Is Education really useful?

What is the point of education?

This is a very critical question to answer as the future of our species is to an extent decided by what is being taught to the subsequent generations, or so we are made to believe. But is the current system of education really working?

This is a thought that has been bugging me. Lets take for example the current pattern of teaching in India, where we have subjects English, Science, Social Science and Maths till some 15 years of age. I am not sure as to how much of it is rally useful. For example , cursive writing is something that is taught in school for which I see very little use in the current scenario, typewriting would be a far more essential skill to be learnt. History though is a very interesting subject with stories covering the blunders of humans, glorifying the wars, and occasional lessons learnt from it , should never have been a subject. It could have been taught for informational purposes, but tests on a subject like history which will basically check the trivia that you could get any day today with just a click of a button is frankly ridiculous.History I feel should be more about Plato’s philosophies than about Alexander’s heroics in the battlefield. At least then people will stop doing insane things to get into the “History Books”.

Mathematics I feel is an essential subject as it teaches a way of thinking that we as a species believe to be fundamental(though it might change, we never know) to us. Science is something we are immensely proud of and rightly so but again I’m split over the advantages of force-feeding it to someone who might never find it useful again in life. I feel there must be a lot more choices over what we study in our school, so that teaching ceases and actual learning begins.

School education must be a lot more leaner, and the importance of marks in school education needs to be done away with. With a persons entire future depending on how well he does in board exams, there is no motivation to learn for the sake of knowing, people are studying for the sake of exams. That in itself is the biggest failure of our education system. Say for example, in institutes in IITs the admissions should be based on people actually showing interest in whatever field they are applying rather than getting good marks in physics and chemistry and eventually ending up with civil engineering. The number of people getting subsidised education from the government and then ending up with a totally unrelated career is way too high and this is something that the government needs to act on.

Unless the education system is streamlined and the unwanted parts are weeded out, education is an unwanted expense that is not getting us anywhere.

Sherlock Holmes did not know about solar system because he was particular about what he learnt and what he threw away, though that is a bit extreme, its time that we reduce the unwanted things getting into young minds in the name of education and also ensure that people end up where they want to be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source of lot of though provoking comments : http://www.ted.com/conversations/20241/what_is_the_purpose_of_educati.html

 

 

 

 

Who are we?

This is another question that has been puzzling me a lot. And its like I have two forces inside my head fighting it out. On one side, there is a voice saying “You are who you want to be”, lets call this voice Mr Ego and the other voice says “We are the sum total of the people we meet”, lets call this voice Mr Sponge. The following is the typical conversation that goes on inside my mind.

Ego : We are humans, the sixth sense is what sets us apart and it is what that makes us what we are that cognitive power gives us the option to choose who/what we are?

Sponge : But did you get to choose your parents? Did you not get your race,religion, language and most of your beliefs from them?

Ego : I did get some of my traits from them when I was a kid but once I grew up I had choices to make, and the choices define me more than the things I was born with.

Sponge : But how did you make the choices? Did you analyse every possible alternative for every single decision?

Ego : No, I evaluated the choices that were rational to me.

Sponge : But how did you get this way of thinking , what is rational and what is irrational?

Ego : Education and Experience taught me the basics and then I extrapolated on this on my own.

Sponge : Do you think everyone gets the same education, would you have had the same thought process irrespective of where you are being raised.

Ego : If I had a minimum basic education my thought process would have been same irrespective of where I was born, but what might change is what I choose, for that environment matters. Enough of finding holes in my argument, what do you think are we?

Sponge : We are the sum total of our experiences and by experiences I mean with the people who are in our life.

Ego : But I can decide who is in my life and thereby decide who I am. 

Sponge : Yes you can decide who you let into your life, but what impact they are going to have on your life is something that you cannot predict and even if you predict , will mostly be wrong.

Ego : Maybe but I am in control all the time, If I see some change happening in me due to a person I decide whether to allow it or not.

Sponge : By choosing to let a person out of your life, you are just acknowledging their impact and recognition of that fact too changes you as a person.

Ego : But then if I want to be a loner, no one can actually stop me nor change me. What if I stop letting people into my life altogether.

Sponge : Well! that seems extreme, but I do see your point. You can to an extent insulate yourself against new people.

Ego : Ha! But now it is a deadlock, both of seem to have valid points . 

~End of Conversation~

So that in a nutshell is who we are, ego on the one side constantly forming an image of oneself and trying to push closer to making that image a reality whereas the social aspect of humans is what that influences what the ego desires.

