Be Cool, Pretend Earth’s Not Dying
If you think about it, it’s actually very sad. Learn from an alternative residential school in India All of us are wrapped in our own lives; we don’t even stop to think that- hey, if the earth finally does end, then we’re going to end too. We’re going to die along with it too. Wouldn’t it be better if we paid a bit more attention to earth now? Than worry and panic when we’re dying along with it? We don’t all have to be big eco-friendly people, we could do small things. After all, small things make a difference too. We could start at home, avoid using plastic bags; don’t leave the lights, fans, ACs, TV and electronic devices switched on unless you really need them; to make sure you close the taps properly. Haven’t we all learned this in the best boarding schools in India? Don’t we see it in magazines and websites under the “how to not kill your planet” section? And yet, why don’t we do it? Simple: we don’t care. What’s the point? We’re all going to die anyways. Why should I do it? One person won’t make a difference. It’s not cool (believe me I know people who think that way). So what? Let it die, it’ll only die in a few decades and I won’t be here to see it (Seriously?). I’m too busy. So let me get this straight, we don’t want to do anything to save the land we live on because of the above reasons? Let the planet die because we’re too busy thinking about only ourselves? Well here’s an interesting fact: this planet is your home! Earth dies, you die. 50 years from now, I’m sure most of us will be alive and things are going to be very different. There won’t be parks, no trees, and no lakes- you know why? Because they’re not going to last that long with these conditions! We may plant trees, hundreds of them BUT if the weather’s too hot- say a 105 degrees and we all have to wear these crazy suits just to step outside our houses, the trees will not survive! Neither will lakes, ponds, oceans and any other water bodies. Already towards the polar regions, the ice is melting- big time! Because of the heat. Global warming. We’re not going to have enough water to even brush our teeth in the future! You can forget about bathing for sure! Oh I forgot we probably won’t have food either. Yep. You see we live in a world where everything and everyone is inter-dependent on something else. So the plants, meat, grains, everything we consume will also be dead. See the livestock won’t survive long because we won’t be able to feed them let alone ourselves. So all your KFC, Barbecue wings etc. are gone. No more of that. Then plants need water to grow and various other factors of course. But if we don’t have water to drink, how can we spare water for plants? And if plants don’t have water they can’t grow, and so-no plants. No food. We’ll be living on calcium, vitamin A B C D tablets. Sound tasty? I don’t think so. Is that what you want? To live in a place where you don’t have enough water to even drink? Where you have to wear suits to go out and walk around with oxygen masks just to step outside? Where the land is barren and brown? Where there is no food? Trust me, this is what’s going to happen in fifty years or so IF we don’t stop our own lives just for a minute, and look around the place where we’re living: It’s Dying. Author: Gowri Rekha, Student of Class 12, Batch of 2014 The Peepal Grove School,Alternative residential school in India
Learning The Natural Way Alternative Schools In South India
In a city where IIT Joint Entrance coaching starts at the age of 11, there are a handful of children who are staying away from the mad rush of competitive classrooms. Parents say that opting for alternate schooling which do not follow the conventional methods of classroom based education is a tough decision to make but it’s totally worthwhile. Hyderabad has a few schools which offer alternative education where art and craft is not just an extra curricular activity but subjects that form a good portion of the academic schedule. From cooking to fishing, nature walks, toy making and astronomy, alternate schools in the city offer a holistic learning environment for the child where critical thinking is encouraged and appreciated. And parents who opt for alternate methods of learning say that their children are not losing out on anything. Around 15 per cent of the total students from the state take exams under the National Institute of Open Schooling. School managements say that alternative education is catching up among the urban bred affluent parents. The Peepal Grove School, alternative residential school in India providing alternate mode of education which started in 2006 in Madanapalle in Chittoor district reports a large number of students from Hyderabad and other south Indian cities including Bangalore and Chennai. Of course, Madanapalle is better known as Jiddu Krishnamurti’s birthplace where he also founded the well-known Rishi Valley School, alternative residential school in india that follows an ICSE curriculum but is known for its more life-skills oriented approach towards education. Of a total of 130 students we have, a majority are from South India. The school offers its own syllabus to children within the age of nine to 12 and later allows children to write ICSE board examination to get a certificate for higher education. “Our main emphasis is on critical thinking”, said Viraj Naidoo, the Academic Coordinator of The Peepal Grove School. While the school hours are divided into periods, the school doesn’t follow prescribed set of textbooks but believes in free learning, even if it means teachers collating age-appropriate data from various sources, including the Internet. Then there are the Waldorf schools, which started out as a concept in Germany emphasize on back to the nature learning methods. We believe that childhood is an impressionable age and hence what we expose the child to becomes very important in personality formation. Learning starts from the use of wood toys instead of plastic ones, said a teacher of Sloka School. Alternative Education is truly the best way to take-off every kind of tension from the brain of a pupil and enable the student’s critical thinking ability to enhance. The Peepal Grove residential school management is carrying out a genuine job!!! Hyderabad for kids: Schooled in life skills Students who opted for alternative schooling methods have later proven themselves in the competitive world, showing how choosing the road not taken can make all the difference. Talking about the misconception that students of alternative schooling methods find it difficult later in the professional field, Nishant Rajashekharan, who studied in The Peepal Grove School, alternative residential school in India, Chittoor, said, “It is not like we were not prepared for competition. We were encouraged to have healthy competition, minus the aggression, rivalry and jealousy.”