The incident involving the painful unravelling of Bihar’s fraudulent Class XII topper has left me terrified. No, not because of the education system. It is more of a personal thing.
I am a graduate in Physics from an Indian Institute of Technology, and passed with honours. Yet, a fear resides deep within me: “What if anyone asks me a simple physics question?” Will I be able to answer that? Of course no, at least not without referring to books and spending a considerable amount of time on it(almost the same as I spend in college).
A waste?But does that mean everything has been a waste, my whole college life is a waste? I wonder where things went wrong. What is the point of having such a high-sounding degree when I can’t remember even the simplest of things? I work in an IT firm where I am sure I will never ever get to use those concepts. In fact, I could have done that without ever getting into college.
But that is only one side of the story. Education is often understood as a means to overcome handicaps, achieve greater equality, and acquire wealth and status for all. A school is also often perceived as a place where children can develop according to their unique needs and potential. The idea is to develop each to the full potential.
Often we debate whether marks/GPA are justified criteria of judging one’s performance. Yes there are various qualities in a person that make him a better personality, and depending upon the various needs, be it job or life, they may vary. But hidden in this turmoil lies the answer: depending on the needs and situation you vary methods and strategy, with the final result of achieving the aim. This is the quality of marksmanship that ultimately defines a person and his/her labour.
School to compete inIn this highly competitive world, I believe the schools and colleges are not merely places of learning but of performing and competing there itself. More than learning it is the sense of beating others that I learnt the most, be it beating other students or the system itself.
Thus the sole purpose of education is not only to impart knowledge to students; overall it is to prepare a student for life and its hardships. Facing them is not enough; one has to deliver results too and it is one of the best points of our current education system. Many students are doing a great job in terms of understating our environment and situation, accepting it and beating it.
The purposeTo those who ask why we should learn all that algebra when we are never going to use it in our daily life, I would say the purpose of learning subjects like pure science is not only to learn science and develop nukes but to train our brains doing those cumbersome tasks, coordinating with all those minute details, just just as we use a waterstone to sharpen knives.
The Bihar episode may well reflect on the sheer incompetence of the system. But it still is producing results where the students' “potential” is being fully developed. May be dumb, but they are no really losers.
achint.gupta.app07@itbhu.ac.in
