Education and Schooling-- Where is it heading to??
In India, ask any student what career they want to choose?
An expected answer is an Engineer or a Doctor or a Lawyer or to study Management or recent trend which is Commerce (F & A).
If majority of the students wants to study only one among these, then who is going to study life sciences, literature, arts, translation, Social sciences or Teaching(as teachers) or sports?
The answer is-- those who have got lower marks in their secondary schools (I am not degrading such students because there are several reasons for them to score lower marks and scoring lower marks need not necessarily mean that a student is not worthy of anything at all, it is just our education system which makes sure that a student who has no good marks to a financially struggling parents will be doomed!!)
The schooling system and society has very successfully created an environment which is -- a student with higher marks >have< to select the “elite professional” studies only, if not then the student is not “normal”. This “ideological” system according to me is no better than the authoritarian regimes such as communism or Nazism.
How can any student who has no aptitude for engineering can excel in it? I don’t understand why the parents and the schools do not understand this basic logic and why should they impose on students? A student who is good at singing can be encouraged in that. This expands the job market (or this should be the logic).
There are several parents who want their children to fulfil their unfulfilled dreams - Oh yes, this indeed sounds very logical!!!
So if all the best students are taken into those “Elite professions” who is going to teach the future generation?
The answer is -- those who have scored very low marks in their colleges and hence have no choice but to learn how to teach. Just imagine a child learning science, mathematics and for that matter language from such a teacher and what kind of quality education can a child get in its primary and secondary schools?
I agree with Pink Floyd's song "another brick in the wall"-- Schools and colleges have become like industries which manufactures the students for these “elite professions”. The rest are like junk which can be thrown into trash! Such a shameful situation this is!
Of course there are several aspirants with good marks and qualification who wish to become a teacher but they join to teach in the “elite” schools and these teachers are paid very well and they obviously expect it. Because of this, the school fees soars and not everyone will obviously be able to send their children to these schools. So this is kind of a vicious circle.
The society do not consider the other options such as life sciences, literature, arts, translation, Social sciences or Teaching (as teachers) or sports as “deemed” at all. Students who opt for these options will have to face severe opposition from their parents because such parents think their children will not earn enough from these professions and if they don’t earn how will they support the family???
There can be some typical filmi situations for some parents (or many?), where such parents give birth to several children and then they expect their eldest child/children to educate the remaining —talk about parent's personal responsibilities and then eldest child/children sometimes have to forget about what they wanted to opt their career as!!
And these situations really bothers me, bothers me because the current situation and the future situation in these difficult economic times will only put pressure on students!!!
An expected answer is an Engineer or a Doctor or a Lawyer or to study Management or recent trend which is Commerce (F & A).
If majority of the students wants to study only one among these, then who is going to study life sciences, literature, arts, translation, Social sciences or Teaching(as teachers) or sports?
The answer is-- those who have got lower marks in their secondary schools (I am not degrading such students because there are several reasons for them to score lower marks and scoring lower marks need not necessarily mean that a student is not worthy of anything at all, it is just our education system which makes sure that a student who has no good marks to a financially struggling parents will be doomed!!)
The schooling system and society has very successfully created an environment which is -- a student with higher marks >have< to select the “elite professional” studies only, if not then the student is not “normal”. This “ideological” system according to me is no better than the authoritarian regimes such as communism or Nazism.
How can any student who has no aptitude for engineering can excel in it? I don’t understand why the parents and the schools do not understand this basic logic and why should they impose on students? A student who is good at singing can be encouraged in that. This expands the job market (or this should be the logic).
There are several parents who want their children to fulfil their unfulfilled dreams - Oh yes, this indeed sounds very logical!!!
So if all the best students are taken into those “Elite professions” who is going to teach the future generation?
The answer is -- those who have scored very low marks in their colleges and hence have no choice but to learn how to teach. Just imagine a child learning science, mathematics and for that matter language from such a teacher and what kind of quality education can a child get in its primary and secondary schools?
I agree with Pink Floyd's song "another brick in the wall"-- Schools and colleges have become like industries which manufactures the students for these “elite professions”. The rest are like junk which can be thrown into trash! Such a shameful situation this is!
