Since the last few weeks, news channels and papers have been full of news of student suicides. There have been debates on our education system. A movie highlighting the faults of Indian education has taken the nation by storm (3 Idiots). Everybody and their cousin are blaming our ‘rotten’ education system.
Being a product of the Indian education system myself, I can’t help wondering what the hell is so rotten about it. Isn’t this the same system that has produced half the scientists working in NASA? Or the innumerable doctors and engineers working in the Western countries? Don’t our IIMs produce one of the best management graduates in the world? Today if Americans and Europeans hate Indians its because we have taken away their jobs – not just outsourced to India but also right there in their own countries.
Doesn’t this mean that somehow our education system is better than the West? When we call Indian education bad, which country’s education system do we consider good? America? Nope! If that was the case Obama would not have warned American students about their counterparts in India and China. Europe? With its high dropout percentage? I don’t think so.
Yes our system has its share of problems – one of them being rote learning. But is rote learning always bad? Its thanks to rote learning that Indians can do mathematical calculations in their heads whereas those in developed countries need a calculator to do even simple addition and subtraction. Yes our teachers do not give individual attention to all students – but with our huge student population and shortage of teachers, is it possible? The idea of making learning ‘fun’ is good but to what extent is it really practical?
I was never a very bright student. Thankfully my parents never pressurized me to be one either. They knew that I wasn’t academically inclined and just let me be. As a result I passed out of school and college with average marks. They didn’t show any disappointment and left the decision of my future career in my hands. Today I am doing quite well in my chosen profession, in fact better than some of my classmates who used to be the class toppers. All thanks to my parents who didn’t try to push education down my throat but allowed me to absorb it as per my abilities.
My own experience tells me that its not the course curriculum that turns students into nervous wrecks. It’s the expectations of those around them. Education is extremely important but education alone is not enough to make a person do well in life – resourcefulness, right attitude, hard work and an ability to think on one’s feet is what makes a man successful. But usually the pressure to get high marks overrides everything. And those who are unable to handle this pressure end up committing suicide.
So instead of blaming our education system, shouldn’t we just let children be children?
I have just put down some of my random thoughts here. This subject is very vast and open to a lot of debate. So lets debate!
