Our Education System...

Is dere any chance u havnt heard of the saying:
"पढोगे लिखोगे तो बनोगे नवाब,
खेलोगे कूदोगे तो बनोगे खराब."

This clearly shows the emphasis on education in traditional families of India. It may be taken in another way as how the sport interests of children are downplayed, but thats not the point here. What we should be concerned of is why in spite of this excitement and encouragement towards education, we youngsters prefer to be out of dis stream and start earning as soon as possible?

For dissecting this mentality, we have to land deep into the general feeling of Indians. Of course I may not be d ideal person to do this(given my limited exposure), but I am also not the last one.
How will a general person define "नवाब"..a learned person- NO. Rather as a person who is wise, has rational outlook, and most importantly- has enormous wealth. Yes- our masses consider education just as a ladder towards financial stability.

Financial stability, a feature devoid from our agrarian society which depended too heavily on rains and sahukaar's mercy. So when they saw a Munim or lekhpaal engrossed in his account books and having a decent, steady earning...they yearned for their position. And the only thing required for that labour-less leisurely post was knowledge of numbers.

Laughing at the immature thinking of our forefathers...stop. What we are doing through our education system is pretty much same. I can tell from my personal experience...in any engineering college, ask the juniors who would they like to follow among there seniors. Now I would be astonished if majority would say the name of topper. Rather (I can bet on it), the person getting highest package in placements would be the major idol. And if u are even remotely aware of job scenario, it is need less to say that these two persons may not be same.

That is the reason why parents are initially enthusiastic for there childs' education...but gradually lose interest if there is no job prospective. And u cant imagine the sort of opposition a person has to face if he decides to venture into research or post doctoral studies...he has to backup with figures of certain financial benefits for support. Then we wonder why there is a dearth of Nobel Laureates from our country.

A lot has been said in this context about our examination system, but I stand in favor of it. Dont change the % system, let the candidates handle the pressure. It will only teach them to perform under intense scrutiny. If u relax the situation, u are in a way delaying a crucial stage of manufacture of ideal citizen...rather scrapping it at all. Put it in this way- make exams grade based, with little demarcation b/w over and under performer, and be ready for under confident, oversensitive or defective future citizens.

So where should be the change? I would say the nature of questions being asked. They must be thought provoking, requiring a little knowledge of concerned subject, and a lot of innovative, rational approach. After all, our aim should be to design citizens having healthy mentality rather than thorough, mugged up knowledge. However, this would require a tremendous effort on the part of question paper setters....and pardon me, I have no idea how to extract this much from our teachers.

In the meantime, what should we as students do? Should we be continuously at the receiving end cursing the present examination system? I suggest otherwise: It is fairly admitted that our education system, let alone our examination system, is defective or inefficient. Well, then be smart and knowing the deficiencies, score well.

This is one of the places where I can quote my example(!!)- I was never an over performing guy, and scored just good in all subjects. My report card seldom showed consistent highest in a particular subject, rather it was second or third highest. But hey..any guesses who was the overall topper? Yeah..being nice in every subject did the trick. And this was easy too, given I had no special interest in any particular subject. Also in competitive exams, a very simple funda of qualifying is: avoid any silly mistake. Just solve all questions which an average person is expected to solve...and u r through!!

And how to score well in exam?? Write in clear, if not good handwriting. If u know little answer, write a lot of sensible garbage, with main answer embedded between them; and clearly highlighted. You have to understand that the examiner must be tired checking through similar foolish stuff, so try to please his eyes, and confident in presentation. eg. if u have to describe a goat...take the goat, tie it to a familiar tree, and describe the tree. Here chances r u may score less, but if u present this in a confident, neat manner, these chances are minimized.

So..back to serious stuff...dis post is long enough...will talk about this in another one..too much gyaan stuffed in little space=confusion. So now I would conclude as: whatever world around u think of education, u should pursue it as a means to explore your field of interest. Once this stage is over, give your fullest to the specific area and soar high. And those with me who are entangled in the first stage itself, unable to decide where they are interested...keep snoring..!!