Rethinking Education

Education is an admirable thing, but everything that is worth knowing can’t always be taught. Conversely, everything that’s meant to learn doesn’t always have a marketable value before a panel of examiners. Education stretches beyond teaching and reviewing, it’s a process of learning and unlearning as well. In an education system, expected to produce enlightened minds, rather than mere literate individuals, such abstract exchanges should have a place. But in this fast moving world of cut-throat competition, no one seems to have time and willingness to bother. The very soul of education and its purpose seem to be weighed down by the utility of degrees in fetching jobs or more commonly by the degree itself. Our universities are working as factories to produce tons of undergroomed scholars with impetus on stepping up one exam after another, and in order to pass this fiery ordeal of tests the content “has to be got up” not from desire but from dismal necessity. While the art of taking and writing exams is perfected to the highest note, it often has opposite effect and instead of arousing appetite for knowledge; it leaves a kind of apathy towards subject. The result is megabytes of data are stored before exams, cleared out on answer sheets, but seldom do we find heart of the candidate, the labor of love on answer sheets.
Undoubtedly current education is helping students, but not even up to the quarter of their potential. . The serious neglect of interest, innovation and originality has high opportunities costs. I know it can’t be helped completely and examinations have to be more or less the same. But some intelligent and sincere efforts from institutes along with students can change the picture. Actually problem is much severs than it looks at the surface. In this country of limited options, where education is a wagon to cross the fringes of uncertainty and to avail economic security, few dare to think differently. Education has been viewed as a tool to avoid risks, rather than enabler of intelligent risk taking. Such a mindset hinders innovation because any significant innovation almost never comes without some amount of risk involved. Students, although uncharacteristic of young minds, are content with doing anything tried and tested that’ll guarantee them a job or other affluent chances. This reluctance to experiment is not because of some inherent weakness, but the result of years of conservative training in schools and unfortunately in colleges, coupled with humble economic backgrounds. In some cases they lack the innate thirst for knowledge, treating knowledge as a secondary tool to help in pursuing a career. The teachers on the other hand, with a few exceptions, are not concerned with the amount of stuff digested by students. Although they may be doing their part in a rationally unobjectionable way; their style of work is more like “ nishkam karm ” of
Gita . They do their job without thinking about outcome, they teach, deliver lectures without bothering about it’s result on the students, who are, in turns, times ahead of their professors with an attitude most akin to “sad indifference” of Jesus Christ. That’s why our education system has become ‘activity oriented’ rather than being ‘outcome oriented’- The activities without active participation. The need of hour is to make it more participating, flexible and experimenting. The courses can be customized to some extents based on aptitudes of students. Regular credits can be replaced by some projects in their specified area of interest. The grading system can be made more inclusive by taking more no. of tests, assignments that test analytical skills, imagination and scientific temper rather than ability to mug and reproduce strings of data. Real life and industry problems can be used to stimulate their problem solving skills and curiosity. Such kind of active participation is far more beneficial in understanding of subjects than routine class notes and examinations; furthermore they will have a multiplying effect on classroom learning and academic performance. The other important traits to be groomed like team work and planning will also get a boost. Today Indian universities of producing lots of research paper but little original work, the reason is the lack of confidence and absence of desire to perform. Our aim should be to catch students young and try to cultivate originality from the very beginning of their college lives.
Despite the flaws of current system, it had been able to produce successful professionals, but that was not because of the flaws but despite of them. The potential of education doesn’t recline in what it produces anyway, but what it can produce with best utilization of the available resources. Other extra academic activities should hold a good share in evaluating overall performance. The exposure to sports, music, debate and other cultural activities is complementary to academic inputs and enhances the skill set of an individual. Most important is development of an atmosphere conductive to discussion and free exchange between pupil and the mentor, thus strengthening the respect for teachers in hearts of students and care & concern for students in teachers. It’s time to realize the leap we can make and implement them. To make education not only a tool for job or degree but something that prepares us for the journey called life.