The Other Side
Individual vs collective learning Anuradha C
T
he present virus pandemic has forced us to stop and rethink about several of our life and work choices. A rethink on education too is inevitably on the agenda. Governments, education departments, schools and colleges are facing their share of churning. The result is yet to emerge in whole, but the first visible signs of change are the mushrooming of ‘online classes’ or ‘webinars’ for students. From banking to food delivery, every business or leisure activity is moving into a virtual “contactless” mode in the post-Covid world. So why not education, one might ask? Online mode of teaching might sound like a simple way out of the present situation. But can education really be delivered from a distance, will it be effective? Let’s brainstorm. Collective learning at education institutions Formal education for the past century or so has become a mass delivery product. Build massive schools, enrol hundreds of kids every year, split them into section A, B, C…. appoint class teachers as proxy guardians, in charge of dozens of kids at a time. Deliver subject after subject in fixed quantities everyday, for a decade and half. And lo! There you have your finished product – an educated young person ready to face the world!
with the working class – potters, weavers, priests, builders, and so on. It is still true to a large extent in rural India. Receiving lessons from a dedicated home tutor was a privilege limited to the upper classes. A distinguished tutor would arrive at the children’s home and lead the children through vivid learning experiences. Each child would get individual attention. Children with special needs or learning disabilities were ably catered to. Even today, there are accomplished people in all walks of life who have never been to school, they have been entirely home tutored. The only learning that home tutored children often fail to pick up is social interaction – working in teams, sharing, leadership, public speaking and so on. It’s patently obvious that home tutoring alone cannot suffice, it works well only for the privileged few.
The mass manufacturing mind-set of the industrial revolution has spilled over into the education field. With growing populations and increased urbanization, the collective learning method of educational institutions has become the mainstay of formal education. It’s not rocket science to figure out that this collective learning format is far from perfect. It’s a system that assumes all children have more or less the same acumen and interest. It leaves no scope for honing individual talent or providing extra care for the needy child. Individual learning – home tutoring Historically, education has been a more individual and personalized process. Of course, a vast majority did not have access to formal education at all. So they would simply pick up skills required for the family vocation, on the job. This was especially true 50
TEACHER PLUS, JULY 2020
Illustration: Sunil Chawdiker
