'Al'l is Not Well

Out of Syllabus

"The school syllabus is so vast."

"Children know so many things nowadays."

We hear these statements quite often. But what are schoolkids really studying?

Tenth-graders have a chapter titled Metallurgy in Chemistry. Every year, a five-mark question on the extraction of aluminium is asked in the board examination. You will ace it if you remember the chemical equations correctly. Just don't forget to write the temperature of the reaction above the arrow, like this:

So, how is that high a temperature achieved? Hmm.. By burning coal? Fine, where does that come from and why is there so much hullabaloo over coal? No idea. Ok forget coal. Where is bauxite (Al₂O₃.2H₂O) sourced from? No clue!

After I completed schooling (a year ago), I realised that I barely knew anything and nearly everything that I found interesting was 'out of syllabus'. Our curriculum is essentially 'nature-distancing' in nature. We have next-to-nil knowledge of how natural resources are procured from our #OnlyOneEarth. Aluminium is just one example to show that All is not well with the syllabus. 

It is unfair - that I who have at least 60 more years to live on this planet and forced to face the climate crisis - have been taught nothing about it.

How will we account for environmental transactions and act against environmental tensions in real life if we ignore them in our schoolbooks? 

We need curriculum change and not climate change.

Wishing you an Observable World Environment Day 2022.