Online Education Blog

The success of educational efforts much depends upon the personal relationship between the teacher and the pupil. This point should not be neglected either by the practical teacher or the education theorist. The teacher is prone to the influence of parental complexities, because for the pupil, he is the psychological situation of the father or mother. The teacher is in a position of authority which may provide a favorable opportunity for the gratification of such powerful impulses as self-esteem, self love, pleasure in inflicting pain. These impulses work in such a disguised form that consciousness cannot easily recognize their true nature. The pupils, too, can resort to narcissism and exhibitionism if the teacher is not able to handle them in a psychological manner. All this requires that the teacher must be able to understand his own psyche so that he may take due precautions against his special tendencies and complexes. He should also be able to get into contact with the pupil’s psychic life. The teacher can be tolerably free of complexes.  if he has at least achieved a fairly satisfactory fulfillment of his own conscious and unconscious desires. If the teacher possesses some complex, he may use a situation for his own personal gratification, thus foiling the very purpose of his work. If the teacher has not properly understood the relation between emotional and intellectual processes, he is sure to stultify and neutralize educational results. Thus a knowledge of psychoanalysis is indispensable to the teacher.

Naturalism in education is closely connected with psychoanalysis. “The teaching of Freud was a Godsend to the post-war apostles of naturalism, both in educational sphere and outside of it; it was believed to have proved the soundness of their case for untrammeled self-expression and for entire freedom from restraint.” Psychoanalysis emphasizes that the natural growth of the child should not be explored in any way and that the natural growth of the child should not be explored in any way and that the unconscious should be explored in order to understand the cause of neuroses so that suitable steps may be taken. It is because of psychoanalysis that a healthy attitude has grown towards ‘sex’ and ‘authority’. Corporal punishment and authoritarian methods are now shunned. Dangers of undue prudery have now been laid bare with the evil consequences of ‘any bottling’ up of the child’s energies. Psychoanalysis has rendered valuable service in helping us towards the understanding and treatment of delinquency in childhood and adolescence. Moreover, (continue reading…)

Like other children, the gifted children too have certain basic needs such as need for love, for security, for belonging and the need to be accepted as an individual. In addition to these basic needs, the gifted children may have certain special needs like-

• the need for knowledge and understanding
• creativity and ingenuity
• the development of his exceptional ability or abilities and
• the need for self-actualization or self-expression

The gifted child thus strives for the satisfaction not only of basic needs but also has to have the opportunity and the facilities for the realization of the above mentioned specific needs. In case he experiences difficulty in the accomplishment of these needs he becomes disturbed mentally as well as emotionally. This leads to a short maladjustment and he becomes a problem child.

The gifted child needs a proper environment for his development. He wants to be understood carefully in response to his different needs and problems. The gifted child is exceptionally curious and has a thirst for knowledge and is, therefore, in the habit of asking searching questions. The parents as well as the teachers who do not understand his urges, usually snub him. Sometimes, he wants appreciation for his ingenuity in a scientific field or creativity in the arts, but does not get it. Consequently, he feels insecure and rejected and any sort of mishandling or carelessness on the part of teachers or parents further aggravates the situation and he becomes a nuisance.

Incase the gifted child gets undue attention and appreciation, he becomes too conscious of his superiority and develops a boastful and supercilious attitude. He cannot adjust with his fellow students. He considers them inferior and foolish and may even dislike them, while they, in turn become jealous of him. They do not accept his superiority and begin to reject him. The gifted child, in this way, does not get recognition from his peers and faces a sort of social rejection. This perturbs him and as a result, he either becomes withdrawn or aggressive and hostile. (continue reading…)

This is the oldest of all transfer theories (also known as the Faculty Theory) . This theory assumes that the mind of composed of so many independent faculties, e.g. memory, attention, imagination, reasoning and judgment. These faculties, according to this theory, are nothing but the “muscles of the mind” and like muscles of the body, can be strengthened or improved through exercise (practice and use). In this way, such properly strengthened or improved faculties later on function automatically in all the situations and areas in which they are involved. For example, if the memory of a person is strengthened or improved, to a great extent, through memorization of long and difficult passages, then it can prove useful in memorizing dates, names, formulae, figures and, in fact, anything and everything that involves memory. In the same way, propagators of the theory claim that reasoning and imaginative powers developed through the study of geometrical positions can be used in solving various problems in life which demand a good deal of reasoning and imagination.

