The views of this article are the perspective of the author and may not be reflective of Confessions of the Professions.
Our Education System Is Only Focused On Exams. Knowledge Is Not A Priority!
The general education system is focused only on examinations rather than training students for the future and really testing their knowledge. Because of this, students are forced to take tests that show only their retention powers, not their actual capacity or knowledge. Engineers today cannot do actual work in technology and doctors do not go to people who need their services.
Today, students are completely professionally-oriented and they take examinations because it is in the requirements to pass, rather than to gain knowledge, or do research in the subject. India’s education system looks at commercial gains only and students are trained to look at their monetary future. The curriculum is built around clearing an exam and getting into particular professions, but learning is not the actual priority.
Over-Commercialization of Education Any nation that educates its young generation for the sole purpose of making them eligible to contribute to national and social progress can be sure that simultaneously they can take care of themselves too. The real profit comes only when the students learn and start contributing, not when they start earning. The real return on investment will be the taxes paid by the educated, when he or she earns profit in the business and occupation and the knowledge of information is used to help society.
The Student Perspective on the Mark A student comes to a conclusion that in the end, only the marks are going to determine their future options, and their interest towards securing more marks preoccupy their minds. As a result, there is less focus on relating learning towards their own life and achieving excellence in subject matter.
If we go and tell a student to study for excelling in a subject, but not marks, they will give a laugh and reject the idea outwardly. Their parents would do the same because that is the way it was for them as well. Of course, you can’t even initiate this topic to institutions, as it is considered a taboo.
The story of marks does not end when the student secures their marks on exams. The real drama actually begins afterwards. The public announcements of the results of those marks is the real beginning. This is a huge draw back and error in the education system, according to us. This leaves students comparing themselves with others on various subjects and cultivates inferior and superior thoughts in their minds.
Lack of Choice and Knowledge Besides several elite schools in India, the subjects taught in high school usually range from Languages, Math, Core Sciences, Economics, Accounting, and Commerce. In essence, we are not given much freedom of choice or freedom to explore.
Largely, our decision to pick our eventual stream in high school is governed by parental advice and social trend. In my case, for example, in the 11th grade, I had a choice between Commerce, Science, and Humanities, which is not very many options.
The things that governed my decision to choose Science were:
a. I had no idea what Commerce was. b. I had little to no idea what Humanities was. c. Science was what traditionally ‘smart’ students took and of course. d. All I had studied so far was science and I liked it.
By and large, the same thought process is true for everyone else. The students that choose Commerce either did not qualify for Science or were from business backgrounds, and obviously told by their parents they needed to study Commerce to uphold the family business. Besides one or two people, the Humanities section of thirty were full of students who did not qualify for the other two.
Herein lies where the problem is: a lack of choice, lack of opportunities to explore, and lack of awareness of the future for each subject. Subjects like Psychology, Anthropology, Sociology, Ecology, to name a few, are completely absent from the Indian curriculum and students are often clueless of the different career choices they have.
As everyone knows, it’s a doctor-engineer deal for most.
About the Author
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