Week 4 starts with a reflective prompt on one’s own school. Would you consider it a ‘good school’? What residuals did you take away and how have they affected you?

Not considering the schools that I went to in pre- and primary, since I don’t remember much of them anyway, I will reflect on the two that I spent the most years in, to graduate from grades 10 and 12. I would consider them to be good schools. Some reasons that allow me to define them as such are, they:

• Had a rigorous academic regime – Subjects taught were handled thoroughly
• Had sufficient opportunities for extra curricular activities like Dance, Music, Theater, Sports
• Supported some alternate learning experiences like tree plantation drives, exhibitions, nature camps
• Presented a safe and hygienic environment for learning
• Had some good, role-model teachers.

Residuals

Quite often in my life, especially during days in under-graduate studies and the initial days at work, I realized how privileged I had been to receive the kind of education that I had. One definite residual that has helped me immensely over the years, and continues to excite me, is the school’s drive for the English language. Following through on the aristocracy left behind by the British, both these schools lauded the English language as the solution to all of society’s problems. All aspects of the system were insistent on using only English, the board of studies maintained a high quality of English content selected for study, and the socio-cultural setup of the schools was also such that children hailed from backgrounds that appreciated the language more than even their local tongue.

This takeaway left me with a huge love for the language, of course. But also gave me opportunities in the form of college clubs, roles and interview wins, and work appreciations purely because of my ability to communicate better in English. One may argue that someone from chiefly a local language environment might also have been successful in all these situations that I have quoted. Absolutely no denying that, but the struggle to communicate in the language has never been an issue.

The second major residual from these schools is definitely the technology orientation. Learning a programming language early on instilled the joy for order and processes. Continuing this into higher secondary, the programming skills from school eventually landed me a job after college, considering how little I learnt there. So, the introduction to technology, and the associated facilities in both schools definitely caused a huge impact on my life to come.