Mental discipline as an educational doctrine and as the basis for transfer of training was first seriously challenged by William James. He wanted to see whether daily training in the memorization of a poetry of one author would affect the learning of poetry of another author. For this experiment he acted as a subject for himself. He memorized 158 lines from Victor Hugo’s Satyr in 131 5/6  minutes spread over eightdays. He then worked for about 20 minutes daily memorizing the entire book of Milton’s Paradise Lost (Book-I). This required 38 days. After this period of memory training, he returned to Satyr and memorized 158 additional lines. But now he could do so in 151 1/2 minutes as against 131 5/6 minutes in the first instance. (continue reading…)

The notion that individuals differ in various abilities, capacities and personality characteristics necessitates the adoption of individual tendencies in education. It compels the teachers to realize following facts:

1. In any group there are individuals, who deviate from the norms of the group. Along with the average, the presence of very superior and extremely dull is equally possible in his class.
2. Every teacher should try to have the desired knowledge of the abilities, capacities, interests, attitudes, aptitudes and other personality traits of his pupils and in the light of this knowledge should render individual guidance to children for maximum utilization of their potentialities.
3. It is wrong to expect uniformity in gaining proficiency or success in a particular field from a group of students. On account of their subnormal intelligence, previous background, lack of proper interest, aptitude and attitude some students have to lag behind in some or other area of achievement.
4. All students can not be benefited by one particular method of instruction and a uniform and rigid curriculum.

Provisions for ‘individual differences’ in Schools:

Realization of the above facts or some more of their nature makes us think that we must have some provision for the wide individual differences among our pupils in our schools. Emphasizing this need Crow and Crow (1973) write –

“Since we supposedly are teaching individuals, not groups of individuals, it is the function of the school within its budgetary personnel and curricular limitations to provide adequate schooling for every learner no matter how much he differs from every other learner.”

How can we accomplish this task is a pertinent question to be asked at this stage. In fact, to provide adequate schooling or learning experience for every learner according to his individuality is not a simple task. However, the following suggestions can be helpful for any teacher –

1. Proper knowledge of individual personalities: The first step in making provisions for individual differences is not how abilities, capacities, interests, aptitudes and other personality traits of individual pupils. For this purpose, frequent assessment in the form of intelligence tests, cumulative record card, interest inventories, attitude scales, aptitude tests and measures for assessing personality traits shall be carried out.
2. Ability grouping: In the light of results derived from various tests of knowing individual differences in terms of individual potentialities in various dimensions, the students in a class or area of activity can be divided into homogeneous groups. Such divisions can prove beneficial in adjusting the method of instruction to varying individual differences.
3. Adjusting the curriculum: To meet the requirement of varying individual differences among the pupils, the curriculum should be as flexible and differentiated as possible. It should have the provision for a number of diversified courses and curriculum experiences so that the pupils may get opportunity to study and work in the areas of their own interests and abilities. It should provide adjustment to suit the local requirements and potentialities of students of different groups.

