The hammer and the Peeler

There are two experiences that we can offer the students – 

We help them to develop their skill sets by what is known and required to be done. There is an ‘idea’ of what is right (thought, process, product) and we teach them to be right at each step as per the norms. This assumes that students obviously are some steps behind the master and therefore, require training to perfect themselves. I call this – “hammering” to create an idol out of pure stone or creating a pot out of mud and so on. We begin with the assumption that students are ‘raw’ by nature and our successive attempts would mould them into good individuals/ products. 

The second approach engages the students to question themselves – their thoughts, processes and the products they make or perceive. This question reveals the ‘connections’ they have made for themselves and they are made aware of the connections that may benefit in their way of conceiving products or for dealing with situations. Thus, the idea of questioning is not to doubt them, but to let them discover the meaning of knowledge for themselves – this places responsibility primarily in their hands and the teacher is required to only guide/ give directions to their confusions or attempts to gain knowledge. It can result in a healthy exchange of ideas for both. In this, both the students and the master is involved – both may have divergent view points and that is acceptable. The whole mode becomes a kind of discussion, explorative and interpretative. I call this – “peeling off” known layers of knowledge the student has gathered and relook the situation in a fresh perspective. This is a much more harder process and may also be painful, but the rewards are phenomenal. 

We required a good mix of both the approaches for creating a good academic environment.