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Are Todays Education Systems Ready for Tomorrow?
Ever Changing Employment Landscape Times are changing fast. We discussed the nature of change in our previous blog – Tomorrow that starts Today. We have deduced that machines would take over more than 30% of human jobs in as soon as 5-10 years. This shift towards automation does not mean that our children will lose all jobs to machines. This only means that our children will face different jobs and business opportunities than the working class of today. This change in skills is not a new phenomenon. It is just that the speed of this phenomenon has accelerated rapidly over the last two decades. What started as an internet revolution…
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Tomorrow that Starts Today
Change is the only constant in life. Mankind adapts fastest to change making us the smartest specie on the planet. The biggest technological change of modern times last took place as the First Industrial Revolution that started in 1800s. It changed the way we did things and transformed us from an agrarian society to an industrialized society. With the launch of machines doing jobs like production of textiles, cultivation of crops and transporting goods and people, mankind was freed from performing effort intensive jobs. This provided them opportunities to explore, innovate and achieve new frontiers be it in space, arms race or healthcare. Countries which lead this Revolution are called…
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Boredom is a Gift
One late evening I was talking to a mother about Homeschooling. Like most good parents, she was concerned about providing enough stimulation to her 2.5 and 4.5 year olds. I could sense pride in her voice when she told me how she was learning carpentry so she could redecorate her children’s room. She walked me through her plan of laying brightly colored peg boards and cozy spaces in the room so her children love their space and are completely engaged. How I wish, I had the heart to tell her that she was focusing her energies in the wrong place. While I was so proud of her taking all the…
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Why do we Love to Hate Our Lives?
I wonder at what stage during the human civilization, we completely accepted – 1. Hating Monday’s because we had to go back to work 2. Loving last day of exams because we could stop learning 3. Happily sending our children back to school even when we know that they hate going to school 4. Day in, day out keep doing things that we hate but have convinced ourselves we don’t have an alternative If we can’t do what we love, can we at least try and love what we are doing? If we can’t learn to love what we are doing, can we at least stop hating what we are…
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I am Not Responsible for My Children
Just the other day, I was talking about our recent shift to Homeschooling with a close friend. Like most people who are not Homeschoolers themselves, she was in awe of the decision to Homeschool. She said, “But Shilpa, that’s a huge responsibility! How do you manage that?” My response, “What makes you think I am capable of taking up this responsibility? I am definitely not the right person for this. I am not taking this responsibility because this is not mine to take. It belongs to my children. They are their own responsibility. I am just transferring their rightful responsibility back on them.” There was a silence for a few…
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I Signed The Dotted Line To Take Ownership Of My Son
I formally started homeschooling my son, about 15 days ago, at the end of the Dushera Holidays. The first 3 days were completely chaotic trying to find a rhythm and pattern. By the end of each day, my son and I were both pulling our hair apart. I was obviously wondering if this is the right way to go for both of us. They say perseverance pays and it did, in our case too. Soon we took off the ground and started flying smoothly. Since then, each day that goes by in the Homeschooling routine, I feel more relaxed and confident that homeschooling is the way to go for my…
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I was once a Star
When I was perhaps in 4th grade, my school organised a play as part of our Annual Day celebrations. The play was called, “I have a Dream”. Roughly 50 children participated in the play, most of them dressed like trees, flowers or butterflies creating the colorful background for the main story. Three days before the Annual Day, our class teacher called all the class out for rehearsals. Everyone left for their respective rehearsal. I was left alone in the class. I had no rehearsal to go to. I had not been picked for any role or any chore as part of the Annual Day celebrations. My teacher was baffled. How…
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The Hockey Stick – Lessons on Physical Aggression
Yog runs to me with urgency and purpose in his stride, his chubby legs trying to keep pace with the thoughts running in his mind. Concern is evident all over his red face. I am certain he has a very important matter to discuss with me. Huffing, he exclaims, “Big boys are beating small children on the road. I told them to stop but they are not listening.” I sigh. Not again. Why do boys fight? Calmly, I tell Yog, “You did a good thing by telling them not to fight. I am happy that you didn’t get into the fight, yourself.” Yog’s expression quickly changed from concern to frustration.…
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A Gym tops my list of Most Positive Places
Gym is perhaps the most positive place on this planet. This is why I think so: If you are there, it means you already have a goal/purpose in your life You feel inspired (and not jealous) if someone is doing better than you Pain is associated with having done things right You know there are no shortcuts to success. You will have to sweat it out in order to receive the benefits. There is instant gratification from your own body, when you push your own limits No one cares how good looking you are or what clothes you wear to the Gym. All that matters is what you can achieve…
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Father and Daughter
Today, during my morning walk, I saw a father driving his teenage daughter to college. She sat upright holding the back of the motorcycle for support. In the rear view mirror, she adjusted her hair and checked her red lipstick. She would have been prettier without them, but then teenagers don’t really think like me anymore. Her eyes said she was ready to face her friends. They said she was planning to skip a few classes to catch up with the latest college news. She looked cool, confident and ready for her day. At the same time, I couldn’t help but notice the expressions on her fathers face. Even though…