How we mess up our kid's education
A thread 🧵

We assume kids :
should always be kept busy.
must have constant exposure to new things.
need to learn the same stuff at the same pace
need to learn stuff in a particular sequence , according to their age and a curriculum We assume kids :
need teachers to learn stuff.
can't learn for themselves.
need to learn certain things at certain times.
are ready to receive bits of knowledge at similar times.
will be interested in things we’re interested in because we’re interested in them.

The Top Open Educational Resources in India
Thread
🧵 National Digital Library
ndl.iitkgp.ac.in
This is an IIT Kharagpur initiative to bring free access to content in English and other regional languages on a public network.

How schools make learning hard
A Thread 🧵 Teaching is done through lectures. These have been proven to be the worst way of communicating information. Sadly, it's become the default in our classsroms because it's cheap , and teachers prefer it because they can read their old lectures year after year

Are you raising entrepreneurial kids?

A thread 🧵 Every parent wants their child to have a happy and successful future. The problem is that schools are no longer preparing them to win in this rapidly evolving world.

Here's how you can improve your child's marks without paying for coaching classes , tuitions, or for apps like #Byju's, #Unacademy or #Vedantu

These are world-class free online resources that help your child become a self-directed learner. Explore them at home with her please diksha.gov.in
You can find a treasure-house of textbooks and educational content from the Govt of India here. Many of them are in Indian regional languages !
This is where you should start so you know what's happening in your child's school

How can homeschooling parents teach something like chemistry if they know nothing about it ?

A thread 🧵 The parent finds a website like magnetbrains.com and parent and child learn the stuff together.

How to read a book
A thread
🧵 Select the right book
goodreads.com is a good starting place
Trust serendipity too !

Baby steps for homeschooling
1. Take a library membership.
2. Go to parks and beaches , where your kids can meet other kids - from all walks of life and communicate, play and interact.
3. Sign up as a Volunteer - To convert a dump into a playground or to clean up the beach. 4. Make and sell stuff - such as toys, play dough, rakhis.
5. Visit companies, offices, factories, banks, doctors, architects and intern there. This is free, based on the interest of each child, they can visit and meet real world people.

How corporate hospitals take patients for a ride. They market lucrative and sophisticated screening tests disguised as preventive medicine.

Running a startup is like having sex because

Everyone wants to do it The novelty wears off quickly

When entrepreneurs pitch to me, one of the first questions I ask them is how much money they want to raise and what their pre-money valuation is. This is often a question which stumps them, because their calculations are based on what they read in the startup press ( using comparables), or by using Excel gymnastics, or what their CA tells them (textbook gyaan)

The biggest problem with #Edtech startups like #Byju's and #Vedantu is they focus on tech rather than teaching !
Teachers >> Tech Thread 🧵 Thankfully, they are gradually recognising the importance of the human touch, which is why so many of them have started adding teachers ( AKA coaches and mentors ) to their online training programs .

Fixing EdTech in India
A thread 🧵 The Govt can draft a law which makes it compulsory for EdTech businesses to collect fees only by offering subscriptions which need to be renewed every month ( rather than forcing parents to buy expensive multi-year subscriptions by offering them a discount).