It is simply not enough just to teach, but to teach the right way is more important. A friend of mine, who occasionally teaches small children, told me that he came across a kid who although in 4th grade did not understand the concept of multiplication. For the kid, the multiplication was a set of, rote learned, tables. That is what he had been taught and that is what he knew.
Looking back, I wonder, when I realized the concept of multiplication (or division for that matter). When did I come to grasp that multiplication is just the same number of items taken many times and tables are just to make the process of calculation faster. I am pretty sure that I did not realize it myself in the 4th standard as well.
Well, I choose to blame this all on the method of teaching that was adopted to educate me. I was told what happens but not why it happens. I was given the final solution but not the concept. I was given the end but not the means. And so was the case with this kid.
Just imagine, if such is the case with a simple multiplication, then what would possibly be happening for more complex things. Will it be far-fetched to say that our education system is optimized to produce mediocrity?
I think we need to instill the urge of asking questions from the very start in the kids. We need to teach how to look for the key principles than just the solutions. Then only we will have a generation that is ever evolving and erudite.
