We are all well aware of the stress of being a student in India – the cut-throat competition, the pressure of getting a stream of one's choice and then trying to get into the better colleges. Turns out; that cut-throat competition starts rather early in life. Apparently, nursery, when we presume kids would be playing with nesting toys and colouring outside the lines, is also now a place for competition. A twitter post started a conversation around ‘nursery toppers’.
Is there a ‘syllabus’, are there tests and grading for toddlers? If so why?
The original post wondered what kids were competing for – speed-drinking milk? Now that is objectively funny – even if the situation itself is concerning.
As one commentator put it, something like this is quite toxic for little kids who may be as young as two and three years of age going to nursery. It instils a false sense of achievement as well as an expectation of future ‘topping’ among the ‘toppers’. Worse the other kids may feel quite dismayed at not being among those toppers.
The grading of students as bright and not-so-bright seems to start really early these days --- as does the possibility of little kids developing an inferiority complex, feels this commentator.
This is quite common and is usually accompanied by a show where all the ‘graduating’ kids would stage a small entertainment programme. This is not a bad idea in itself; performance can be confidence-building, but to call it a graduation ceremony is a little silly
This commentator feels that this is a good idea – only for kids who are fussy about drinking their milk.
It is not clear whether the school or nursery took permission from the parents for this huge public hoarding which essentially is advertisement for their organisation. However the very fact that the pictures of little children are displayed like this for everyone to see is a serious invasion of privacy and has the potential of misuse.
It could well be that some parents are ‘proud’ of their topper toddler. They either have no idea about the possible negative consequences or don’t care about them.
The school is doing this for marketing; to create brand awareness. But what about the parents who condone and even take pride in this sort of marketing? This is of a piece with the parents who want reluctant kids to show off their skills to guests, who boast about the classroom rank of their child and who belittle their kids for poor academic performances.
The phenomenon of ‘nursery toppers’ is the result of this very mindset where parents determine the ‘value’ of their own children based on their academic performance. Parents pay big fees for fancy schools; particularly those that claim to churn out ‘toppers’. Like this commentator says, why only blame the school?
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