Again, based on my personal experiences I wanted to know what education is all about to some of the people over here? Obviously in India I can say it is all about marks/grades. My view is a bit different though. How's it like in other nations? I mean here right from a very young age we're pressurized to study as much as we can to score high. They say it's the future forgetting about our present. Many are actually happy doing this. I mean anyone can score by being a bookworm. There's no place for creativity or newness here. I'm really keen about how other people go about their education. I'd appreciate if you post your honest views.
You have me on your side of the rope, dude. I totally agree with whatever you wrote there. In India, at least in my state, one who studies till midnight and crams every word of his/her bloody book or ready-made notes from private tutors gets all the praises, accolades, and adulations from the teachers and one who uses his/her creativity or challenges the tradition by trying to innovate is overlooked. Not to forget that we have these flinging cram schools or 'coaching centers' as they are called in India for Class X board exams multiplying like bacterias and more than the children, it's the parents who seem to be excited like anything about them. If one needs thousands of extra tutions and extra coachings and hours of rigorous trainings and all to excel in exams after attending five days of school, his/her intellect must be seriously screwed.
What's worse is that many teachers of our school (and I'm sure it's probably the same situation in the rest of West Bengal) who are supposed to guide us and mentor us leave no stone unturned to drive a student into private tution schools run by him/her whether by hook or crook, and to lure more pupils they don't even hesitate to unfairly increase the marks of students taking tutions from them. And as the only thing which matters to our guardians is marks, they line up in front of these tutorial homes in hoards.
End result- most of my friends who apparently take tutions from multiple teachers and study 24x7, don't even know the basic concepts of a subject. For example, we have hoards of students getting 90+, 95+ in English literature back here, but still, the standard of English is for all to see. I concede it's not our first language, but how screwed up can a education system be when an apparent topper of a school doesn't even know basic grammar? I myself don't follow the traditional methods of learning drilled into our head by our schools or attend any tution whatsoever and I think I'm doing just fine.
What's the most ludicrous is that though these students/parents as your rightly mentioned are so hugely concerned about their future, most of them don't even have a fixed aim in life. If they do, that aim doesn't go beyond being a doctor or an enginner. (Even then, if you ask a person what type of engineering or medical profession he wants to pursue, they will blankly stare at your face) :laugh And if someone has the balls to choose Arts instead of Science or Commerce, he is immediately tagged as a "failed student". Ironical, isn't it? This is one thing which nakedly exposes the FAIL nature of our educational system. I checked the net, and it appears that the same condition prevails in China, Japan and Korea too. Asians really need to grow up and realize that education is not just about mugging stuff and vomiting it out on the exam paper.
