate themselves and work outside home. They, however, have not succeeded in politics. In fact, Afghanistan has got more female MPs than Canada. This is simply because political parties follow a process of selection of candidates and don’t give enough seats to women. Leaving politics aside, did they contribute to the formation of this civilization, which has given them so much?

Almost as an answer, while less of her education made her contribute less than men, more of his arrogance did not notice, even those.

Nevertheless, her contributions went parallel to that of men, at least in significance, if not in quantity. Interestingly, while modern civilization not managing without computers is well known, a woman as a first computer programmer is less known. Paralleling this, many other women contributors and their contributions are relatively less known. Men’s contributions, on the other hand, get luckier by the day.

It is interesting that unlike ‘pocket civilizations’, modern civilization, uniquely, has been formed by contribution of people from many ‘pocket civilizations’. Parallel to it, women from different cultures have contributed to the formation of this civilization. In its discussion about the past, present and future of mankind, noting this discrepancy, the book ‘Women’s Power: Its Past, Its present, Its Future: Femocracy’ recognises not only the contribution made by women from the west but by women from of other cultures as well.

How to Communicate In Your Marriage 0

The buzz word for saving a marriage nowadays seems to be ‘communicate’. It is as if it will automatically zip up all conflicts and resolve all hurts. It may seem a simple word but it can be quite difficult for one to practice.

There are some pointers for a couple with marital problems to learn the right communication skills before using them correctly to fix their communication in marriage problems.

Your spouse is the closest human relation on earth to you; hence it is your rightful duty, as per your marriage vows, to treat each other well. Each has to look out for the welfare of the other and give one’s spouse the best of oneself. But most of us tend to react the other way; we are most polite to strangers but rude and critical with our spouse. We tend to take our loved ones for granted. Hence, before good communication can happen between the married couple, they must remember their status in each other’s lives and be given top priority at all times.

Communication between spouses

Communication is the process of conveying some message to another. Hence, the right words must be chosen as words, once delivered, cannot be retracted. It is so important to choose your words carefully so that the correct message is conveyed without inferences and guesswork. Always sort out your words first before voicing to avoid misunderstanding and create conflict.

This is especially necessary if your marriage is not too stable when you wish to communicate to resolve issues. Put yourself in your spouse’s shoes to feel how your words might impact him/her.

Another point about communication is the timing. To have an effective communication, it must be done at the right moment. Do not try to communicate when one party is busy or not alert in mind. Your spouse may be sleepy or tired; there will be no positive impact and you will end up being frustrated with the brick wall of communication. Both parties should be calm and ready to deal with the issue at hand for a resolution. That will be the best time to communicate your feelings and thoughts without being accusing or defensive.

Avoid emotional outbursts which tend to turn the spouse away or shut off his mind. This kills all forms of resolution to any disagreement or conflict in the marriage. Raising voices and yelling at each other tear down respect for one another which causes more hurt and frustration.

Communication is conducive when the location is right. Crowded places or in front of your children will not do. The place should be comfortable and secure for both parties so that openness is encouraged. The bedroom is a good choice for privacy and a reflection of intimacy for good communication between the couple.

There are many ways to communicate effectively besides words; one can touch or embrace, give a smile or a kiss. These help to relax the other party and allow softer communication to take place which is more productive. Choose nonverbal gestures of communication to promote respect, love and desire to resolve marital conflict.