Bug named "School"/"School Hype"

The other day my mom was saying that any kid who is good will study and come up in life no matter in which school he is!
Well even i believe it to a large extent...padnewale bache kahi bhi pad lenge
After coming to Bangalore, first thing my cousins and colleagues kept saying was "Search for a school"
K is 3 yrs old now, you have to get him into a school so that he is there till his 12th
But me and my hubby, thankfully our thoughts matches to 100% in this context
At the end of the day, we want him to be a good person and take up in life what he wants to
He was going to a preschool and I thought of continuing him in the same for a while
Since mummy is a teacher in Kendriya Vidhyalaya, I thought he could join KV after he is 6
But my mama also said that Bangalore KVs arent great
All around us, parents were talking about admissions,exposure,school quality and yes the "bug of school hype" bit us
In no time were we checking various schools website and guess what we were very late
NPS was done (Only cream get selected)
DPS..well everyone said that its too much of burden(as though NPS wont have!Ha)
Prakriya : One more week to get application form (but the road to reach school is bad)
VIBJYOR: Yes but neighbour says that its not great...kids dont get individual attention
Coming to individual attention, I am a KV product, and in my class we were close to 65...i still got attention and have done good in life(well i believe so :) )
So thats when me and my hubby paused and asked ourselves do we really believe in these criteria
We let me list down the criteria what todays hyped parents look at
School has to be Huge
There should be a ground....horce racing will be an added advantage
Oh yes it has to be ICSE/International School Syllabus....ISCSE
Individual Attention is a must
Must have dance/music/abacus exposure
Montessori is a must if you are looking at junior school
The road to school should be a pleasant ride to kids
Even if your kid is four years old, there should be the facility of one comp per child
Well I can list a lot but yes these are the major criterias

Well me and my hubby after lot of thinking said enough...nomore checking...lets do this next year
But then we got a call from a school. Lets call it "G"....we had got mixed reviews on the same by colleagues
But I wanted to experience, this whole concept of admission procedure and hence we went on the day
BTW, this school is supposed to be a value based school
 
On the D-day, we were late and we thought poor "k" he must be like what parents I have
"K" was excited to see the big school...these days he's fascinated with kids going in big bus :)
So we reach at 10:30 am, btw, our interview schedule was @10 am

I loved its entrance but the sanskrit scriptures were so fake and so commercial (Thats what I felt)


We were then told to sit in the reception...after a while there was a tour arranged
Tour???Yes tour of the school...the first thought that came into my mind was this must be a huge school, but as we went were shown various classrooms,music class,dance class,value class,yoga class, sick room with a docyor,playground,sports room,computer lab,maths lab etc etc

It was hilarious as though we were visiting the zoo
Yes...actually yes it more or less a zoo
I could see bored and dull students inside bright classes
I even saw a stern teacher :)

After visiting all classes we were finally taken inside the theatre and my "k" with excitement asked which movie are we gonna watch momma?
With great difficulty I kept a straight face and told him to be quiet...Hubby darling was laughing out
And then there was a session on the school
Most of the parents were even jotting down points from the presentation..(Dont believe I exaggerated that part :))
They even mentioned on Sanskrit shlokas, moral values which are a part of the curriculum
Though initially I felt nice healring to it but as time flew I felt it was just a commercial place
They were just using these elements to sell their business
After that we were taken back to the reception and the interview process started
Well interview of the kid and then it was the parents turn

All of this made me feel what were we doing there
I just could not relate myself to any parents over there
Something is seriously wrong with us
I could see parents shouting at their child and saying " Remove your hands from your mouth or else you will not get admission"
I could see parents tensed to the core, as if they have come to give an interview in Mckinsey

We were also interviewed and my son refused to say his name to them....and so we thought thats it its over
Hubby said gosh I have never seen such an environment during my engineering days
I felt the same, while giving my M.Pharm exams I was much cooler

This whole experience made me think a lot
I felt people are missing out so much in life...there is so much hype in schooling these days
Do these kids enjoy all this or they just do it for their parents sake
Felt like telling these parents "Take a Break"

And then in the evening hubby gets a call "Congrats, your kid has been selected. Please come tomorrow to understand the fee structure"
I could see the Sanskrit scriptures, shlokas,moral values being sold to us
Do I want my son to be bought up in such a place NEVER
I would rather expose him to values

I have no clue next year what happens but I dont think I would be happy to place my son in such hyped school

Searching for a simple good and neat school in Bangalore which has great teachers
(Exposure to dance, music and yoga..well that would be added benefits :))

Yup thats my criteria :)