Kids today know a bit of everything

Updated on: Monday, November 14, 2011

Once, the human digestive system was just a black-and-white drawing in the biology text. Today, there is a video on what happens to food after we swallow it. The animated movie was a fall-out of a student asking if the food changed colour when the digestive juices in the alimentary canal mixed with it.

“With schools delivering lectures in a completely new fashion, kids are getting smarter,” said Bharati Gandhi, director, Youngbuzz, a career counseling and aptitude testing agency that works with several schools.

Principals, too, are cautious about the increasing number of ‘intelligent’ students. “Thanks to the sources of information they are exposed to, students now know a little bit of everything,” said Avnita Bir, principal of R N Podar School, Santa Cruz. “It is a challenge to teach students of this age. We have to go back to learning newer ways to hold their attention,” said Bir.

She added that not all of this intelligence is inherited. “Students perform well in aptitude or logic testing after they have solved similar questions several times in the past. Though they know everything, sometimes their knowledge can be superficial,” she said.

Rajib Ranjan Bohra, president of the Mumbai chapter of Mensa, felt that media like the internet and satellite TV are aiding the development of the brain by forcing kids to connect to the things they see and notice.

He said, “I come across parents who make their kids solve Mensa problems hoping to enhance their logical thinking and puzzle-solving capabilities. But, Mensa India feels that such activities are stressful for kids, and has put a minimum age bar of 14 years for membership. I feel that this judgment should be best left to the parents and kids, and that Mensa should again open its doors to interested young participants.”

Borah is currently in Eger, Hungary to participate in the 20th World Puzzle Championship, where they saw Palmer Mebane, an 18-year-old first-timer from USA, defeat a host of stalwarts in the final play-off.

Kids today know a bit of everything

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