I firmly believe that if the judge has taken this stand on the basis of a generalisation, then it could be a very wrong thing.

During my schooling days, after my class 4, I did find classrooms boring. And many teachers were obnoxious.

As for information I received, I think I got it more from my own sources.

There should not be a compulsion that all children should spend a significant period of their lifetime in schools and colleges. And many careers should not be blocked to persons who can compete in life without the appendage of a college degree.

The feeling that all children are nitwits till they attain maturity is also, based on false understandings.

Continued

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Children are generally childish - and I don’t mean that they behave like children, I mean that they do not think things through, act emotionally are are extremely self-centred.

Well I have found many adults also with the same qualities. As to children, I have seen that if communicated with seriousness, you can extract serious qualities out of children.

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Without being forced to learn, would any of us have ever made a serious attempt to learn anything?In many ways, what you say is true. But then it is not the cent per cent truth.

In the case in question, I read that the child has said that he was bored in the school. Now, I must admit that I do not know much about the case, and cannot argue for either side. But what my caution is, did the Judge in question take into account the contention of the boy. He said, ‘I am bored in school’. If it is a case of pure laziness, then it is one thing. If there is a wider area to it, then it has to be looked into.

To put it briefly, it is my belief that all children are not necessarily of the same mould. There can be, at times, children who do come with a different mental mould. And what they seek out may not be deliverable by a standard school. Even if it is a good one.

And the child’s abhorrence for a particular school need not necessarily be crushed. Instead of the Judge wasting much money on monitoring his mother, and putting much mental pressure of the boy, another way to handle it would be to get help to the child to pursue his own desired routes to development. Standardisation of all children is not healthy for it may stamp out a varying version of intellect.

But then, the child does face a severe obstacle in life, for the government machinery would be bent on teaching him a lesson by closing many avenues of career options to him, for not having a formal education.

By the way, education can be had outside school also. But then, what could be missed can be companions of similar age; if they are available, then ————.