Enjoy now, read up in the classroom

Unlike many kids who would just like to have fun during the holidays, there are a few who dedicate the summer to studying next year’s syllabus. Their argument is that they would like to stay ahead of everybody. Says Vishakha Goda, a class VII student, “I have been doing this since the last three years. We get the book list on the day of the results, and I buy the books in advance. I study for at least two hours everyday. It helps me because I haven’t been performing well in the class. So when the teacher is explaining the lesson I understand it better.”
However, there are a few others who read up just to prove a point and let others know that they are ‘intelligent’. P. Ritvik Kumar for instance insists that he has to know the answers for all the questions being asked during lesson time. “My friends tease me when I give wrong answers. Though I don’t enjoy it much, I have decided to read everything in advance, so that I can prove them wrong and give the answers even before anybody else does,” he says. Some even go to the extent of taking holiday tuitions.
Teachers surprisingly think this practice has more disadvantages than advantages. They feel, reading up the next academic year’s syllabus during the holidays can actually kill a child’s interest when the lesson is being taught in the class. Says Mrs Malini Sudhakar, a mathematics teacher, “Tutors follow different methods of teaching and the only thing they teach the kid is to arrive at the correct answer somehow. The child will not have proper foundation. When we try to tell them the right method, they don’t follow.”
Another disadvantage is that the child develops attitude problems. Healthy competition is good, but some of the average students go out of their way to beat their more intelligent competitors. Child counsellors say that their only aim is to give the answer before the other child does. According to Shahana Ismail, a child counsellor, children who have this habit will develop hollow intelligence.
“They will parrot the answers without understanding them. Ask them a question outside their field of knowledge and they will stay mum. In many cases, parents are to be blamed because they force this competition on to the child. I wouldn’t say it’s bad to read a little before you go to class, but it shouldn’t be because you want to show off.”
Experts go a step further and say that holidays are to be utilised for extra-curricular activities, because the busy school schedule will not allow them to do anything else. “This is the time to enjoy and learn new things and not sit with your book all through the day, forcing yourself to read,” says Mrs Sudhakar.
P. Ritvik Kumar, student
My friends tease me when I give wrong answers. Though I don’t enjoy it much, I have decided to read everything in advance.

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