Mark Twain once said ” I have never let my schooling interfere with my education”. His words seemed to me to reflect some of the doubts i have been harboring about educational systems that the modern world has built up.
From my schooling days, i have noticed people with immense potential being caged up in written dogmas and text books. Their imagination and creativity nipped in the bud. Sure, if you ask me – “Then where are you going to learn Newton’s gravitational law or theories, i may well say ” I don’t know”. My point is this – great minds like Muhammad ibn Musa Khwarizmi or Newton didn’t have to learn something some body told them. They learned,observed and contributed to the body of knowledge. But, today many kids who may be running around us are the future Khwarizmis and Newtons of the world. But, they start off their journey to intellectual curiosity with those teachers who have neither been trained to teach properly the budding minds, nor are they true to the cause. Majority of them just want to earn a livelihood or contribute to the earnings of the family. And they don’t hell care, if a Khwarizmi or Newton is amongst his/her batch.
Learning becomes a stressful experience with the most rotten discovery in modern times – “exams”! Kids who are known for their independence from fear are systematically nurtured to fear, because if you do bad in exams, your parents are gonna scold you, and the peer pressure is there to top it.With each variety of exams – Xmas exams,quarterly exams, final exams and with adults it turns out to entrance exams, CAT exams, GMATs, TOFELS and whatever acronyms you can bestow upon the ‘system of fear’!.
Newton observed and discovered, Modern day people sit in concrete rooms and stare at the ceiling or printed photo of Newton sitting under a tree and the apple falling and just learns it by heart.This is just a small tip of the iceberg. The world is full of educated people – those with double degrees,diplomas,doctorates and what not.. I have seen colleagues,friends,uncles,relatives all fail miserable when it comes to human sense. No body would include ‘empathy’ as a parameter for enriched education. I have seen people with doctorates safeguarding knowledge and hoarding it..To me, they don’t deserve even the lowest form of recognition.
In essence our educational systems have failed miserably in their founding mission. Today you learn for a job. In earlier times, people learned for the joy of discovery,for the adrenalin rush of serendipity..And when you study for a job, the world tells you to choose your mission of life, before you get rid of your huggies. They want you to choose your career before your inner mind and heart wakes up to your real passion.That’s how our educational system is designed – before you land a job, you have to decide whether you want to be a doctor or an engineer, even if the poor fellow would have a nascent liking for astronomy. So, now you are forced to study livers instead of stars – why? Because the world around you – the relatives, the leprosy like uncles, your ever concerned cynical friends all judge you by the money and not your knowledge. And not to miss – the future fiance and her/his father’s judgment criteria. In an essence, we are not allowing kids or young men to take chances with their lives – with their passions – with their careers. Because that’s how our educational system and societal rewards are designed.
Okay! i agree that there are elite institutions that do churn out top-notch people like the Harvard or Wharton or IIMs. But, i have seen plenty of common men and women who haven’t gone to the ivy league institutions, who are far more intelligent and having whole sense of world. Circumstances have been the enemy in many times for them, not the lack of hunger for knowledge or intelligence. They have empathy in plenty whereas, i have seen plenty of IIM kinda graduates oozing with hubris. Having attended one of their management meets, i have seen how the hype and entrenched power of alumni networking have helped them gain unfair recognition in many cases, including bloated pay cheques.
In the end, managing people will need empathy and common sense more than pie-charts and case studies.
Having pondered over all these anarchy, i seem to feel that all our educational systems and components of it – ivy leagues or B grade colleges, exams or interviews are all screwed up in their own way!. I doubt if we have passed the tipping point of going back and re-inventing how we learn and teach human beings.This, i think will be the biggest mistake that we have done to humanity and those budding geniuses who run around us!
Unfortunately i wasn’t at the desk when Obama was awarded the Nobel price. I would say he deserves it for his efforts. Its the first time i have noticed an American president trying to talk to the Islamic world in straight words. Even though he is not a perfect choice, i believe for his courage to move things, he deserves it.
As Russel Crowe said in the film Gladiator “They call me Spaniard”, people, mostly my relatives call me a ‘cynic’ these days. Do i have a reason? Yeah, sure i do!
