Primary Education and some Mistakes

19 comments ↓

#1 Jojo on 05.01.08 at 10:32 am

I agree with you. We are having a very pathetic education system, not in the primary level alone but @ our higher levels too. Whats the need of Teachers asking silly questions during class & if not answered commanding to write empositions in B Tech? LOL!! I had such experiance in my college during 1st year. Many of my friends including me had written a lot of empositions during 1st year of Eng! Will writing repeatedly gain a knowledge on what he is repeating?? Naa.. There are instances where ppl asks “whats the Title of this?” even after writing 100 times! Entire education system of KERALA Sucks!!

#2 Liza Jolly on 05.01.08 at 11:01 am

I agree to this very much. I too hated the way our teachers used to humiliate us. Remember we even had to remember each and every punctuation in English and Hindi poems. Or else we loose marks. What did we gain by learning those? Not to talk about the impositions. We wasted our half of time writing it. Hope this system changes soon.

#3 Dhanesh on 05.01.08 at 5:52 pm

you may be right about private english medium(cbse)schools….but govt schools now are different.Eventhough the new carriculam(ssa :dpep earlier) is much criticised we have to admit atleast in theory it is correct.no more by hearting!!!!!
it is more student centric.
it may be suffering from poor implementation…
but it is a move in right direction…i wonder why did u
write this blog forgetting the system in which majority
of students study.
if you have any doubt just go to a primary school at june 1st….you will get an idea how the system has changed..

#4 Shrinidhi Hande on 05.01.08 at 9:27 pm

Fully agreed…

#5 YES on 05.01.08 at 10:09 pm

Nice post . but please don’t think that the same system is followed now also . you may be comparing it with your school days . To the best of my knowledge , today’s education system in India ( at least in some schools ) is much better .

And on the statement

‘ Whats the point is memorizing it all when we have calculaters and computers. ‘

seems to be a little disturbing .

1 kilo thakkalikku 5 roopa aanengil 5 kilo yude vela koottan calculater venoo mashe ?
Any ways a post on the right direction ..

#6 Cijo on 05.02.08 at 10:17 am

Agreeing with you totally ,brother! Fate of our younger brothers and sisters……

#7 Jerome on 05.02.08 at 4:52 pm

I have also think about this a thousand times, especially the ranking system in the school. And punishing them according by these ratings.Its really like a harassment for the students. And the Bad remarks to the home - I know how much the parents are hurt by seeing this. More than that, the teachers are asking the silly questions in the class and giving the impositions, even in the professional courses.

Any way these things are really shame for the people of Kerala who are more than 100% educated!!!

#8 Derick on 05.03.08 at 1:08 am

We want our children to grow the way society thinks as good, and not according to what the child is interested in.

#9 Kenney Jacob on 05.03.08 at 5:20 pm

@Derick
We are talking about whats best for the student as an individual. Society is made up of individuals.

#10 jstsum1 on 05.05.08 at 11:52 am

nope….. total disagreement…
i don’t believe teachers/teaching methodologies are wrong…. may not be the best way to teach a student but not the worst either…

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/36_of_scientists_at_NASA_are_Indians_Govt_survey/articleshow/2853178.cms

http://www.isro.org/pressrelease/Aug23_2000.htm

for those who don’t have time to go thrg d link here is the xtract::::

as many as 12% scientists and 38% doctors in the US are Indians, and in NASA, 36% or almost 4 out of 10 scientists are Indians.

If that’s not proof enough of Indian scientific and corporate prowess, digest this: 34% employees at Microsoft, 28% at IBM, 17% at Intel and 13% at Xerox are Indians.

HOW????
bcoz they studied in some “WESTERN COUNTRIES”…

#11 FireFox on 05.06.08 at 3:55 am

I’m affraid that I don’t agree… You are right about the labeling thing. But the use of tables is quite frankly enourmous. I will not deny the fact that I use my calculator to often, but doing simply maths by head is just much faster. + Learning things by hart really is an important skill. Learning languages, systems etc all depend on this single underestimated and often hated skill.

#12 Kenney Jacob on 05.06.08 at 8:47 am

Some of us do get into NASA, but who says, NASA is the end of the world. ? They are the lucky ones who survived the education system here.

