Re: Wrong Way To Teach Children #3

From: @centercom...>

To: am-global@earthlink.net
Subject: Re: Wrong Way To Teach Children #3
Date: Fri Aug 03 2012, 22:54:36

Baba

== RE: WRONG WAY TO TEACH CHILDREN ==

~ Part 3 ~

(Note: This is the third letter in this series. Links to the two prior letters are appended below. - Eds)

Namaskar,

"If you give kids money as a means of motivating them to study, that type of psychology will spill over to other arenas of life. The day their mother is sick, they will only go to the store to get medicine if they get paid handsomely by their sick mother. So this idea of paying students to study will just make them spoiled and indulgent. It will wipe out their ability to grow into idealistic, sacrificing, and socially responsible human beings. Why? Because when they are young is the time to teach them these core values, but those are not inculcated. Instead, parents train them with monetary incentives. So children adopt materialistic, business relations as their ideal. In that case, everything is done for monetary return, and they are never given the chance to cultivate an inner drive to help and serve others."

Here is another off-shoot to this problem that abounds based on this same formula:

1. Some parents in the US give money to kids to do house chores.

2. But it is not at all good to create this type of business relation - rather it is most harmful.

3. It sets the tone that children merely have a business relation with their family members and the greater society.

4. If this continues then they never develop a sense of duty or responsibility. They think that everything is a commercial transaction. They totally miss out on the ideals of familial and loving relations.

PERSONAL STORY

I can never forget the poignant account that I heard from a friend. He had fallen in his own home and could not get up - his ankle was twisted and broken. So he asked his 9-year-old son to bring the walking stick that was 20 feet away in the corner. The boy just looked at his father and said, "If you give me ten dollars then I will bring you the stick." The father ended up lying there on the floor in his helpless condition for two hours because he did not have cash to give to his son. It was only when his wife returned home that he could get up. When I heard this from my friend (i.e. the father), I was aghast. I thought what kind of children are we raising nowadays.

JUST QUICK-FIX, NOT LONG-TERM SOLUTION

5. No doubt giving money to do chores or homework is a quick-fix for the immediate future or short-term. But over the long haul, by this way, children lose the opportunity to develop an inner sweetness and feelings of sacrifice. They become creatures of materialism - not human beings. They do everything for the dollar and never cultivate refined human sentiments and characteristics. All because that is how their parents trained them when they were young.

BABA'S MANDATE

6. We should adhere to Baba's mandate and awaken within children a thirst for knowledge and a sense of duty.

Baba says, "The thirst for knowledge will have to be awakened among students, and reverence, devotion, orderliness and discipline will have to be taught as well." (Problems of the Day, pt #33)

Namaskar,
Manomohan Deva

Note 1: BABA'S TEACHING:

MUST AWAKEN A GENUINE THIRST FOR KNOWLEDGE

Here below in so many ways Baba guides us that we are to awaken and support a child's development by nurturing their inherent thirst for knowledge

Baba says, "How many teachers try to awaken a genuine thirst for knowledge in their students?" (Human Society-1, Education)

Baba says, "Children are by nature most inclined towards play, so a thirst for knowledge will have to be awakened in children through the medium of play – children should be educated through play methods. Children are also by nature inclined to listen to fantasies and stories. Through stories children can easily be taught the history and geography of various countries, and they may also be taught the initial lessons of how to practise universalism in their lives. Children love play and stories almost equally, so in their case the two should be equally utilized." (Human Society-1, Education)

Baba says, "Students go to school and sit for examinations in order to pass. Examiners should bear this fact in mind. They should not adopt the rigid position that “Only such-and-such percentage of students will be allowed to pass.” Examiners should take into account only the range of knowledge and the extent of the thirst for knowledge the students possess." (Human Society-1, Education)

Note 2: LINKS TO EARLIER LETTERS ON THIS TOPIC

#1: http://www.am-global-01.blogspot.com/2012/07/wrong-way-to-teach-children.html

#2: http://www.am-global-01.blogspot.com/2012/07/re-wrong-way-to-teach-children-2.html

PRABHAT SAMGIITA

"Jiivaner uts hate je srote bha'siya'chila'm..."  (P.S. 3016)

Purport:

Baba, O' Parama Purusa, since the very origin of my life - since eternity - in which current I was floating, in that very flow, You were also present. But I did not see You.  

Baba, You were with me day and night, ever-awake, holding the lamp of effulgence in Your hand. But that time I could not recognise You.

O' my dearmost Baba, still today You remain along with me. Indeed each and every single moment You decorate this grand universe in hundreds of
forms, shapes, and colors. Baba, You are always dancing in that divine vibration, but I did not see You because I was keeping my eyes closed.

Baba, since eternity You have been along with me. Today You have made me realise this very cosmic truth: I am surviving only due to Your boundless grace, affection, and love...