Real Nature of Education

There was a time when I used to mock CCE and Formative Assessments. The reason was that I was ill informed, ignorant. Though the truth was glaring in front of me, I chose to overlook. But then I came around and today I can safely say that I am a proponent of CCE and FA and very frankly I want thing to improve further.

When I was a student in school, I used to wonder why I need to study all the subjects instead of those that I really love to. Why can’t I just play cricket and become a cricketer? Why does everyone compare me with someone else when we two are different people?

The reason is a flawed education system which has become flawed because of our wrong assumption that MONEY IS SUCCESS. This ultra materialistic view that we have borrowed from the west has led to our downfall. If students across the country are committing suicides over exam failure, the reason is this wrong definition of success. And amazingly this has led to a severe down gradation of our education system and values.

The real nature of education is to enrich and empower a person to face and deal with the world. But are we doing that?

No. Our perception of success has turned education into a marks crunching machine. A student is taught to score marks. Hardly ever to understand the concepts. We are always looking up to the so called brilliant 1% students who constantly score above 90%. What about those who don’t score above 70%? They are in majority.

Well we push them into oblivion. At least we try our best to do so. And interestingly throughout history it is these BELOW AVERAGE guys who have shaped and reshaped the world as we know it today.

The purpose of education is to make the students achieve their potential. They should be doing what they love to do. In fact that is what the true idea of success is, “A MAN IS SUCCESSFUL IF HE WAKES UP IN THE MORNING AND GOES TO BED AT NIGHT AND IN BETWEEN, DOES WHAT HE LOVES TO DO”. Going by that ARTISTS and SCIENTISTS are the real successful people.  And exactly how many are they in number? Well less than 1% of 1% of our entire population.

To a huge extent we parents are also responsible for this entire problem. The following will indicate the problem cycle.

MONEY IS SUCCESS --> Parents want their ward to be SUCCESSFUL --> Schools want their CUSTOMERS (Read STUDENTS and their PARENTS) to be satisfied --> Teachers want to be in jobs so have to listen to school admin --> Completion of syllabus takes center stage --> Understanding goes for a toss --> Students become problem solving, marks crunching, lesson mugging devices --> Students either become SUCCESSFUL or not --> In both case they too propagate MONEY IS SUCCESS and the cycle continues.

It is high time now that this pattern be broken. It is to be understood that SUCCESS is about positively influencing as many lives as possible in one lifetime. It is about pursuing your PASSION and making a contribution to the world. And in the process enjoying and reaping the benefits that life presents you.

I, being a teacher, has taken it on myself to positively effect as many students as possible. Each and every student is special and is a powerhouse of possibilities and potential. Only that they need the guidance to achieve their potential. Charity begins at home.

I hope people including school teachers, parents and kids should understand that achieving their potential will be the real success.

Predicament of a Teacher

I have long wondered why most MALES now a days shy away from the teaching profession? Why for todays youngsters teaching is either not an option or the last option or kind of an exit strategy in life?  Pondering on the above questions I came across the answers. Four years I have been a teacher in Two Engineering colleges and Two schools. What I have seen around me and my analysis of the situation is summarized below. If you find my language gross and not that of a teacher, kindly forgive me but just become a teacher for six months and you would agree with me.

Gone are the days when a teacher was the most respected person in ones life. Gone are the days when a teacher used to TEACH and GIVE KNOWLEDGE to the students. Today teachers are a harried lot.

CBSE says that students should not fail (CCE is mainly about it which borrows ideas from the multiple intelligence theory which though i agree with has loop holes) and if a student knows how to run fast, he knows something in life and must therefore pass and finally become an engineer or a doctor (Government has done enough to ensure that perfect idiots should become engineers and doctors) even if he doesn't know that 2+2=4 and that RAM was SITA'S husband and not brother !!!..

Also parents feel that a teacher should take complete responsibility of the student and they would hardly do anything except earning money.

On that the school and college administration says that CUSTOMER (read  STUDENT and their PARENTS) SATISFACTION is most important and one must always say, "THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS CORRECT".

Plus if a student slaps the teacher on one cheek the teacher is supposed to forward the other cheek and then when that is also hit, should COUNSEL the students as to why he/she shouldn't have done this so that he/she  may come back with a SHOE the next time. Since, if the teacher scolds the student and the student commits (OR EVEN SAYS ABOUT COMMITTING) suicide, the teacher will be hanged to death by the POLICE and SUPREME COURT.

A teacher who is behind the creation of hundreds of engineers and professionals is paid PEANUTS. One of my friends, a MA in Economics plus BEd was offered 3500 rupees to become a PGT. Now is that not an insult? Barring some reputed private schools and some government schools the salary of a teacher is less than or equal to the salary that a peon earns in a regular government job. And then it is expected that teachers should do a world class job. Ha Ha !!!!

Though the concept of CCE is good but it is a TUGHLAKI IDEA. Good but ineffective in a country like ours. I will discuss about it shortly in another blog.

So a teacher is literally tortured  by the school/college administration, parents, supreme court, police, CBSE, Kapil Sibal and his great ideas, and finally the students themselves. and then it is asked WHY NO ONE WANTS TO BECOME A TEACHER NOW A DAYS?

You still need a reason ????!!!!!!!!