What are they teaching us? Ideal education? Not really....

Our education system, is it really that good? I mean, sure we produce some brilliant IT brains, IIT is a brand by itself, and quite some laurels in our pockets. But that's not what I mean. Leave all that out of the picture for now coz it comes after what my point of discussion is; which is our education system.

All through our school life we're made to believe that what we do in school, our course-ware, the subjects we study are all important in our "later life as some of our teachers may put it. Then, we realize, at a point when most of us do not even know what we're good at let alone what we want to become, that we have to choose... Hah! Choose what? Science, commerce, arts? It's something that was becoming such a problem that ultimately the powers-that-be created clichés. If you're a good student, you HAVE to take up science, or you're wasting your life and career. Average student? Oh commerce's for you...Or MAYBE you're the creative type...go for arts. "But daddy i don't know yet!" "Well son, tomorrow's a sunday, so you have two days to decide your career." I mean, what education system worth its name does that? No aptitude tests, little in-school career guidance.. Heck, all we were given, when I was in school was a long questionnaire that finally told me I should become a DJ or something in the music industry. I don't even have a sense of rhythm for heaven's sake!

Alright alright, so there are loopholes and screw-ups in every system, but to what level? Again, what's with all this mugging up, learning by rote business? Even as I type this, I have two books of economics and management that I'm supposed to 'learn'.. Yeah right! As if mugging up is going to make me understand what I'm studying. I barely remember the twenty points that are essential for a business to survive in a competitive market, so how am I supposed to know how to apply them if we don't do case studies or projects on them? Putting what we learn into practice is something that's really lacking in our general education system. Right from school, through junior college and some parts of degree college, all we ever do in class and while we study is learn, learn, learn...and not constructive learning either...it's all learning by rote. Whoever has the better memory/learning capacity/whatever you may call it, wins. It's not what goes into your head that matters, it's what you regurgitate on paper that does. Students like is who actually try to understand the subject are the ones who are hard pressed later to mug up more stuff coz that's what the university demands. Utter Nonsense!! Without some practical knowledge, bookish knowledge has little value in my eyes.

Producing great managers and engineers and specialists in every field is great and there's no doubt that we shall continue to do so for a long long time, but as far as what I see, the real talent sadly remains untapped, not for lack of opportunity, coz believe me, if you look around or search for it, there's no dearth of it, but for the sheer ineffectiveness and impracticability of the methods and techniques of our primary and secondary education system.

2 comments:

karen said...

i so totally agree with you,everything is abt learning by rote, in mumbai university its nt education for masses , it is mass production!!

Mads said...

Arre wah beta! nice post for a 1st post! in fact its awesome..
i took arts being the non-artistic types :P