Before or After the Red Light?

Let’s visualize a scene at a busy intersection …

A hawk-eyed traffic cop scans your actions from a distance and signals you to pull-over. This happened when you tried to zoom past cars ahead of you and dodge the light just turned red.

You curse yourself for getting caught and the cop is happy for another ‘prized catch’. You stop the car and both of you get ready for a prolonged negotiation session. In the process your standing car poses danger to other vehicles and disrupts the traffic flow. In this melee, many other ‘fish’ (read traffic violators) slip past unscathed in the next red-light.

You plead, brag, apologize, give all sorts to excuses to avoid traffic challan. If nothing works, some of us try to ‘strike a deal’.

At the end of the day, police go back proud for having ‘punished’ the errant drivers. While punished drivers curse their luck for getting caught. Some money gets collected through challans. Another larger chunk of money generates enough fodder to feed the monsters of corruption.

What has been the outcome of this whole exercise?

Well, it generates some fear, drains out honest policemen and throws open corruption opportunities. Still, most of the errant drivers have NOT improved. They kept inventing creative ways to dodge the police.

We’ve all seen this happening for decades. Has it really improved the situation?

Is it just about the roads?

I want to highlight an issue, which is not just about traffic rules, accidents or jams.

This has many fallouts in terms of the image of our country. Anyone visiting India for business or leisure will take back an image of a country which is ‘uncivilized’ and its cities are nothing but ‘outgrown villages’. It has several other collateral damages like increased motor insurance premium due to a higher number of accidents. Perishable resources like fuel & time getting wasted due to long jams. Precious lives getting lost or maimed etc. etc.

Well, again my purpose here is NOT to highlight accidents, jams or corruption on the roads.

I’m concerned about the long-term impact this creates on our human-capital.

Our roads will produce citizens whose faith in rules and civilized public life is shaken. Over a period, they become habitual offenders and start believing that breaking law is a norm in this country. This promotes a culture of “I care a damn for rules” and produces a breed of rogue & reckless citizens.

From roads, this mindset seeps into other spheres of life and contaminates our general work-culture. It affects us psychologically in terms of increased road-rage and aggression.

We become impatient, panicky, aggressive, opportunist and insecure. Everyone tries one or the other ‘jugaad’ to get ahead. Most of the drivers on the road always seem to be in a hurry for reasons unknown to them as well. It seems to be the case of insecurity, “If I don’t cut others, I’ll be left behind.” One of my friends rightly observed, “All those who are lagging behind in their life and careers, want to stay ahead on the roads!”

Imagine the plight of a country, where law-abiding behaviour is mocked. You are a ‘smart-cookie’ if you can break the rules or manoeuvre (or manipulate) with dexterity. People following rules are looked down upon as ‘na?ve & impractical’.

What a shame!

This problem has assumed grave proportions and is only becoming worse and worse with no focused effort in sight. I reiterate. intention of my note is not to complain or just highlight a problem. Most of us are already aware of this. I am writing this because:

• I strongly believe we have a hope, and
• I trust someone will evaluate this approach and act.

Read on…

Before or after the red-light?

In the above scenario of red-light jumping, the cops were stationed ‘after’ the signal.

For a moment let’s blink our eyes and remind ourselves of age-old wisdom of ‘prevention is better than cure’ and change our approach a bit. Let’s change the position of the traffic cop and bring him back by a few yards to stand ‘before’ the signal instead of standing ‘after’ the signal.

This is what would most likely happen:

• Red-light jumping would be negligible.
• Motorists would be sensitized to follow the rules.
• Lesser opportunities of corruption.
• Lesser accidents and jam-free intersections.

When stationed after-the-signal, the cop can humanly ‘catch’ or ‘punish’ only a handful in a day. But when the same cop stands before-the-signal, he or she can sensitize and discipline hundreds of motorists in an hour.

If this is practised for a couple of weeks, the motorists are more likely to stop at the red-light, even without policing. All this happened because we could successfully alter their behaviour.

Repeated training will help alter the behaviour.

Prevention is certainly better than punitive approach. But this approach still requires lots of resources and the process could be slow and long-drawn. It will also have limited impact.

Can we further improve upon this? Let’s move back by one more step.

How about comprehensively ‘training’ prospective motorists at the time of issuing licenses? In other words, we shift our focus from ‘altering the habit’ to ‘forming the right habit’.

 So, effectively, we have 3 stages to address this and similar other issues.

‘Habit forming’ stage happens before issuing licenses. This will ensure that before you start driving on the road, you are well ‘trained’ or become habitual in following road-rules.

The second stage is ‘altering a habit’. This stage, in the above scenario, would be to ‘re-train’ the seasoned drivers. This would be typically done by various sensitization campaigns including stationing the cops before the signal.

The third stage is called ‘punitive’. In this stage we catch and punish the errant drivers.

