My grandson is in Class 1. In addition to English and Mathematics, he already has Environmental Science and General Knowledge as subjects to study in school. In a General Knowledge question-and-answer paper which he brought home recently, the questions asked were: what is the name of the dog that Russians sent into space, and how many planets are there in the solar system. He answered both questions correctly. The name of the dog is Laika, and the solar system has eight planets.
I was impressed with his answers. I then asked him, “what is space?” and “what is a solar system?” He had no answers for these questions.
This reminded me of the topics for my master’s degree in Economics during 1974-76. The subjects ranged from macro-economic theory to the industrial policy of the Government of India, Five Year Plans, and so on. At the end of two years I had little knowledge of how the rate of interest is set, how a local bank functions, how a small company raises finances, how to look at the balance sheet of a company or how to manage my own finances. To sum up, the knowledge of economics that I gained lacked context and was not useful for application.
The manner in which instruction is imparted in our schools and colleges has not changed much from the 20th century to the 21st century. Much of the knowledge is taught in our schools and colleges today prepares the student to pass examinations but not to analyse the knowledge in a context and apply that knowledge to practical problems. No wonder that many of the information technology firms that go to engineering colleges for campus recruitment find that 90% of the candidates are unfit for jobs.
Salman Khan, the American educator who founded the well-known Khan Academy, in a Ted talk explained why judging students based on marks obtained in examinations is amiss. A student who obtains 60% marks in an examination passes out in first class. He is lauded for his achievement. But he still has a 40% deficit. Salman Khan compares this situation to a motor car running with three wheels. To be able to be a truly knowledgeable person, one has to internalise the concepts with his already known knowledge, build on them and apply them. If you know only 40% or 60% of your curriculum, you miss the connections that link you to the whole, and the 60% knowledge which is partial will be of no use. Recognising the lacuna in the education system, the Khan academy in its tutorials of Maths and Science subjects places emphasis on concepts. If a student is through in concepts, he can apply the concepts and solve mathematical and science questions easily.
A fundamental thing missing from our schools and colleges is the context. A student is taught knowledge given in the books. But the student has to apply that knowledge in the society or community in which he lives. How well he communicates his ideas to others, how well he understands his emotions and emotions of others, to know how human psyche works and how to work in a team are all paramount to navigate life. These skills are not taught in schools or colleges.
How to provide a holistic and useful education to the young generation? It has to be through parental awareness about what their progeny are missing in schools and colleges. Parents and educationists may do well to note the words of Albert Einstein on the true purpose of education. “The value of college education is not the learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think.”
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