 

So we are who we want to be and to an extent who the people we surround us with want to be. So choosing your company is probably the only important decision you take in life, everything else is a consequence of it.

Pursuing Success

“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.” – Ernest Hemingway

In today’s world were we humans connections are being replaced by social networks, this is one the quotes that is being shared a lot and people really seem to believe in it. This quote also makes for an interesting reading, it shows that you get more out of journey without even reaching the end. That I feel is an excuse that people give.

Because, the harsh reality of the world is, no one cares about the journey. Learnings out of a journey is a typical rationalisation made by people who failed in what they set out to do. I’m not saying they are pretending , I just believe that its a justification that they make to themselves and then go out and try to convince the world that it was not total failure and that they learnt valuable things from it.

Though I do agree that things can be learnt out of failures, I strongly believe that the world all through its history has always been backing the winners. Your learning all count for nothing if you are not a winner. To be more specific if you wanted to reach a specific destination and you are lost in the path, people do not care for your story nor for your journey. They will be interested in your journey if and only if you reach your destination.

So the journey matters only if you reach the end and not if you are lost in the middle. You might have had an eventful journey when instead you wanted to go to some place else, but it is all pointless.

“If you are first you are first. If you are second, you are nothing.” – Bill Shankly

This is something that is more sensible. Because people know about Edisons learnings from his 1000 failures only because of his one success. Its not that I like this environment, but unfortunately that is the only one that we get to live in. 

So forget all your excuses and start chasing success.

 P.S : Written by someone who learnt this the hard way.

Identity Crisis

“I think , therefore I am” – Rene Descartes

That has been the definitive identity of us humans. We are the people who think and that is what that makes us different from others. Each one has his own thinking process that makes him unique.

But does that hold true even today? Are we in control of what we think? In this age of social networking, which is anything but social, we are all quickly becoming clones of one another. Original thought which was one appreciated and celebrated today becomes downvoted and ridiculed. What used to raise intrigue and awe now just causes an furore. Right from an early age we feel the need to conform to uniformity. And we are trained to think in a particular way rather than being encouraged to think differently.The so called outcasts and hipsters of today, are also people trying to stand out for the sake of being different and are actually taking pleasure in showing the world how different they are.

What is right and what is wrong has always been determined by the society, but all through the history you can see revolutionaries who had a different point of view and had enough conviction and drive to bring about the change in the thinking of the society as the whole. But today, the possibility of it happening has greatly reduced. If someone indeed has a ground breaking point of view, at best he gets a few subscribers. The basic fabric of human beings has been shredded to such an extent that we have all lost all sense of identity and creativity.

Someone who has a different point of view and an altogether take on life is left being lonely and in search of companionship. This longing in turn manifests itself as the need to blend in and be a Roman in Rome. So what follows in a pathetic attempt to be in the centre of attraction in the so called “Friends” circle, why? because that is what everyone does. This results in a narcissistic generation who are contend in being amongst the billions rather than be the one that stands out.

With this ridicule for anyone different and celebration of ones self, what results is a very bleak future. And I feel our entire race as a whole has an identity crisis.

Michael Owen – A Promise Unfulfilled

There are two kinds of footballers – One who are where they are by hard work and commitment and other who are there because football is what they were born to play. Even though every team that has these hard workers who do all the dirty work and give you consistently 7/10 performances , It is the other naturally gifted footballers who can make the pulse of the spectators race. Michael Owen was one such prodigious talent.

When he broke into the Liverpool First team as a seventeen year old in 6th May 1997 against Wimbledon and scored on debut all could see that he was indeed a special talent. Brutal Pace , Clinical Finishing and a keen understanding of the game that far belied his age were the trademark of young Michael Owen. And he took firm control of the title as the best striker in the country by 1997-98 season by winning the Golden Boot and also the PFA Young Player of the year award. And the next year saw him taking further leaps towards greatness by winning the Golden Boot again despite spending a part of the season out injured. But there were early warning signs, the guy who relied on instant acceleration as his main weapon was over working his still-developing Hamstrings.

Injuries savaged his next season as he spent most of the season on sidelines and Liverpool suffered as a result dropping out of champions league places.2001 season became a pinnacle in his career as he won the World Player of the year award while also helping Liverpool to a Cup treble.But Liverpool team was not of a standard required to hold on to a world class talent. Real Madrid came calling , and very few can resist the urge of playing for Real Madrid. Off went Owen to Spanish shores expecting to take the nation by storm. But in a star studded Real Madrid which had an abundance of strikers , especially after signing Robinho and Julio Baptista, in addition to Raul he found it difficult to hold onto to a first team spot.

