Monday, November 01, 2004

The Root of All Evil.

Well, there has been furious off topic posting, at the ILUGC, and I've come across something very interesting. For people who know me well, would agree that I crib away a large portion of my time, about how bad the education system in India actually is. Well, I've always had an inkling that I was in midst of a conspiracy, but now that's been proven beyond doubt. And for all those loyal souls who read my blog, here is the extract I've been talking about....

February 1835, Lord Macaulay's Speech in the Biritish Parliament, also known as the Minutes.

I have traveled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such calibre, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native self-culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation.

I am not very sure of India's ancient and traditional system, but I am sure, that the current one is certainly up to no good. It is a pity, that even after more than half a century of Independence, we are no where near, any thing mentionable. If India had a resume, it would suck. Its moments of triumphs, and glories, dwarfed, and rendered impertinent by the sheer monstrocity of its failures.

It is not to say that there are no good engineers, or doctors, or citizens for that matter, but the truth is any student, who achieves, has done it inspite of the system, and not in one case, because of it. This in itself is a rather painful thought. And for all those, who paint a rosy picture of a resplendent Indian dream of glory, and prosperity. well, think again. It is further disheartening to consider the fact that engineering education takes after this old, and utterly useless relic of an education system. A system aimed to cripple all induviduality, and any threads of originality in a student, lies at the heart of our current engineering education. A morbid, and disconsolate state of affairs, where students mindlessly mull over tomes of useless information, with their only aim being reproducing the contents verbatim, with no thought given even to remotely understanding any of the subjects. A system solely built to produce clerks, and secerateries, who can manage ledgers, and recite arcane rules, simply cannot produce quality engineers Period.

And the woes, do not end there, but persist, because of the fact that, the system, which in itself is utterly meaningless, is manned by equally imbecilic staff, who have hold of the most important resource of any nation. Well, about the rosy picture of the current status of education, well here it is, and I doubt if it is anything but rosy. A nation, in shackles, constantly constricted by the imbecility, uselessness, and absolute meaninglessness, of an archaic educational system, slowly but completely, wiping it of every breath of originality, innovation, and creativity.

With utter disgust and trepidation, I fear, that Lord Macaulay's dream, has finally come true. We have become exactly what he wanted, 'a truly dominated nation'.

3 comments:

Mercury said...

vishnu...

i strongly beg to differ on several points that u raised. true enough our education system sucks. true enough Lord Macaulay said what he did. But...one has no consequence on the other.

First of all , lord macaulay did'nt know what he was talking about. sure , we have a "rich and varied heritage" , culture etc. but it remains just that. heritage. something we keep locked up in a show case. on display. to parade before everyone who does not happen to come from a society that existed as long ago as ours. of what use are high morals ,lord macaulay ,if they are'nt anywhere in the realm of practice?

Our society , and the concept of being 'indian' would not have existed save for the british btw. and oh...in fact if u notice we still have such strong biases that one can just about manage the 'i am indian' without feeling like we are lying through our teeth..

Second our education system is a product of several things. one , we have had to deal with the fact that correcting illiteracy has been the focus of our government for a long time. and since that was such a mammoth job in itself it was easy to neglect the higher education. (rightly so...we must have priorities and education is only one of them...yes i know about how vital it is!)and therefore atleast two generations of indians have come through a non-existent education system. considering that vishnu , we are doing damn well. it's all very well to critisize. but the point is could things have been done differently.?

Not really. So think of this as an inevitable phase in social change. it's just really bad that we are stuck in it. and the fact that we realise how terrible it is partly due to some good in our education system.

Individuality! by it's very meaning cannot be curbed vishnu. no one can stop u're nature from pouring forth. those people that were meant to make it big. have. and did. and that those that have'nt would never have. it's as simple as that. it's sad . but being great at anything is a result of so much hardwork that most people just drop out of the race. u cannot blame the system for that. and u know it u'reself.

there maybe a lot wrong. but think of it this way. it's getting better because our generation is educated enough to realise how much this sucks. so we ought to do something about it.. what? i don't know. but if we sit on our asses and just crib. it is far worse a crime than being ignorant and not realising that our education system sucks.

so we can pat ourselves on the back . feel intellectual and crib. but vishnu buddy. it won't change until someone does something about it. and since u say not many people even realise how screwed up it is. and u are among the priviledged who has made it 'inspite' of the system. why don't u try and figure out something that might help!!!

so basically what u're trying to say is that our system should'nt be like a plateful of food that we are meant to swallow, rather it should offer a lot of flexibility and stuff to give us a choice like a menu...is that it???

but the thing is vishnu...u're only thinking of u'reself. not everyone is as motivated , as interested , passionate etc about anything as u are about c.sc or math or whatever it is that u like. so..the system is tailored to provide a common minimum rather than cater to the upper part of the pyramid.sort of like u force them to eat a lot of stuff that might not be what they need in the hope that most people derive from it all the basics and anyway it can't do any harm to u. except it requires us to spend time on things we consider pointless. but maybe we're not wise enough to see the entire picture.

so don't dismiss everything outright. and although it is frustrating for people like us. u have to be rational vishnu. it is required of us. since we think we are capable of it.

And perhaps.. we are a little repressed but not dominated.there's a big difference.

uh! sorry if my comment is longer than your post..but vishnu come on!!

FuzzyLogic. said...

Well, there is a lot of things that i disagree with in your comments, but thats too much to post here, so I will call you!

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