And about the stats, Indians form 20% of total worlds population. And we are the most powerful NRI crowd after the Jews. There is no wonder that we are in some places. But how many of the Indian educated get into NASA ?

If your arguement is true, then why are we still a developing country with soooo many “well educated” people.

There are students who survive the system here, but think about the not so privilaged ones. Its a fact that our education system sucks big time.

@firefox.
Memory is a nice to have skill. But toruting one to memorise a multiplication table unnecessary. We do have enough subjects that focus on memory. Why do it with mathematics and make it a hated subject.

#13 jstsum1 on 05.06.08 at 6:41 pm

aahaaan…

i don’t believe its the syllabus/education system dear thts the root cause of all problems…
to quote an eg:
i had 63 in maths for my tenth exam… 58( hmm.. ok i managed atleast tht much) in 12th..
but for all my maths semester exams i had 80++….
i can’t take the credit.. i didn’t change all of a sudden… i didn’t i swear.. then who??
my teachers….
i strongly believe its up to the ones who guide us to set things straight…
no one has to mug up the multiplication table…
if u teach child tht its just sum of previous result + the numbers whose mulitplication table we are receiting then it would be easy for him… instead we ask him to by heart some numbers… ridiculous…

Movie tanmatra if anyone remembers supports this idea… syllabus is different.. teaching methodology and approach is different…

another thing i hate about our education system.. parents compare marks..
i think it should never be revealed to parents at all..
instead it should be used as a yardstick by teachers to find the weak student and give him “A BIT MORE” attention….
instead marks become a prestige issue for parents… nonsense…

why we are still a developing country:..
well its not just because of the education system… na na…
never..
one thing is there in ur post itself: 2nd highest NRI… brain drain as they would call…
how many of us would like to do something for our country.. its all “ME”… only “ME”….
mutiple other factors… but not education… definitely no…

memory is one important thing..: to have facts/figures at tongue tips.. its always a plus point.. it needs to be developed over the years… children learn the art through constant practice..

world out there is highly competitive…
u need to be smart…

don’t simply blame the education system…

#14 jojo on 05.08.08 at 11:34 am

I am commenting against this guy!
#10 jstsum1 on 05.05.08 at 11:52 am

Hey man, you typed a lot from the article on indiatimes or so. Its nice to know & I was already aware of those facts like there are 30% NASA, 20% in IBM, MS & so other biggies…LOL

Hey man, cant you find an awkwardness there? All these people wheather educated in India or not that doesn’t matter, but where the hell they are working for???
Totally for US companies & NASA another US one… Why cant they use therir wonderful brains for our country? ehh???

Why those NASA people come back & join ISRO..ehh??

Someone said above that he wanna his child on societies way…Man..majority of Indians (the so called society) think that they are safe in US or some other European countries!! Is that right way??

For years we were slaves!! Still thinking going abroad & working for them is SAFE!!! aren’t these people ridiculing a great culture?? ehh?

I cant say the entire education system is BAD! but majority instituitions run by Govt.s especially Kerala ones are total Crap!!

How 94% & 98% pass perecentages comes in SSLC?????? a best example of totally downtroden education system in Kerala!!!

#15 Robins Joy on 05.08.08 at 12:34 pm

Schools are making it more of a competition than serving the cause of education. Each time you pass a class there is no happiness that you completed something or that you learn something useful for LIFE. It would just be the grief of not getting that extra mark or not being among the top 10 or not meeting your parent’s expectations which result in making you feel very unhappy and sad mostly.

In the hard core competition one doesn’t find time to discover his/ her talent or interest (There is just so much to learn, of which a lot are just plainly useless) nor does he gain anything from participating in this.

Another thing I wanted to mention was a student never gets an option of what he wants to learn until his 10th is complete, till then every single thing is compulsory. WHY ?

I’m not saying we should remove the entire system but I’m only suggesting to review what each one has to learn weather it is essential or not and try to make education as the primary purpose of the educational system.

#16 Tom Mannanchery on 05.08.08 at 1:29 pm

Another good work Kenny; this time a more controversial one though.

You are almost right in saying that the educational system is higly flawed. If we just ‘dissect’ the system and then analyse it, probably we can derieve much better conclusions.

