(The Free Press Journal publishes articles by study abroad consultants, Consulates, foreign universities, international students, and much more every Saturday to give its readers a glimpse of the world of overseas education.)
In recent years, admissions to top primary and secondary schools have become competitive and often a cause of stress and panic for many parents. To secure one of the limited spots in these top schools, there is a recent trend in the field of early education – the rise of the tick-box approach.
This approach involves parents and sometimes educators, emphasizing a checklist of superficial achievements and activities to serve as a golden ticket to the larger schools. While the eventual goal is to benefit the child, the approach may take away from the child’s individuality and holistic development.
In this article, we have identified another balanced approach that will help achieve both with Howard Gardner’s theory of multi-intelligence. The concept of multi-intelligence recognizes and embraces that children possess diverse forms of intelligence—such as linguistic, spatial, logical, musical, kinaesthetic, naturalistic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal.
Parents and educators first try to identify and then tailor their programs, and teaching methods to the individual strengths of the child.
How is this approach better than the tick-box approach?
(1) More Authentic Application: With schools and universities becoming increasingly competitive, schools are looking to screen for authentic and genuine applicants. The multi-intelligence approach allows the child to achieve by deep diving into their field of interest and strengths, making their applications look more genuine and attractive.
(2) Diverse Skill Set Development: The multi-intelligence approach celebrates and encourages children to explore a wider variety of interest areas. Most checklists include a predetermined, narrow list of things, not allowing students to explore anything outside of this list. It also does not allow for enough time to go deeper as the child needs to move on to the next task, not allowing children to develop to their true potential.
(3) Associated with Long-Term Success: While the tick box approach makes the child seem like a jack of all trades, the multi-intelligence approach will help children become true masters of few and eventually result in long-term success.
(4) Reduced Stress and Develop positive self-image: The traditional approach of checklist completion often leads to issues with self-image, self-worth, stress, and anxiety. Allowing children to choose something of their interest will help them develop a positive self-image, and confidence, and take deeper pride in their achievements.
(5) Is more child-centric: The tick box approach, more often than not, perpetuates an unhealthy competition between parents and the child. It subconsciously can become a way to gain bragging rights for parents and the child’s personal growth is compromised. In the multi-intelligence approach, the child takes the driver’s seat and can explore various areas at their own pace.
For children to truly excel and develop to their full potential, the child needs to explore freely and playfully. As parents and as educators our goals should be to help our children explore a spectrum of avenues early, make keen observations on their likes and dislikes, and accordingly create more avenues for them to explore their areas of preferences. Having said this, it is also important to be accepting that their interests may change and we must make room for those changes.
If we embark on or encourage the tick-box approach in the early years, this approach is likely to continue beyond the early years even for university applications. By shifting away from the tick-box approach and embracing a more comprehensive, multi-intelligence perspective, parents, educators, and admissions committees can work together to create an environment where children thrive and develop into well-rounded individuals.
The author is an educationist and the Founder of Little Chipper International School, an experiential learning-based preschool in Agra.
