The Problem Of Stuffing Too Much...

It is a usual event in engineering colleges in India to conduct repeated tests for students not bothering about their interests. In their first year, students simply do what they are told to for the fear of being punished was always there. Here again the goal of education fails, instead of imparting quality education to the students, it imposes a mere fear of the professors and the assignments are completed not due to interest but due to pressure.

As years roll on, students mature by mind and realise what's going on around them. What the industry needs from them. Is it the ability to merely fill the papers is the need of the corporates?? Or the ability to solve problems with common sense? Definitely the latter. But, what's that our college education providing us with? Loads and loads of subjects, totally of no hint to students as to where these are leading them into. Students get lot of things into their minds and finally fail to figure out what is the ultimate benefit of learning such subjects.

Stuffing too much into a young brain diminishes its ability to think on its own and imparts the habit of total dependency, wherein the mind expects someone to guide in solving any problem. We lose our originality and our productive power is almost gone. Once we dwell into the thought of whats the subject is all about, the semester exams sound an alarming bell and we are doomed to prepare for those "Discuss the foll..." stuff questions, which purely represent the author's view and the exam gives no freedom for us in proving our skill. Professors argue, when students continually complain that the subjects are theory oriented and when the question paper contains a problem, they fail to solve although they said they needed problems in it. The reality is the student is accustomed for theory papers that he must learn only those paragraphs from the book and the same old examples when certain questions are asked. But, when suddenly a problem comes in the paper, he is not prepared for this and the result he succumbs to this unexpectedness!

"Artificial Intelligence" is a subject wherein the student learns how to impart thinking ability into a machine artificially. But the exam tests actually the "author's intelligence", how well he has written the book, because the questions demand the students to reproduce whats given in the text book rather than asking them to think rationally. This is not the aim of education. All this type of learning will vanish from the student's mind once the exams are over. As Einstein has once said "Education is one that remains after he has forgotten all that he has learned". How much you retain is what that determines the success of an educational system. But, its otherwise here.

I usually stand amazed at the way students present their paper during semesters and the happiness they get out of it. The happiness of having decorated the paper thoroughly. Its a utter shame to do this at the engineering level. This occurs because, the student has been over stuffed with the subjects and he is unable to find the one that suits him the best and starts embarking on those semester and scoring in the same, which amounts to nothing to the outsiders. When there is a gap between the teaching period and the exams, when the student is allowed to experiment on his learnings, that is the period when engineering achieves its mission. Till then it is still a "Vision".

Mission 2020...Is it tangible....????

The voice of our dear former president and a great educationist, Dr.A.P.J.Abdul Kalam is still echoing in the hearts of every youth in India. The voice that assured that India would be a super power by 2020. The dream of every individual who contributes for the Nation's growth is this!! Everyone is striving currently to make our India the Super Power in another 10 years. Its the dream that is being cherished by all the leaders of India who truly have interest in this Nation's development.

But wait!! Are we on the right road towards achieving that dream?? I fear We aren't. The trouble starts right at the top. The people ruling this country. Every politician who is elected is concerned very much in securing his post and to loot as much as possible during his tenure. The allocated funds for development activities are spend in the Minister's personal development. The usual note that these people sound is "Lack of Fund". But, when all the money is swallowed by these ruthless rulers, from where does one get money to bring a suitable change??

The next major issue is population. India has a commanding lead in this area and is on a flying start to beat China soon. Lots of campaigns, lots of awareness programs on television and radio, but the masss pay no heed for all the announcements and continue increasing the population and thereby inviting more trouble for the nation. The villages, where birth control is considered an offence, are the areas of primary concern where the population growth is exponential. They consider children as their asset and any damage to this ritual is subjected to severe punishment. This prevents even the Government to interfere and bring about any useful measures. The immediate task is to put a check on population growth in rural areas first.

The next area, obviously is to bring a sea-change in the educational system. Why is a contry like India, where education is given a top priority does not succeed at the corporate level? The reason is that we concentrate much on imparting education to children but fail to illuminate with the thought as to why they study and what changes that they can bring to our country. This is what the distinction between the education in India and the Foreign Nations. US and countries like France and Germany have got many inventors but we Indians, whom we call ourselves as the Brain-Factory of the World have produced only a few people who changed the way the World sees them. Ofcourse, am not here to blame the whole system of eucation here.. I have a valid explanation for this too. Read on....

Poverty... The unconquerable evil in India is a major hindrance for education in our country. A family where there are no scholars, when a child of theirs becomes the First scholar, the family wants him to capitalise on his learning and earn more for the family, rather plunge into research. In our country, as a general tone, research is set aside for people who have a good financial background. We are not talking of the middle and upper middle class as poor here. Peopl who can't afford food for atleast two times a day are the major concern. Ironically, in our country 75% of the population is under this category!!! Now this is what preventing our human resource to produce high quality research products. Well, India too had people from very poor background like, Dr. Ambedkar, Sir.C.V.Raman, Ramanujan, Dr.Abdula Kalam and a very few. This list of people, of no doubt have made the World to notice India as a emerging super power.

Now, the problem with our country is very clear. The rich gets richer and richer and the poor, poorer and poorer. When and only the wealth of the Nation is equally distributed among the masses, people start working with passion rather for those high salaries!! This one is a bit difficult in the current scenario. But, we as Engineers have a considerable role to uplift or forge our nation into a land of burgeoining technologies. Well, how are we going to do it? As it is well said, "Knowledge gets improved when shared". This also means that we can travel places for getting what we need. We must travel all around the World, learn the techniques that have made the respective nations the fore-runners in their World. The next step is to analyze the current situation here and adopt the policies that one has learnt around the World. Not clear, we must become Business-tycoons or to put it in a simple way "Entrepreneurs". If and only if we take the torch in our hand we can guide people better. By working under an employer for some period of time, we gain certain experience in us and must make the best of it when we become the leaders of a firm.

So, Engineers, the goal is set. The tasks made clear. Only remaining activities are commitment from us and the most important "taking the initiative". Once these two are done, then there must be no looking back. Lets join hands to bring out that New India which our Student-friendly scientist wanted.... India The Super-Power.. Isn't awesome to hear...