Children must be taught how to think not what to think.

William Wordsworth said, “childhood shows the man as morning shows the day.” Such is the importance of children in the future of nation-building! Children are like blooming flowers, they are like a wet day, they are shaped by the environment and socialization around them. It is in this respect that the value system, critical thinking, and intellectual capital that children acquire depend a lot on ‘How they are molded to think’.
Since it is the seed of this thought process, questioning, and deliberation that will germinate into innovation, entrepreneurship, in the future. And not simply putting pre-informed facts and prejudices into their Juvenile Minds. Forcing to think on particular lines could lead to a clouded conscience and judgment. And ‘freedom to develop one’s own reasoning’ could lead to a better society and country!
In this essay, we will discuss why it is important for children to have their own lines of thought processes and not morals some processed and junk information. Where do we stand as a society in this regard? Where could we lead ourselves in the future?
How to think vs. what to think?
‘How to think’ is giving children the freedom to inquire, solve difficult situations themselves. It is not stopping a child from touching the fire, rather allowing him to differentiate between fire and water by touching it.
Whereas ‘what to think’ is like dictating them ‘what we believe to be true’ – ‘Don’t go outside after 9’, Don’t tell a lie, ‘Don’t question your elders and much more…!!
But these small ‘Donots’ transform one day into the supremacy of old and prejudiced thought processes over innovation and newness; on the other hand, helping a child with a ‘why? Every time – ‘why not go outside after 9, why not cheat, ‘why not question?’ enables them to find their path, no matter how difficult the situation!
And history is replete with many such examples!
Tracing the quality of ‘How to think’
Take the example of Gautam Buddha; ‘His father, king of Licchavis,’ was bewildered with the thought that his son might leave his palace as a monk the same day. Siddhartha was chained in the mesmerizing beauty of material wealth. He was forced to think that what he saw within the palace – The illumination of gold, the glittering of diamonds was the only reality of life. No sooner did he step out and saw a corpse, he inquired, ‘why death,’ why sorrow? It is in this process of ‘How to think’ that he came out with the ‘4 noble truths’ and ‘Astamarga gamini paripad’!
From Buddha to Mahatma Gandhi, we again see the power of one’s intellect developed out of one’s questioning. When Mahatma Gandhi refused cheating in his exam, when he admitted going to a brothel and having a drink, he was simply experimenting with truth in his words! He was thinking over ‘how to think’ and not ‘what to think’!
Why is the idea of ‘How to think’ so important for children?
The 1st agency of socialization in a child’s life is family; when parents teach children ‘how to think’ by questioning, they sow the 1st seeds of inquiry. Such a child would question dogmatic practices like ‘why his mother eats at last? How can he help her?’ Similarly, when a child gets exposed to similar inquiry in schools, he starts questioning ‘why does an apple fall to the ground? Why is the Earth round?’ He challenges the older concepts. The result is a new discovery [Remember Newton, Galileo, Einstein!!]
However, when the same child is forced to accept dogmas and parochialism at home, he becomes conformist and authoritative. His rote memorization in school dissipates his critical thinking. He would support casteism, communalism, regionalism when he grows up simply because he was never taught ‘How to think’!
A child will develop political and moral attitudes based on socialization. The children growing up in Nazi Germany became similar to adults. It was so because they were never taught to question. Propaganda was all over. A democratic polity by imparting values of free speech, free expression is the best antidote to ‘conformist thinking’.
Even in the realm of environmentalism, critical thinking has a role. A 93-year-old Padma Shri award winner, Papammal has always held the values of environmental stewardship close to her heart. She never succumbed to the ideals of consumerism and exploitation; rather, she was always focused on “How to make her fields organic and free of fertilizer.”
Even in the realm of science and technology, only an inquiring mind can innovate. It is not rote memorization that helps. It is not simply mugging up theorems that could enable children to solve real-life issues. Elon Musk is an example. He does not have any formal degree in ‘space science.’ However, his constant reasoning about ‘How to make reusable launch vehicles? How to settle on Mars?’ has opened doors of enormous possibilities.
It is only when a child is guided to think honestly today will he develop probity tomorrow. It is only when he is taught helping/sharing will he develop empathy tomorrow. When he is taught how to reason with emotions, how to work in team spirit, he would develop the values of emotional intelligence and ethos of work culture in the future.
So where do we stand in this journey of replacing ‘what’ with ‘how’?
It is an irony that a country with a median age of 28 finds its childhood in a dilapidated state. 2 in 4 children are out of school; 150 children go missing each day (NCRB, 2016). 38% of them are stunted, and 1 in 11 works as a child laborer (census 2011). And the list is endless. The value system of family, rote memorization at schools without ‘hands-on experimental learning are all in need of improvement. When learning outcomes do not guarantee critical reasoning, our children will remain trapped in a vicious cycle of low productivity and conformism. When they are hungry and deprived of nutrition, we cannot expect them to rise above narrow thinking along old lines. Hence it all boils down to the kind of ‘human capital’ we create to instill the art of questioning.
But there is a silver lining in the dark
And we have put our first big stride towards realization of this human capital – It is the ‘New Education policy.’ It focuses on experiential learning, cross-disciplinary subject selection, vocational education. The 360° evaluating in the form of ‘PARAKH’ is also noteworthy. Moreover, the Yuvika Initiative of ZSRO, Atal Tinkering Lab of Niti Aayog all show our commitment towards developing the critical bend of mind and instilling the dictum of ‘how to think and not simply what to think’!
But THE BUCK DOES NOT STOP HERE
We need much more dedicated effort in training our children for the exercise of questioning visits to museums, parks for science classes. Visits to orphanages and yoga centers for empathy. Setting up ‘Inc