Entries Tagged 'Education' ↓
June 21st, 2008 — Education
In the last 15 years entrance coaching institutions have flourished in Kerala. They specialise in teaching the tips and tricks to gain a better rank. But during the years they have grown very powerful and arrogant also.
Now they are misleading the students and controling them in ways we never imagined. My cousin, studied in Brilliant (palai) and he got a rank of 600 in Kerala entrance. We are were really happy for him cos he put in a lot of hard work and effort to achieve this. He missed many family events just to attend classes.
But everyone was surprised when he decided not to take admissions this year and repeat the exam once again next year. The Brilliant institute convinced him to repeat so that he could get into an IIT. He joined for classes again this monday.
Poor boy even deleted his orkut account to stay away from distractions and to concentrate on the studies. His orkut friends formed a “Memorial Community” in his name. He is a victim of the “Entrance coaching Mafia”.
The saddest part is that the boy has got no clue about engineering or the IITs. He wants to do an MBA and start a company. I suggested that he repeat for CAT, GMAT or GRE and not for engineering cos that can get him into a better business school or even a good university abroad. But he has no idea about these exams or the opportunities. He trusts and believes in his teachers at the coaching institute unaware of their business interests.
And when we speak of the entrance coaching institions we cant ignore the one lead by a semi God Man in the cultural capital of Kerala. I have never heard any of his students saying anything good about him. Every one complaints that he abuses the students and uses a lot of bad words. I think its a common trait of all God Men.
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coaching,
Education,
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Orkut
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June 19th, 2008 — Education, Uncategorized
One nice evening dad comes home after a busy day. His son who is in the 9th STD approaches him with his progress report from school. He has not done well for some the examinations and there is a special note from the class teacher that reads.
“Your son is not studying well. You must come and meet the Principal this week itself.”
Worried dad meets the principal on the next day itself. The principal says
“Our school is one of the best institutions in the state. We have maintained 100% pass for the last 25 years. Your son poses a risk to that status. I dont think he will pass the board exams next year. We can either issue a TC or he will have to continue in the 9th STD until we are confident”
If this is what the school thinks, then why do we need schools in the first place ? If schools will teach only bright students then we dont need schools at all.
We send our children to schools, we also send them to tuition centres for additional coaching. But if the student fails the blame goes to tuition teacher. Noone ever asks the school teacher why the kid failed. The situation is such that the teacher will ask this question to the parent.
This raises a question. Who is responsible for a students education.
The father who has busy job ?
OR
The Tution teacher who gets 2 hrs with the student max daily ?
OR
The school whose sole purpose is to teach and who gets paid for it ?
Our education system will never change, until we figure out an answer for this. An education system which is not student centric is never gonna add any value. A system which is controlled by some percentages, pride and politics is ultimately gonna kill the student.
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Education
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June 7th, 2008 — Education, Experiences
Yesterday, just 2 days after the schools reopened, I had to see a very cruel incident. In a famous school in Trivandrum, outside the principals office 3 high school students were standing. From their looks I could say that they were awaiting something horrible. And then came the principal (A priest) with a cane. Then he started beating them, and that too like they were some kind of animals.
After the principal had gone, I enquired to the peon why the students were beaten.
Crime 1 :- Wearing an ear ring
Crime 2 :- Military cut hair style
Crime 3:- Talking to a girl in the next block
I was vey much angry to hear this. Are these reasons enough to beat someone. Is wearing an ear ring a crime ? Then wearing rings on fingers also should be considered punishable. Isnt hair cut a personal choice ? Who the hell is a principal to say that every student must follow a particular hair style ?
Talking to a girl, and that too from another block is defenitly a crime. What if some affair is going on ? What if they run away tomorrow ? What if the girl gets ………. ahhhhhh When will we learn to respect and trust the students a little bit ?
We allow all sorts of stupidity in the name of religion. Sikhs can wear turban, muslim girls can wear their veil. Even school timings are adjusted on fridays to acomodate for prayers. When all this is granted in the name of God, why not allow students to wear an ear ring or cut his hair in a way he likes. ?
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June 5th, 2008 — Education
I always had trouble handling numbers. It began with the multiplication table. We were forced to memorise the multiplication table. The teacher would ask us to stand up and recite the multiplication table as if it were a poem. How sick a concept.
The next set of major troubles started with the decimal numbers. It was quite an exercise to multiply them. Then came the statistics with lots and lots of number crunching and huge formulae to learn. All of this was done using pen and paper without a calculator.
How relevant is number crunching skills in the days of calculators and super computers. ?
My grand mother had only very little education. But she could do quite a lot of complicated money calculations in her head, stuff that was useful to her in her daily life. Those skills helped her to live without a calculator.
My dad is a mathematics professor. But he doesn’t have the skills of his mother. He needs a pen and paper to do calculations. But he has an Mphil degree that my grand mother didn’t have. I have a B-tech degree and I don’t have the skills of my dad. I need a calculator. I hate using pen and paper for doing calculations. During my high school days, I used to write small C programs to cross check my statistics pen and paper calculations.
I am of the opinion that calculators and computers should be introduced early into the school. As long as the student understands what is happening when he multiplies 2 numbers, then the process of finding that answer is irrelevant. We all know how to use the shift and add mechanism to multiply. But how many of us truly understands how it works ? I know you are thinking… keep thinking.
One counter argument that I used to hear from my friends or people whom I discuss this with is that, the number crunching develops the brain. But scientists say intelligence is not something that can be developed. It has to be there when you are born. But you may develop some skills by practising. But are those skills relevant ?
Mathematics is something beyond number crunching and statistics. But our education system creates a really bad impression about mathematics by forcing the multiplication table and other irrelevant stuff down the child’s throat.
Its like the cat who fell into hot water. Once you are scared of something or had a bad experience with something, its very difficult to get it terms with it.
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calculators,
Education,
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May 27th, 2008 — Education, Readers Opinion
Recently my readers have become very active and are interacting through the blog very enthusiastically. I sometimes feel like the blog is owned by the readers rather than me because most of the comments are longer than the post itself. Also many readers are posting a lot more quality content also.
So I decide to create a section, The Readers Opinion in which Ill initiate a topic of discussion and the readers can contribute their ideas. In the end we will make a post out of all the ideas and discussion created by the readers.
So today’s topic of discussion is Education upto class 10. What all skills are expected from a 16 yr old when he passes his 10th standard. We can talk about formal academics, life skills, personality and physical or sporting skills.
Are we giving enough importance to social skills like meeting new people and getting to know them. Hoe much of importance we giving to team skills, leadership skills and public speaking abilities.
Are we promoting an inquisitive mentality, or are we suppressing questions ? Sometimes kids come up with the most difficult of questions. They are not afraid to questions the roots of our belief until we put restrictions on them and make some people/concepts unquestionable.
Are we promoting a healthy relationship with members of opposite sex in educational institutions ? A friend of mine who studied in a prestigious college in Chennai told me that they were not allowed to talk to girls. The situation is worse in some entrance coaching institutions in Pala.
How equipped are the students to accept criticism and failure.
And finally, why are we not worried about the physical health of students. Why is physical health and ability not a parameter in the examination system. Are we undermining the importance of physical health.
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Education
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