Of course there are several aspirants with good marks and qualification who wish to become a teacher but they join to teach in the “elite” schools and these teachers are paid very well and they obviously expect it. Because of this, the school fees soars and not everyone will obviously be able to send their children to these schools. So this is kind of a vicious circle.
The society do not consider the other options such as life sciences, literature, arts, translation, Social sciences or Teaching (as teachers) or sports as “deemed” at all. Students who opt for these options will have to face severe opposition from their parents because such parents think their children will not earn enough from these professions and if they don’t earn how will they support the family???
There can be some typical filmi situations for some parents (or many?), where such parents give birth to several children and then they expect their eldest child/children to educate the remaining —talk about parent's personal responsibilities and then eldest child/children sometimes have to forget about what they wanted to opt their career as!!
And these situations really bothers me, bothers me because the current situation and the future situation in these difficult economic times will only put pressure on students!!!
Bhavana;I share your views on the education system.Apart from parental pressure ,the children themselves from their younger days believe that they should opt for Courses which fetch them lot of money.ultimately it is the hard economics that counts.The only aim in job selection is making a fast buck.job satisfaction takes a back seat.Even Medicine which was thought to be an elite course,has no takers because it does not gaurantee a fast money early in life.unless other jobs are paid a handsome sallary on par with the software engineers ,there will be status quo.Regards.
ReplyDeleteVery educative article.
ReplyDeleteI have copied this link and sent a mail to all my contacts.
In my view total education system here we have based on marks we gain. We treat the students as horses over the race course. Our education and carrier depends on our cast, urban / rural, financial status. Institutions shall not be factories where studens despatched after grading and certifictation.
www.badari-poems.blogspot.com
@ KrishnaMurthy, thanks for the read. Yes its true that in this competitive times its hard to make any kind of decisions which satisfies us personally and nowadays its about status quo. Yes you are very right about medicine..
ReplyDelete@ Badrinath, thanks very much :) But institutions for the time being will be like factories because unfortunately there is no other choice..
ReplyDeletehai bhavana
ReplyDeleteIt is a time when parents have to take parenting in a very constructive way. Instead for many parents securing a course for their children fall under good investment.
Society needs some moral input to have a balanced approach to life. it is a tall order task at the present moment.
everybody is missing out on what is the purpose? If it is to enjoy the beauty of life how many of them truly have it?
good thinking. keep it up.
You said absolutely true coz this is very much necessary to build the nation. Also focus only on medical, engg.. is suppressing the talent which kids have in other fields.......To build a nation ppl from all streams shud be there to serve the country! And every field has the chance for specialization, success and to reach a new height! This is full of Bhavana (heart and emotions) and the way of saying is very natural and effective. The solution I think like-minded ppl like us..shud start a guidance to parents and their kids then seperately.. i have started this in my city..but it's a very small individual effort! Thanks for such a gr8 post, we need such deep thinkers now for the country. If both of us can do anything unitedly..i wud love to join you!
ReplyDeleteRegards!
And Happy new year and new decade too!
ReplyDeleteThanks Mohini,
ReplyDeleteWishing you happy New year...
Cheers,
*like*..:-)
ReplyDeletelovely article bhavana. I agree with your thoughts. In one of the books of Ta. Ra.Su, Ranna the great poet of Kannada, would have had no education as a child. As a grown up person he goes in search of a teacher and lands up in a gurukul of Jain, the teacher asks ranna is this desire for education for earning?? ASANA VASANAARJANEGE Mathondu hesare??? Ranna replies in negative... the reason I said this, today the modern education for all of us the end objective is money and to reach the goal is high marks,,,whether the student is learning... who cares...:)
ReplyDeleteThanks Rajeev for the read.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this essay, Bhavana. Parenting is tricky business. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. And the line between concern/attachment and inflicting your unfulfilled dreams on the kids is really a fine one. I speak as a child and as a parent. I quit my corporate career three years back to build something that would enable real change in education and career management at grassroot levels. Yet, three years down the line, I am still building around the technology/medicine/law paradigm as far as vocational training is concerned. What is needed, I feel, is to not work against or try to demolish existing paradigms, but to create alternatives, and strengthen them, so that they serve to attract people as viable options. We see too many nonviable options (artists, musicians, sportspeople living in penury, or social activists struggling against the tide) for that to change in a hurry. Loved reading this piece. Must dig around your older posts some more.
ReplyDelete