Re: [MTC Global] A lesson in dishonesty: inventing and outsourcing homework

I remember the days when I was of 9 -10 years old that during
vacation or at the time of some festivals like Pola,
Ganeshchaturthi, etc., I used to prepare bananas, apple, Ganesh
murty (statue), bullocks, etc, out of clay with no cost and used to
write/edit a magazine during Deepavali vacation. We had no idea that
it is called a "project".

In our education system, we have borrowed this concept of Project
from Western education system, loading it on our students right from
KG to PG, with heavy cost in terms of money, time and papers and
neither the student does not know what does a project stand for,
what is theme of project, the teacher is also equally, in most of
the cases, ignorant what a student is doing and under pressure the
project is completed.

This has given births to many shortcuts. pay and obtain a
project/seminar. This is applicable right from KG to PG: BE
projects, ME dissertations and PhD theses are on sale. Even the
mini-projects, work-shop jobs, drawing sheets, etc. are readily
available in the market. There is one trend: students are not aware
of the text books (high %), they purchase before one week of exams.
the xerox notes of local authors (mostly the local subject teacher)
and get through. There exists a wonderful SCM right from supply of
materials to results for obtaining desired outcomes!

What values are we inculcating in our students? Can they build the
nation?

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On Sat, 31 May 2014 15:46:03 +0530 wrote
> A lesson in dishonesty: inventing and outsourcing homeworkShivani
Singh, Hindustan TimesLast summer, my friend decided to give her
seven-year-old a lesson in self-reliance. She insisted her daughter
complete her holiday project all by herself. She was there to help--
got her the material, offered guidance with the internet research
and also checked if she got her concepts right. The girl was hoping
to turn in a decent project.But she came home all teary-eyed after
the first day back to school. Mostchildren submitted projects of
professional quality while hers looked amateurish. "If you can't
make it for me, let’s just buy a project like others do," she told
her mother.Completing their children's holiday homework is an annual
summer ritual for many parents I know. They take off from work or
cut short their vacations to complete their kids’ holiday
projects. Many sheepishly tell you how it is more convenient to just
"buy" homework.There are enough freelancers, college students and
homemakers to do holiday projects for you. In fact, it is a mini
cottage industry in Delhi and suburbs. These "homework makers"
advertise on the internet, social networking sites and send out
flyers to homes or just tie up with neighbourhood textbook
shops.Last week, Hindustan Times reported how Delhi’s
schoolchildren were shopping for homework online. The advertising
portals offered deals with taglines such as “Leave Holiday
Homework Worries. Get Holiday Homework for all classes done by
Experts†and “School Projects and Chart papers without your
mother getting disturbed (sic).†ForRs.250-2,000, you can pick up
anything from a revolving solar system, a model of a human body,
weather systems, plant experiments to collages on wildlife, climate
change, people and places; or a readymade PowerPoint presentation on
any topic for a price. They even provide book reports, articles and
poems at competitive rates.Most schools issue warning to parents
against seeking professional help for holiday homework. Some even
threaten to give negative marks if such projects are found to be
done by anyone else but the student. But some of these assignments
are not age appropriate. How can a four-year-old, who is yet to
handle scissors, be expected to make complicated photo frames? Or a
seven-year-old make accurate model of a monument in Delhi, with only
eco-friendly materials? In fact, even parents often struggle with
their kids’ assignments.At a time when the authorities have tried
to de-stress students by making Class X board exams optional and
introducing Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation pattern that
aims to shift focus from testing memory alone to judging a range of
abilities such as imagination and creativity, it is surprising that
few talk about the practice of holiday homework.Experts believe that
holiday homework is necessary to ensure retention of concepts over
the long break from school. Activity-based projects assigned to kids
during holidays can encourage productive interaction among the
parents and the children. But nobody except for those "homework
makers" stands to gain if the projects are just too intimidating.But
if schools are loading children with age-inappropriate homework,
parents are making it worse by outsourcing something that is meant
to develop their ward's independent learning skills. This is an
early lesson in dishonesty. Lying to her teacher and friends that
she did the project herself also teaches her that money can buy
anything.Instead, parents could suggest projects that would interest
their wards. For this, they need to open communication channels with
the school. The best holiday homework is what stokes the imagination
in young minds. Why not simply ask the children to maintain vacation
diaries, and maybe also prepare a scrapbook of all the activities.
They don’t need help with logging their own stories which, say
schools that encourage such simplicity, often turn out to be
surprisingly original and creative.Educate, Empower, ElevateProf.
Bholanath DuttaFounder, Convener & President



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Regards,
Vote for me: MTCG Indian 10 Thinkers
Vote Line Open: 15/6/2014
site: http://mtcglobalaward.org/mtc.php

Dr. P H Waghodekar, PhD (Egg), IIT,KGP, IE&M, 1985,
Advisor (HR), IBS & PME (PG)
Marathwada Institute of Technology,
Aurangabad: 431028 (Maharashtra) INDIA.
(O) 02402375113 (M) 7276661925
E-Mail: waghodekar@rediffmail.com
Website: www.mit.asia

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