The chariot race called school
“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” ~ Lao Tzu
“As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults.” ~ Wikipedia
If talk about a school curriculum today, very often the curriculum that we are talking about is more akin to that described by the Wikipedia quote above. There is the idea that all the things that need to be taught in a school are to be done as if all the students and teachers are participating in a good old-fashioned Ben Hur-like, Roman chariot race.
That there is a race to complete the syllabus is not a doubt. The race is governed by a deadline which is usually an artificially imposed time limit. That time limit is signified by the semestral examinations or the even more important schedule of international examinations. Learning becomes a sprint although many will say that the current school system of learning is more of a marathon. Actually it is not one sprint, but many sprints.
In such an environment, little time is given to real learning where there is serious effort made at concept-building, deep understanding and building on what has already been learnt. Everything is compressed because the conveyor belt of learning in modern schools keeps moving faster and faster. As more things are seen to be essential to learning are added on, less time is given for everything to be fixed on that conveyor belt of learning. The conveyor belt is then speeded up to accommodate more parts. Learning in such a school environment is a real race. But unfortunately, real learning cannot be done in this manner.
A more accurate analogy for learning is that given by Lao Tzu above. Learning is very much an organic growth experience. It takes time. It takes nurturing. If it is an organic experience then it accepts that the starting point is different for each one of its participants. When time and care is given, the outcome is a completeness and a wholesomeness of the student. Is it a surprise that the product of a system that is harried and rushed is far from that? They tend to look like a product at the end of a race; tired and exhausted or one indistinct from another. Just mere clones to keep the economy going.
