Tag: education and change

The Flaws In Our Education System

Historically, the concept of education involved the sharing of knowledge and values between people. This form of education ensured that valuable knowledge was promulgated within a society, from one society to another, and from generation to generation. It focused on the importance of culture and taught skills needed to positively contribute to society through hands-on learning and observation. Children were given the freedom to explore on their own because this supported their natural ways of learning. Moreover, it bolstered unity as the teachers were always members of the same community that they were teaching. We would not be aware of countless facets of history, such as the Egyptian civilization, the Mesopotamian civilization, and the Hunter-gatherer culture if this form of education did not exist.   

So how did it all go wrong? 

The popularization of the standardized education system as we know it today, in which children are corralled into classes based on their age and study in institutions known as schools, can be traced back to the Industrial Revolution. Nowadays, it is suitably referred to as the “one shoe fits all approach to education” and the “factory model of education”. However, if we consider the prevailing socio-economic conditions of that time, creating a standardized education system was ineluctable and economically beneficial. 

Schools were tasked with transforming their attendees from students to efficient workers who would eventually increase the quantity and quality of the labour force. The need to encourage unique skills and individuality did not exist as students would grow up to do monotonous and regulated work. As Alvin Toffler put it “the whole idea of assembling masses of students (raw material) to be processed by teachers (workers) in a centrally located school (factory) was a stroke of industrial genius”. At the time, it was thought that the best way to produce efficient workers was through the teaching of certain subjects that curricula makers deemed “crucial” using the same method and pace for all students. Students were compelled to utilize rote learning and take graded exams that decided their “intelligence” and potential in life.   

The egregious problem arises when we notice that schools continue to espouse this myopic view on education even after over a hundred years. A hundred years ago, things like the radio, jet engines, helicopters, credit cards, car seat belts, personal computers, smartphones, and the internet did not exist. In a world that undergoes major transformations constantly, how can we be satisfied with this archaic and pernicious education system in the 21st century? 

In today’s world of modernity, complexity, fastidiousness, globalization, and innovation, the flaws of our education system are more conspicuous than ever. No two students are the same. This monolithic and iniquitous system neglects the fact that students have different skill-sets, they learn at different paces, they come from different backgrounds, and wish to pursue different careers in their lives. Undoubtedly, there are numerous instances in which students benefit from and even thrive in the current education system. There are also countless children that long to go to school but don’t have the opportunities or resources to do so. However, there are too many instances in which students, despite arduous effort, struggle in and are lobotomized by this sclerotic education system. They are made to feel inadequate. They are made to believe that they are “slow” and will always flounder.    

Students acquiescently regurgitate vast amounts of information on exams with minimal innovation. These exams, more often than not, test the memorization skills of students, rather than serve as a platform on which they can showcase their understanding of a concept. Students who do well in these exams have the hubristic belief that they are “winners” because society says so and those who don’t do well are humiliated and considered “losers” by society. While it is understood that learning requires the amassing and retention of information, any information that is not understood becomes an undigested burden. The misconception that good grades are the only path to success causes unnecessary pressure on students. 

The strictures imposed by this education system curtails creativity and originality. Concurrently, it encourages conformity, rigidity, and conventionality. It assiduously ignores essential modern-day lessons, such as financial literacy, life skills, mental health, critical thinking, empathy, compassion, collaboration, and countless others. This results in students feeling disconcerted when they face the precarious reality of after-school life. It provides students with a series of conclusions, rather than a way of thinking. 

To truly change this standardized educational system, we have to abandon the ostensible idea that it is still a product of logical necessity or scientific insight. The hunter-gatherers adapted their education system to their needs. The education system was modified to cater to the needs of the industrial revolution. Likewise, our education system must change too so that students can truly be prepared for the future. This will certainly alleviate any antipathy held by students towards education and will make education and learning synonymous again.

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

Albert Einstein

“Where Did Indians Got Wrong Building Their Education System?”

Education has been seen as an integral part of our life so as to bring out better understanding of different aspects we see in our day to day routine, earn higher, provide helping hand in countries growth by improving the economy and earn respect in the society. People consider a highly qualified man as an intelligent, trustworthy and wise, and whom they can consult their problem and expect better and right solutions.Countries have grown on the basis of their intellectual minds bringing up new ideas and converting them into reality. Advancement in science and technologies have improved standard of living and brought ease to the life of people around the globe. Thus education helped to fight poverty, as well as create a platform to create a better and superior modern society. 

Considering education, India is one of the biggest markets for it, where every year lakhs of people graduate as well as complete their higher secondary education. India is the youngest country around the globe with the average age of its citizens to be 27 years, which does give India  a potential to be developed and grow as a powerful nation. But ground reality is a bit different.Indian Education has been questioned for a few decades and the question is the quality of this system and its age old teaching techniques. The techniques we usually see in our education system have not been transformed much since the times of british or even before. Wedo follow most Britishers’ techniques in studies. Those techniques focused to be within the boundaries and not exceed them as they wanted us to learn the basics so as to be more efficient to work under them and not revolt. They wanted to keep our thinking abilities and skills limited and that’s exactly what this education is still continuing to do so. 

  1. Students are taught to learn whatever the material resides in their books and no further motivation is provided to go beyond that knowledge.
  2. Teachers mark students on the basis of their memorizing the facts instead of learning them.
  3. That’s the reason most of us forget these as soon as we pass the class. While in other countries most of these systems have changed both in their school as well as colleges.Most of them have transformed to provide better learning and understanding of concepts through increased case studies, projects  and other learning along with their usual lecture. While in India we still lack most of our practical knowledge and rather invest most of our time memorizing them. 
  4. Students in other countries are given the freedom to think beyond their lectures and bring up  new ideas while in idea we are taught the same old subjects, old case studies and old syllabus. 

That’s the reason why most of the students remain unemployed even after getting better degrees and marks as they lack basic and important skills. We do lack thinking ability, that is the reason why we do see new startups around the world and we work for them, while we do have startups but missing unique ideas.We should be fighting for our coming generation so as to Improve these age old techniques of teaching where only marks are appreciated and not the skills or talent that. We have to bring back the culture of thinking and sharing ideas and developing skills at an early age so as to make our country “men more efficient  at work, no more unemployed, increasing literacy rate not by filling minds but with proper brain up minds with better thoughts and skills, better job opportunities and better standard of living.”