What does the Educational System comprise of? 1.)Students 2.) Syllabus 3.) Teachers 4.) The Machinery (like CBSE, or State Boards)

So are the students the ones who are to be blamed? The answer is an easy NO.

Syllabus? Is it too heavy or complex? Is it too theory oriented and not based on real time experiences? In my opinion, the answer to both the questions is YES. But is that a wrong thing? I think, the syllabus being complex and heavy has its own goods n bads. It makes students really competitive. It is the survival of the fittest.The flaw lies right there in the very same phrase. Those unfit just dont survive. There is a huge pressure involved. Loads of homeworks make us go mad. But if we can survive that pressure, we are enabled to handle any kind of academic pressure.
Regarding the practical side of our syllabus? I would say it used to be bad. Till the late 90s, our syllabus was very much theory oriented, especially the Kerala State board. But things are changing now, slowly. The grading system which has been introduced emphasises a lot of practicals, in all subjects which is an encouraging move in that direction.

Coming to the 3rd element - Teachers. We all have seen the diversity in the so-called third element. We have our favorites and also, some others who made us hate some subjects for the rest of our lives. I believe Teachers are the deciding factor in this whole system. They can really effect the way the system functions. The point that I am trying to make here is - if the teachers perform their duties well, our system is unquestionably the best educational system. I will come back to this point.

Machinery - the board, the education Minister and all the blah blah. They are there to just eat our currency. It has been happening since long and it is gonna go on till eternity. Nothing can stop it and nothing can change it. It is a part of the phenomenon called Corruption, which is out-of-syllabus (yeah right) with respect to Kenny’s article. I would say, it is insignificant.

Back to teachers. Our syllabus may be tough and there can be huge pressure too. The machinery may be corrupt (as always). But teachers can make a huge difference. They can really change the way a student approaches a problem and how he/she devises the solution. I believe, its the teachers who can remove the bads of the ‘Syllabus’ element and make subjects simple for the students. I dont have to elaborate on this. It is a simple truth. A teacher can change lives.

So what is to be done? A teacher should get out of the box called ‘portions’ and do more. It is not that they can’t.We know many who have done it. I wish they were all that way.

Finally, about a fifth element who is not a part of this system, but plays a very crucial role. 5.) Parents. Teachers are the second Parent. The relation is bidirectional (maybe recursive too). Parents are the second teacher. They should take the initiative to help their kids overcome the pressure and not put more pressure on them.

That s all. But maybe some TRIVIA:

a.) X used to be average student in a reputed school in Trivandrum. Immigrated to UK. Liverpool Topper in high school, a couple of years later. She said the fundamentals from education back home helped lot. My cousin.
b.) Y lives in the US since age 5. Now aged 17. Spelt banana as - BANNANNA. My cousin.
c.) I dont know how many of you have seen the priyadarshan movie “mazha peyunnu maddalam kottunnu”. There is that famous ‘Miami beach to Washington DC’ dialogue where Mohanlal says ‘Amerikayil grammar illadei’. Jokes apart, he is very true.

#17 Kenney Jacob on 05.08.08 at 1:58 pm

@Tom
Regarding the examples you gave, Id like to mention a point. It has got more to do with ambition and motivation.

Your cousin who went to UK had to score to survive. The other one didnt have to. It has got nothing to do with the education system.

If you want, I can show you engg students who cant spell banana correctly.

#18 Tom Mannanchery on 05.08.08 at 2:15 pm

Kenny,

My cousin who went to UK was an average student, who put in the same effort to ’survive’ in UK. But the system there being less competitive, she excelled. Yes, it is good considering the fact that it really motivates and encourages the student. But then, Life becomes too easy for them, and they tend to fall when the pressure level goes up.

I think we can handle work pressure much better than they do and that is probably because we are used to it, rather almost trained for it, from the very beginning.

And regarding ‘Banana’, US is an English speaking nation, whereas we have our own mother tongue, a totally different national language and a third one called the official language. I think we can be forgiven unless the mistake is fatal.

#19 Shrinidhi Hande on 05.10.08 at 4:48 pm

Hi. How do you do? The comment you wrote for 2007 webinnovation at the event blog is approved now…

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