Commendable aspirations of the young
To a Westerner, the aspirations and dreams of young children here is not only amazing, but astonishing as well. Their anxiety to become professionals to serve their community is overwhelming. Values inculcated by their parents to be compassionate to their fellow beings is what promises to make them men and women with good morals and good human beings. They dream of great things and aspire to create an egalitarian society, coming from poor families and equally poor surroundings
Adam answering questions from the students of Little Kingdom
While growing up, I must have changed my career choice countless times. From rock star, to actor, to astronaut, to policeman and I think even at one point, a cowboy. All of these were of course based on superficial reasons, as are a lot of early choices in life.
However, when I came to India and went to a school, I was completely flabbergasted by the ambitions of the children. I met children between the ages of 10 and 15 years and all of them wanted to be doctors, engineers, social workers or teachers, and a lot of them wanted to do these jobs so that they could help their own society. I am not lying when I say that I had tears in my eyes.
Keen to Learn-Students of Velli Vidhyalaya
Outstanding young minds, regardless of class or creed
When I originally started writing this article, I wanted to compare the different aspirations between private and public school students. I visited the Little Kingdom Private School in Theni and the Velli Vidhyalaya Girls Higher Secondary School. Much to my amazement, the dreams of the kids were so similar in both schools, that they appeared very mature for their age. Even though there were fewer kids in private schools whose aspirations were to help society, nonetheless most of them still wanted to be doctors, engineers and scientists.
I met with Mr. Vivek Goutham Kannan, who is the son of the principal and works as the staff coordinator for the Little Kingdom Private School, and he told me that the school places a lot of emphasis on empathy and charity. He explained, “Aspirations of kids these days differ a lot. Indian kids these days are influenced by a lot of factors, three of the main ones being: 1) their parents, 2) the society and 3) themselves.” He said that there are students who are not really successful in what they actually want to do, such as being a designer or a journalist, due to the fact that the society has contempt for such creative professions; when it comes to being doctors, lawyers or managers, however, these are professions in which their parents want their kids to be successful and therefore, there is no stigmatization.
Vivek told me that the school places great emphasis on charity and that the parents also tell the kids about the importance of empathy and care for the society. When I interviewed the students, a majority of them wanted to be engineers, doctors and IT professionals, the reason being either because of their parents or their own personal interest, and only a couple wanted to do it purely to help the society.
When I went to the Velli Vidhyalaya Girls School, however, I was overwhelmed. Most of the children I spoke to there, had the same types of aspirations, that is to become doctors, teachers, engineers, etc., but all of them had these, because they wanted to come back to help the community. These girls were only between the ages of 12 and 14 years and I was moved to tears to see these kids have such a commendable social conscience. I will always remember one girl, whom I asked what she wanted to be, and she said she wanted to be a doctor. When I asked her why, she replied, “Doctor are like gods, they save lives every day and give hope to the people.” This is now deeply etched in my mind.
I spoke to several of the teachers about why these kids felt this way and all of them said virtually the same thing: because these kids come from poor families and poor areas, but they have been exposed to the higher society in their everyday life and they feel that this inequality is an injustice and they are the ones that have to be responsible enough to find a remedy. These children are the light of the future, and for our sake, let’s hope that they do follow their dreams, the teachers express their hope.
The Girls of Velli Vidhyalaya
Differences from developed societies
I was surprised at the students’ mature goals in life, but I was just as surprised at their lust for knowledge. They repeatedly asked me questions about my culture, what I thought of India, art, music, etc. One girl from Little Kingdom Private School even asked me what my views on world politics and the environment were! These children were 13 to 15 years old, and it was a pleasant surprise to see the amount of bubbling enthusiasm about the world. The reason why this is such a surprise is because I grew up in societies where kids were not interested in any of these; they would be pre-occupied with the latest trends, playground gossip and trying as hard so that they could to be accepted in the social group, which usually means sacrificing what you like for what everyone else likes. A lot of students growing up in developed societies simply are not concerned with what is happening in the rest of the world – for them, it’s a popularity contest and nothing more.
Though this is sad, it does highlight the differences between these students and the ones I grew up with. I think the difference largely comes from the emphasis on world struggles that is put on the kids not only by the school but by the parents as well. One of the biggest problems I find in developed societies today is that the parents do not teach their kids even basic values of acceptance, being good to others and working hard to achieve your dreams. Whereas, these students in Little Kingdom and Velli Vidhyalaya have parents who teach them not only these basic values, but also to give back to their own society. This truly warms my heart, and if this world is ever going to change for the better then it is these values we have to be teaching to our students.
Even in the schools, however, I find that in the West these values are not strongly emphasized, and yet, here I find that even the teachers and the general education teaches the students to be more loving, open minded, worldly and empathetic, something I could only dream for in schools in England or America.
The students of Little Kingdom
Conclusion
I have never believed that the future is bleak. I believe that things can only progress, but unfortunately, it is tragedy which begets progress. This is shown through these kids, whether they actually experienced or have simply seen the travesty of society, it gives them a social conscience, which other students who grow up in isolated comfortable lifestyles do not usually have. As I said before, these children are the light of our future, not only for India but for the world; they are the candle in the dark that I will put all my faith in to change these dark times in which we live. I only hope for our sake that they pursue their dreams, realize them and make this world a better place.
