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Which school is best for
my child?
You should ideally select a school for your child that is known for
its secular and eclectic education, or where children of all
communities study. Though in reality, many parents end up sending
their kids to schools they are not quite happy with. Whatever be the
school, one should find out what kind of teachers it has, and how they
communicate with the children. If some teachers tend to show community
prejudices, the parents must meet them, or the principal, to talk
about this. Do they sing songs or prayers of only one religion/culture
in the morning assembly of your child’s school? In such a case, you
can request the principal to arrange for other type of songs/prayers
too. Interact with other parents, and organize parents' meeting to
discuss the quality of your child’s education, and what you could do
to improve it. Remember that there is always scope for educating your
child at home if you are not happy or satisfied with her school.
Are you a teacher?
If you are a teacher yourself, then you have a BIG responsibility. If
you have any general prejudice or hateful feelings against the people
of a particular community - which may or may not reflect in your
teaching - then you have no right to remain a teacher. Never make fun
or pass irresponsible remarks on any community in the classroom or at
home. Never try to curb or ignore your pupil’s curiosity and
inquisitiveness about other cultures. Never give her wrong or
unsatisfactory answers if she has any questions about other
communities. If you don't know the answer then admit it frankly, and
feel free to ask other adults, or read up.
Reading textbooks, history
The parents should look at, and critically evaluate, their child's
textbooks, especially about their representation of different
cultures, or historical facts. An appropriate reading of history is a
very important aspect of your child’s education. We must realize
that due to our natural biases and subjectivity, each of us can
perceive and interpret a historical event in a different way. It is
impossible to write the "most accurate" or perfect history
of any place or era as there is always room for different
interpretations - sometimes politically motivated interpretations.
That is why conflicts arise about so many historical events. The
Partition of India, for instance, is such a recent phenomenon that
some people who witnessed the events may still be alive - yet there
are so many conflicting versions of how the country got partitioned.
Why and how do we read
history?
So, while even a professional historian has tough time writing a
truthful history, what can we, as parents or teachers do? Well, there
is a lot we can. (1) We and our children should not read history
simply to know which king defeated who, but to learn the examples of
peaceful co-existence by our ancestors, and not to repeat the mistakes
they made. (2) We don't have to look into history to settle past
scores today - what has been done in the past cannot be undone today.
What you do today will be creating new history and not taking a
revenge for a 500 years old event. (3) If you are unsure about the
authenticity of a particular historical event, check with a
professional historian, and read as many books/sources as you can. (4)
Never read or quote a passage or excerpt from a book in isolation or
out of context. (5) Remember that some historical source materials
such as the ancient books or inscriptions that we find today, were
probably written for the kings by their chroniclers, and therefore
contain history that the king wanted to be preserved, and may not
represent the complete reality of those times. It is comparable to a
press release issued by the government of the day about an event that
may not match entirely with a private newspaper’s report.
History is one continuum
It is not appropriate to perceive our past by dividing it into
distinctive sections such as Hindu period, Muslim period or Christian
period. History is one vast continuum where many events and trends
overlap one another. One should avoid making value judgments about
various periods, such as labeling a particular era as the “golden
period”, while another one as the “dark age”, and so on. Some
people claim that their traditional culture was most perfectly
preserved till such and such time in history, after which it started
getting ‘polluted’, as some outsiders brought in their own
cultures, and that today we need to go back to our original culture.
But historical evidences on the other hand tell us that cultures have
never remained fixed - they have been evolving and changing all the
time. Before the coming of Islam in India, for instance, the Hindus of
the Rig Veda period dressed, ate, and spoke differently from those of
the Mauryan period, who in turn were somewhat dissimilar from the
people of the Gupta period, and so on. In all these eras, the society
was also divided into castes and sections, each having its own
lifestyle and cultural norms. Hence, it would be futile trying to find
a particular era in history that contains the most original culture of
Hindus. The same could be said about Muslims or other communities.
Was our past destructive?
A lot of people stress that our history is full of invasions,
carnages, and injustice done by one community over the other. Indeed,
one can find instances of conquests and subjugation of some people by
others. But to blame any existing community or people today for what
their possible ancestors did yesterday defies common sense and human
values. The children should be told that if there are instances of
invasions and injustice in the history, there are also thousands of
examples of how people tried to bridge the gap between communities, by
spreading the message of peace and human equality. Indian subcontinent
has had hundreds of sages, saints, and poets, who produced very simple
but impressive literature that talks of human equality, tolerance, and
divine love, besides criticizing wars, immorality and religious
dogmatism. This literature and poetry is as relevant today as it may
have been in their times, and needs to be introduced to our younger
generation.
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