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English is the most widely spoken language in the world. It is the mother-tongue of more than 320 million people and another 200 million use it as their second language. Until recently it was believed that Chinese, which was supposed to be the mother- tongue of over 700 million people, had the largest number of speakers in the world. But now it has come to light that ‘Chinese’ consists of a number of mutually unintelligible dialects and Mandarin Chinese, the official language and most widely spoken variety, can claim no more than about 400 million speakers. English therefore occupies the unique position of being the language used by the largest number of people in the world. But the more significant aspect of English is its distribution. While Chinese is confined only to the Chinese sub-continent, English is spread throughout the globe. Apart from being the native or first language in countries as widely apart as the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa, English is an important second language almost everywhere in the world. Even in India it is not only a popular second language, but also the mother-tongue of a small Indian community, the Anglo-Indians. According to the 1971 census nearly two hundred thousand Indians use English as their mother-tongue. Besides quite a few Indian States like Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Sikkim have adopted English as the official language. Mr. M. C. Chagla, when he was the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court, once ruled that English was an Indian language, and the Supreme Court had upheld the judgment. The Sahitya Academy of India recognizes English as one of the Indian languages; and Jawaharlal Nehru even wanted to include it in the Eight Schedule of the Constitution, thus giving it statutory recognition as an Indian language.

The same situation obtains in many countries in Asia and Africa where English is not spoken as a native language. Even in countries like Russia and China the demand for learning English as an important foreign language is increasing. In Italy, (continue reading…)

Yesterday – the 5th September was celebrated all over the country as Teachers’ Day – a day when the country shows its appreciation of all those who have taken it up on themselves to build societies of the future. Although, the date of Teachers’ Day vary from country to country, it is held on 5th September in India in remembrance of the birth day of Dr.Sarvapalli Radhakrishnana, the great academic philosopher and second President of India. In tune with the rest of the country, our big village council also organized a gathering of teachers at the local town hall. In total, teachers from 18 schools attended the celebration. There were lots of cultural program like music and dance performed by teachers along with discussion on teaching. In between refreshments in the form of tea, snacks and sweets were given. So it was a day meant only for teachers. On 4th Sept. the students became teachers as they conducted and taught in the classes.
During the discussion I was forced to do introspection about the prevalent education system and the way teachers are teaching. I am sorry to say that – nothing is right with it. The prolonged terrorism in the area has not helped either as no teacher wants to go to work in interior schools. Those schools exist just in the government’s record book. In urban areas where there is no fear of terrorism – most teachers have made education a commercial item. Education being primarily a government’s operation, there is hardly any accountability for what teachers do and how they teach. So teachers just somehow pass their time in schools and give private tuitions to students for hefty fees. The situation has become so bad that even after government circulation and bond signature; teachers are still continuing this harmful practice. It has given rise to a culture where students and their guardians think that they could not do good results without private tuitions. This commercialization of education by selfish teachers is the single most important factor that is paralyzing the educational system in my locality. (continue reading…)

This is my first economic assignment – with each brief notes consisting of 150 words and broad notes consisting of 400 – 600 words. They also carry 3×3 and 10+6 marks that makes 25 marks in total

Though it is difficult to categorically define and under-developed economy, the United Nations experts say an under-developed economy is one in which per capita real income is low when compared with the per capita real income of the U.S.A., Canada, Australia and Western Europe. But UNO focuses only on one aspect of economy viz. poverty. In reality there are so many more features like population, nature of the economy, capital, labor and natural resources which are so essential of a modern economy.

Hence main features of an under-developed economy are:-

• Low per capita income
• Deficiency of capital equipment
• Excessive dependence on agriculture
• Rapid rate of population growth
• Unemployment and under-employment
• Under utilization of natural resources
• Foreign trade orientation
• Low levels of technology and skills
• Economic backwardness
• Inequalities of income and wealth
• Dualistic economy
• Inadequate infrastructure
• Peculiar demographic features

National Income

There are various definitions of national income. But the definition given by Colin Clark, a renowned British economist is most complete. According to him “ The national income for any period consists of the money value of the goods and services becoming available for consumption during that period, reckoned at their current selling value, plus additions to capital reckoned at the prices actually paid for the new capital goods minus depreciation and obsolescence of existing capital goods and adding the net accretion of or deducting the net drawings upon stock, also reckoned at the current prices.”

In simple term, national income is the aggregate factor income which arises from current production of goods by the nation’s economy over a period of time minus depreciations, indirect taxes and subsidies.

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