Friday, August 01, 2008

Child/ Youth Development: Guidance From Experts to Scripts

Child/ Youth Development: Guidance From Experts to Scripts

My mother and other elders and oldies feel that children can flourish well in case they are really cared and groomed.
Each Child can be compared as a seed of a giant tree.
Take example a tiny seed of Banyan tree or a Peepal tree. If the seed is sowed well in nourishing and lively soil, then watered well, taken care from whether and environment, then it grows fast. Once it starts growing it has taken care from thieves, animals, rain, other damaging sources, it can reach its full bloom stage. However, once it attains certain little height you have to put a barricade or cage around it to protect it.
Once it starts growing faster you have to provide fertilizers, insecticides, pesticides.
You have to consult experts once it takes a shape to keep its growth going.
Some unwanted weeds may develop around it, which care takers have to remove it.
Some unwanted growth from unwanted side is there, then you have to chop off it immediately otherwise it may hurt other plants, or surroundings.
You have to keep discipline for nourishing the plant that has grown from seed, with fertilisers and by proper watering. Otherwise it may die un-natural or natural death.
Thus, you have to devote your lot of time to take care and let that seed take a shape and grow as giant tree so that it can become a shelter for next generation entities.

Thus, when we compare this scenario with growing children imagine what can add growth to the children and what stalls their growth and what destroys them, then naturally you have to take children into confidence and build their confidence to make them help for self sustained and their own self generated growth. There could be auto-pilot fitted into their mind on how to grow themselves.

In Gyaneshwari/ Dnyaneswari, Sant Dnyaneshwar put forth/ says that even you have to take care of directing the water by creating channels in to the soil around number of small plants, while watering the number of plants in the agricultural land while taking some crop.
The Arthshastra has put one more point, it states that, even you have to spy on what others are doing to grow their King and empire. It is some what like adopting the best practices in the world.
In Geeta, Lord Shrikrishna puts one point. Just convince the person who wants to liberate/ become what s/he wants to be that you are your own friend if act like certain way or your are your own foe/ enemy, if you act like some other way.
While Sant Ramdas puts it in hard core fashion, he states that if you want to be what you think then discipline yourself, and decide your Do's and Don'ts, and follow it, day through night. If you donot follow it then you cannot achieve what you wanted to be. In fact, Sant Ramdas himself, practiced it religiously, 1200 Surya Namskar per day, waking up at Brahm Muhurta (3:00 a.m. in the morning) and chanting, etc. Thus, he practised and then he preached. As he walked the talk, his impact is big., and so it brought lot of meaning to his words.
Swami Vivekanand encourage every one by quoting the Upanishads, "Arise Awake and stop not till the goal is reached" (Uttishtha, Jagrit, Prapya warannibodh). His words have solid impact as he himself followed his own words, his Guru's words and seniors' and from the scripts. In fact, later Swamiji, went on to make accept Bal Gangadhar Tilak that all these entities are "one". That is there is no difference between his Guru's words, Upanishads and ...in the end his own words, as they are coming from the enlightened soul and thus directly from the all pervading God. The entities are different but the source in one-God.
Then, go to military camp anywhere in the world of any nation, you will find discipline imbibed in those soldiers. Few take Soldiership as a job, few as life, few as a career, few to protect their nation, few to protect humanity, however one thing is surer that everybody is disciplined and encourage every other to be disciplined. They are taught to take care of each others in a disciplined fashion along with fighting with enemies. Thus, on the battlefield soldiers are fighting as 'soldier from one country' and not as an individual. Hence, they are taught to take care of each others in spite of personal differences and contrasting personalities. Those who take military as a career has to undergo super classical to sever training. E.g. Top Gun aeroplane fighters, in USA or in India those who want to be Black Cat Commandos
or in UK if you want to be SAS team they have to under go a training with mission 'one bullet one enemy'. Just imagine the kind of precision, coordination, execution of plan, and understanding these soldiers having and the kind of training they undergo for that. They are good in education, they are always physically fit, they are always alert, they are always go getters, and always ready to sacrifice their lives and are always ready to convince their kith and keens and family members that they are doing it for their country or for humanity to survive. Few of these things I know, as my grand father was freedom fighter and my father fought a war. It's a grooming all the way for an individual in fact for all the kith and keens and for all the family members.
Then, there are several other points that crops up.
Like, why not make military education compulsory to all? (For the time being let us forget India has one billion population).
Why a person like Devendra from a small hut excels, even if he did not have any facilities and not the person having got all the facilities did not?
Thus, making it clear that urge to excel in one self is the only required force to excel in life.
Then, question is how to build this urge?
Here also scripts and seniors comes to our help.
Whenever top notch Business / Management education institutes face this problem, they solve this problem by checking it on:
1. Academic Leadership,
2. Faculty Governance,
3. Application of Learning, (Practicals or Case Analysis or Dissertation or Projects, etc.),
4. Student Governing Council,
5. Grading System, (Examination and Result),
6. Thought Leadership,
7. Assurance of Learning, (Faculty is able to Convince learning on certain topic to all the students/ student is convinced that he has learnt and thus every student has learnt),
8. Disciplined Democracy and structured autonomy to individuals
Not yet complete. Copyrighted.
coming more.


Dr. Ashish Manohar Urkude,
ashish.urkude@gmail.com

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