swacker said:
But upon leaving, we wish we'd be there eternally.
With one day to go before my school life ends, I feel exactly the same.
Indian schools are, in general, unpleasant and unenjoyable places, where intellect stagnates and mind gets stultified instead of bursting out into its fullest blossom, where originality is stifled and substituted by submission to dogma.
But, my school, if I may add, was, in many ways, a lot different. By 'different', I do not mean antipodal to the convention. In the present system of education that we have in our country, there are limits upto which a school, or any educational institution, can inspire, motivate and enkindle in a student the flames of true knowledge. The cumulative effects of cram schools, rote-learning, too many examinations and peer pressure have blighted the school system beyond regeneration.
However, even then, my school did offer me sufficient space for free thinking, creativeness, ingenuity and unorthodoxy. In many ways, if I had not studied there, I probably would have ended as a constituent of the herd, my mind too abounding with orthodoxy, insecurity and fear, traits ubiquitous among Indian youth, to have been able to garner the requisite confidence and boldness to pursue the dreams I cherish in my heart.
My school has an enormous share in what I am today and what I will be tomorrow. In addition to it, I can't but reminisce the bright memories of my schooldays, glowing with innocence and guilelessness. I had very few friends, hardly two or three, as other students were so preoccupied with their studies, after-school tuitions and mugging, that they had little or no time for social interactions in the form of friendship. But those with whom I did share a camaraderie, I will miss them once the school is over.
Perhaps it's an indication that not all is lost in this country, that we can still fix the system if we try. When I look at others, encumbered by the crushing load of the curriculum and ensnared in an iniquitous educational setup, which values conformity more than ingenuity, mugging their heart out by burning the midnight oil to pass examinations where regurgitation of memorized, banal facts has supplanted incisive analysis and holistic outlook, I look at me and the way I spent the ten years of my school life. The two approaches are, I guess, irreconcilable. As Vivekananda, one of the greatest spiritual leaders of India, once said, "Education is the manifestation of perfection already in man." Is India listening?