Can you guess, which stage would be most effective and least expensive?

Currently, most of our resources are spent on the last stage, i.e. punitive approach. We clearly see that this approach has had almost negligible impact with a very high cost. If we keep moving back the chain, we could have exponentially better results with lesser cost and resources.

This will also have long-term sustainable impact.

‘Forming the right habit’ can help

When we focus on ‘habit forming’ then we move from a reactive to proactive approach.

In the above scenario, to get a beginner’s license we just need to cram the meaning of a few road-signs and pass an objective type test. After a few weeks, if we can make the number ‘8’ and back up our vehicle successfully, we get a permanent license to drive on Indian roads.

The result is for all of us to see. You will see drivers making all kinds of signs on the roads like ‘arc,’ ‘wavering lines’, ‘zigzag’ and other numbers and letters except ‘1’ with their vehicles.

Current licensing and motor-training procedures focus only on one thing: “master your machine”, i.e. your vehicle. It is ensured that you are well-trained on things like ‘reversing’, ‘changing gears’ etc. There is hardly or no ‘training’ on road-rules.

In contrast, I still vividly remember the driver’s training I received in Canada, more than 20 years ago. It was a mix of concepts, videos and on-the-road training. I remember being asked to look into the ‘back-view mirror’ every few seconds and repeat this for 21 times. I was told if I do something 21 times, it becomes a habit.

I was trained on things like ‘blind spot’, ‘looking around the vehicle before entering the car’, ‘parallel parking’, ‘lane discipline’, ‘point of no-return’, ‘how to avoid rear-ending’, ‘rules of overtaking’, ‘right of way’, and ‘using broken and solid lines on the roads’ etc.

I wonder why I still remember and follow most of these rules.

It was because I was ‘trained’ on the road and comprehensively sensitized during the licensing process. Licensing authority failed me a couple of times for visibly small violations like not ‘applying brakes and stopping completely’ before entering the main road. At another time, I could not do ‘parallel parking’ properly. So, I had to train myself hard on those rules to ensure that I am fit for the roads.

This all happened, because my habits were formed right in the beginning. They have stayed with me even after so many years.

To achieve desired results, we need to have an integrated approach consisting of all the three mechanisms. ‘Altering the habit’ and ‘punitive’ actions are needed to manage the existing generation of motorists. But for long-term impact, we must focus more on the ‘habit forming’ stage.

Plan-ahead for our human capital

Let’s extend this analogy further.

There is no dearth of talent in India. All we need is a disciplined & planned approach to build a brighter future. Unfortunately, this approach is grossly lacking at present.

We see lack of planning everywhere around us. Cities are always in a state of repair and renovation. Roads get caught in the vicious circle of laying=>digging=>relaying. Most of the freshly laid roads are constantly being dug up for sewers, cables, and many other unknown reasons. Flyovers and underpasses are being built on existing roads causing so much of displacement and inconvenience.

Compare this to towns or roads built by erstwhile British rule. All of those have stood the test of time. Some of our own organizations like ISRO, Metro rail and National Highways, and many more have done a professional work. This is so commendable and has earned laurels across the globe. Why? Because they spent considerable time in planning.

On the other hand, many of us seem to be in a hurry to deliver and planning seems like a waste of time and resources.

This makes me wonder, if India as a nation is missing the planning-gene in its DNA? All our civic projects except a few are in a state of hotchpotch and chaos. Whether it is roads, towns or environment. We have developed this habit of “Dekhenge!”, means, “We’ll tackle this when it happens”

Why can’t we plan-ahead? Well, if we don’t plan-ahead for infrastructure projects, we can still break old structures and rebuild.

But what about our human-capital?

Lack of proper training during formative years will lead to a dismal future. Our next generation will lack ethics, character, clear vision, civilized habits and will consume itself with religious & caste bigotry.

Why do we behave, the way we do?

When we analyse the behaviour of our citizens on the roads, workplaces or in public life, we wonder why are they breaking the rules? Are we bad people?

In fact, no. Most of the people want to see a corruption-free and value-driven society. We all wish our country to have civic values just like most of the advanced nations.

But we behave in a certain way, because we have become habitual. Most of us were never trained effectively on the right behaviour when we were young. Also, both good and bad habits are contagious. When see everyone around us breaking rules, we tend to do the same and vice versa.

 “We are what we repeatedly do,”

It becomes critical that we plan-ahead and inculcate values and form right habits at a tender age. In the next section, I’ll share my views on primary education priorities.

Don’t Teach…just Train!

I’m proposing a paradigm shift from teaching to training in our primary schools. Currently, our system is centred around teaching. Students are considered successful or good, when they can cram or remember facts, complete their homework or copy from the board quickly. There is hardly any focused approach or curriculum which helps trains the mind and body.

