While meeting, interacting and tutoring close to 10,000 students on a daily basis, it is very easy to fall prey to the age old system of demarcating students as 'clever', 'weak' and 'gifted'. But how often have we examined the appropriateness of the parameters involved as indeed the measuring tools used to arrive at such sweeping and conclusive judgments. We can test, measure and note cleverness so we promote it. We can measure intelligence or see its manifestation in ordinary school work, so we accept it. We cannot easily measure thinking skills so we ignore it. Our educational tradition has always placed an uncomfortable emphasis on reactive thinking. At school, a problem is set out for us and we react to the situation and solve the problem. Gifted children enjoy and excel in solving these problems - and the more difficult the problem, more the sense of achievement. Contemporary writers have termed this phenomenon "The Everest Effect". By including these problem solving skills, as an integral part of our curriculum, we are training our children to react to pre-existing problems. That is we are promoting reactive thinking. But there exists in the real world any number of situations where information is not given or readily available. Success in these situations, is attained by mastering a separate and distinct ability - projective thinking. An exclusive Personality Development Syllabus designed in our school is specifically intended to promote projective thinking skills in our students. Activities such as the assessment of priorities, generating ideas, selecting alternatives and strategy are all part of this syllabus. It may be an exercise in art, or creativity or entrepreneurship or project work. The student has to find his own way and generate his own information. They are provided a starting point and a general direction, but it is not set out for him as it is in a text book problem. The world we live in and the one that our children will inherit from us, is marked by turbulence. Our life styles have changed forever due to paradigm shifts in socio-cultural values, economic reforms and political maturity. In this turbulent world, opportunity exists for those who can thrive in ambiguity that is create, innovate and handle risks. In other words, opportunities exist for the projective thinker. At the Indian High School, Dubai, we are committed to promoting a generation of thinkers... Projective Thinkers who will grow into Proactive Global Citizens.

Ashok Kumar

Chief Executive Officer