Hello everybody!
I think civility demands me to first and foremost wish everyone a happy new year! I must though tell you of a certain friend of mine who laughed when I said, happy new year. She found the wish ironic since it is highly probable that the year is not going to be a happy one. Don't we all love cynics? No? Just me? Oh, well...
So I've been thinking that the best way to start the year would be by taking up a good five minutes of your time with a rant on something that has been annoying me for a while now. And that is the Indian education system. Now, I don't want to sound like one of those annoying urban teenagers (though I am said to be annoying, live in a city, and am a teenager) who keeps complaining about India and keeps praising the West. I love India, and am truly truly grateful for many things here. And just like I dislike things about my own self, I think I can be allowed to dislike certain things in this country of mine. (Audible gasps and whispers of the word 'anti-national' are heard.)
What motivated me to type out this rant has been this one class, and particularly the teacher, who dictates notes to us, and insists on us taking it down. What makes this worse is that, the class is English Literature. Now, I happen to love the subject naturally, but when archaic practices such as dictating of notes happens in the class, I lose all interest. However, the practice in itself cannot be blamed. There is a cycle where existing values held in the country prompt such practices to exist, and such practices in turn, fuel the values. This value system has prompted us to place our values on all the wrong things. The root of this problem is an unhealthy emphasis on productivity, which may or may not reflect our love for money.
A few examples of this can be seen in our day to day lives. I'm sure most of us have heard such lines as, "At the end of the day you need marks to show. Otherwise, no one will employ you." "Is there any scope in that field?" And so on and so forth. Educational institutes have become centres that feed the industry with employable youth, and not centres of learning. This explains the increasing number of institutes where authoritarian modes of management prevail. Students are discouraged from engaging in dialogue with the management, because such people who do engage in such dialogues may cause harm to the industry by questioning practices and policies there. Uniformity is praised, and eccentricity and radicalism is shunned. Formal attire is enforced because the industry will demand the same, and many such rules are enforced. The companies that recruit these graduates benefit because they get the kind of people they want, and the institution benefits because with more placements, more students want to join their institution.
Another indicator of this value system can be seen in recent events. Educational institutes, where ideas need to be encouraged, and solutions for the ills of the society should be thought of, are being highly restricted in the expression of their ideas. Many people are calling for the closing down of Central Universities where students are spending public money to talk about the problems of society and possible solutions, rather than getting trained to become machines that will work for the industry and become 'productive.'
I would not really have an issue with the emphasis on productivity. It does raise the standard of living and whatnot. But the problem with just being productive is that the emphasis is on survival. Get good marks, and get a decent job. Make a decent living, and produce offspring that will continue the cycle. We have lost the drive to live; the drive to further the growth of culture and civilization, and we are reaching stagnation. I don't want to just survive. I want to live and grow. And I wish many more of us wished that.
So, to that teacher who insists on me taking notes, "I'm sorry, I think we can do so much more."
And with that, adios!
P.S. Sorry, this rant was rather long, and not as light hearted as my other posts, but I guess I was just venting out. And if you did read this super boring piece till the end, thank you! And here's to hoping I'll be a bit more regular in my posts in 2017.