In most schools, Value or moral education is ‘taught’ as a subject and explained theoretically. But just by reading or listening, we can’t develop habits or inculcate values. We must have a values and habits forming curriculum which is a good mix of teaching & training techniques.

We must redefine the goals of our primary education. Let’s prepare children for life and not just for exams.

Before I present my case, let me try to explain the difference between teaching and training, as I understand.

Teaching vs Training

Even if many of us are already aware of this, let’s reinforce this concept with the help of an example.

Suppose, you wish to make your child learn a musical instrument, say Tabla. To learn this, we’ll compare 2 approaches. In the first scenario, you hire a tabla expert for 15 days and in the second scenario, your neighbour employs a different tabla expert for similar duration. Let’s see what happens.

Scenario #1

The table-tutor comes and gives various inputs on the history of tabla, great tabla players in our country and similar details. In next couple of sessions, the teacher explains the finer details of the tabla layout, like the kind of leather that is used in tabla and two different shapes.

Tutor also conducts many written and oral exams to check if the child has learned or remembers the concepts. In his advanced sessions, he explains the concept behind the different shapes of the instrument and how they produce different sounds. Teacher also explains which fingers to use and shows a couple of videos which try to explain the dynamics of finger movement.

Well, this whole exercise takes 15 days.

Scenario # 2

In the first session itself, the tutor asks for the instrument, i.e. a tabla and makes the child familiar with the instrument by making the child touch and feel the instrument. Then he demonstrates a simple thumping with his fingers. After this, he makes the child practice the same under his supervision. In between, the tutor keeps helping by adjusting child’s finger movements and hand-holding.

For most of the session, the chid is practicing with the instrument.

Tutor continues this approach and when the child is comfortable with his fingers, he demonstrates a few advanced techniques and lets the child practice them under his supervision. During the whole one-hour session, tutor takes not more than 5-10 minutes explaining the concepts.

Rest of the session is devoted to ‘practicing’ the instrument.

15 days passed.

At the end of this exercise, your child probably knows a lot of theory and concepts about the instrument and can also ‘pass’ written exams. But can he actually ‘play’ the instrument?

And by this time, your neighbour’s child is most likely preparing for first stage performance.

So, what was the difference?

In the first scenario, the child was ‘taught’, whereas in the second scenario, the child was ‘trained’. Tutor played the role of a ‘teacher’ in first scenario, whereas he played the role of a ‘trainer’ in the second scenario. One of the core difference is that while teaching involves discussing and explaining the concepts, training involves ‘training or conditioning’ the body or mind through ‘practice’.

Teaching primarily involves ‘explaining’ while training involves ‘activities’ in other words, ‘doing it’.

Forming habits is important

We can clearly see how ‘learning-by-doing’ can be more effective than learning by reading or listening. It’s time to start focusing on ‘training’. At present, we are way too focussed on ‘teaching’ primary school kids. We overlook the fact that children are most impressionable at this age and these are the formative years of a person’s life. We’ve to mould child’s personality by helping develop the right values and habits. This cannot happen by making the child cram a few facts or by writing or uttering, “the moral of this story is…”.

Remember…

“Excellence…is not an act, but a habit.”

“Repeating a pattern of behaviour, again and again, makes it a habit. Habits form character, and character makes a man. And habits are formed early, even as early as childhood. Children are intensely aware of their environment. They pay close attention to the behaviour of adults. Raising a child in a healthy home environment is important for him or her to evolve into a balanced human being.” 

“Kids start forming patterns of behaviour early on in life.”

 Conclusion

We let go of the opportunity to form habits and values during tender and formative years. Instead we waste those precious years trying to stuff children’s minds with facts, information and numeracy, and their notebooks with never-ending homework.

By forming right habits in early years, we can hope to make dreams like corruption-free India, Swachh Bharat a reality. We hope to become gender-sensitized, civilized and a more tolerant society.

India’s future is in the hands of millennials. Let’s make sure they are well prepared and trained for this.

Remember, this is 21st century.

Remember the power of 21.

Remember, if you do something 21 times, it becomes your habit.

Let’s plan for a programme for our children which can be named something like:

“21 ??? ????? ??” ?? “???-??? 21 ???”

Consider following changes in our primary schooling:

• Formulate an experiential curriculum targeting 7-9 core habits & values.
• Develop a non-threatening evaluation mechanism.
• Every school to have a specialist trainer role. He or she will be responsible for conducting activities to inculcate defined set of ‘values and habits’. For example, make children repeat or practice an act 21 times, or so.
• Sensitize all primary school teachers on methodologies which are an effective mix of ‘teaching and training’.

 “You can give direction to a sapling easily, but when it grows into a tree,you can cut it but cannot change its direction”.

So, decide if you want to act ‘before’ or ‘after’ the red-light?