Yesterday, I came across the beautiful words of Henry Thoreau, “the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sing the very best.”

God has gifted each of us with innumerable talents, yet we are so far from ourselves that neither do we recognise them nor do we acknowledge them. In fact we are often completely oblivious to them and thus life continues and gradually completes its course.

As I see it, one of the primary aims of schools should be to imbibe in the students a desire to strive for continuous self-development by instilling a desire for learning in order to make them complete and contributing individuals. One of the best ways of doing this is by making them participating members of the classroom, shunning their inhibitions and sharing their views thereby increasing their knowledge, enabling them to respect the opinion of others and insisting on theirs being respected as well.

When children participate, the teacher knows exactly how much has been absorbed and what needs clarification. Participation helps shed the fear of public speaking as the world outside is all about practical and team work. Furthermore, presentations and public speaking are the norms of the day required even for the simplest of jobs.

Teachers today are not so foreboding as they were a few years back simply because the world is in a constant state of change. It seems that open-ended questions which the children of the modern world face seek an open system whereby a lenient air should prevail in the class allowing each child to learn in a relaxed atmosphere and casually voice his or her opinion without the fear of ridicule and the pressure of the answer being perfect. After all, everyone in the class is there to learn and no opinion can be deemed silly or wrong.

Knowledge is a powerful tool. It is a defining factor. Hence, teachers, especially those teaching higher grades, should ensure that children come to class well-prepared with the topic to be discussed. Here I will write about my own experience. In grade 11, it was a rule of our psychology teacher that each of us study the next few pages of the ongoing chapter before coming into class as the lesson would be based on discussion. While in her class we had two options, raising our hands and answering the questions we knew the answers to, or sit quietly and letting her catch us on the ones we didn’t. Considering the subject she taught, she was exceptionally good at reading faces. Hence we remained alert every second and each of us participated. Sociology lessons on the other hand were close to listening to a lullaby. In fact I distinctly remember one lesson at the end of which our teacher remarked “those of you who are still awake, please put a mark where we have stopped.

“In some classes only those children answer the questions whose work is always perfect and who are considered the best in the class. Teachers also do nothing much about this. Of course, they pick the children who have the answers while the others remain mortified. It makes them fear the lessons and the teacher. Their self-esteem is hurt as is their position in class. If the teachers would simply show them how to prepare for the class a number of issues could be solved then and there.

The writer is a teacher.