What was meant to be the peak of his career and his dream was quickly turning into a nightmare so he jumped at an opportunity to revive his career and transferred to Newcastle United in 2005.His return was seen as the second coming , the english were happy to have one of their cherished talents return to their shores.But what followed was catastrophe. Constant and recurrent injuries meant he could never justify his transfer fees. Also a result of all these injuries he dropped a couple of yards in pace. This robbed him of his main strength that was difference between reaching a through ball and watching it being it collected by the goalkeeper. His final season with Newcastle was a disaster with the club getting relegated for the first time in 15 years and on a personal level also he had a poor season.

When it was widely expected that his career would wind down post Newcastle, Sir Alex Ferguson threw in a surprise by signing Michael Owen and also giving him the famed number 7 jersey which was last worn by a certain Cristiano Ronaldo. And fittingly enough his first goal was an injury time winner in Manchester derby. The game ended 4-3 and this was expected to be a revival, where he was playing again in a top quality team and there were vague hopes of him making to the 2010 world cup. And his sporadic appearance for united were also encouraging . But alas ! his biggest bane came to bite him back again. Another season ending injury. And as has been a pattern all through his career rest of his days in Manchester united were injury ravaged.

And he has wound up his career in stoke city, where he scored his 150th goal in premier league. But when one looks back at Owen’s career there’ll always be a tinge of regret. This was a career of unfulfilled promises and lesson to the clubs to not overuse youngsters as it can wreck their careers. Its a pity that there’ll not be many mourning his retirement as Liverpool fans hate him for his transfer to Manchester United, Newcastle United hate him for not performing well enough in the season when they were relegated. For United and stoke city fans he never gave enough to cheer about.

Alas! Bye Bye Boy Wonder who stayed as just that!

Ambition

“Hey what do you want to be when you are grown up?”

This is a question almost all of us would’ve been asked when we were kids.And our answers would’ve varied as time goes on. For me initially i wanted to be an wrestler, who wouldn’t want to be Hulk Hogan. When i was a kid wrestling was an integral part of my day. And i couldn’t think of anything better. Then that phase was over.Next came cricketer. Every one in India wants to be a cricketer at some point in his life and when my uncle told me he could’ve played for India as a spinner but he didn’t because he wanted to study I vowed that would never happen to me. And it didn’t happen to me.I never could’ve played for my school forget India.

As and when i grow up, my ambitions also grew up with me. My latest ambition when i was in my higher classes was to be an aeronautical engineer. And during that time my entire day was filled with rockets and jets. I could tell you facts from the number of moons of jupiter to the gravity of pluto. I guess ,to me, then, knowing more about all these took me closer to it(atleast in dreams). I also wondered astronaut was the term for an american who went into space and cosmonaut was for a Russian, what was it for an Indian. But then i realized Indians haven’t gone into space on their own.

But the most cruel thing about the question what you wanna be when you grow up is that its absolute bullshit.No one cares about what answer you give to the question as it doesn’t matter.We Indians are nothing but humans with an ants mentality.Seriously , we do not think anything through and we just do what the guy before us does and one after us will do the same thing. This disease is so widespread, we have lost the ability to do what we want.See in my life, when i was in School i wanted to get into IIT. Why? Because that’s were you go into if u are any good.Its not just me,almost my entire batch in school either ended up as engineers or doctors.Because doing anything else means that you are just not good enough to do what the good people do.

Then in college, I thought atleast here in college when we are almost adults, people will go ahead and do what they like, But naa. Here you have 3 options, If you are really good do an MBA in a top university(And in the process throw everything you learnt in engineering in the dump), else if you do an MS (you do either just cos ur parents can afford it or u want a post graduation or u just wanna go to US) , or the fallback- get placed in a company.

This is the general trend. I am not saying that everyone does exactly this. But this is what most people do.And to anyone who didn’t live their life in the exact way, kudos. And they do it without a reason. I’ve done exactly the same things and ended up in the same place as million others before me did and a million others after me will do. And here home alone on children’s day I’m mighty glad that no one is going to ask me what I’m going to become. Because I have no idea!!!

My ambition is now to get an ambition.:'(.

Why Blogging?

What is blogging? Why do people blog? Is there any pleasure to be gotten from blogging? Is it for loners who can’t have real life friends that they end up having pseudo friends? Or is it just the dear diary gone all wrong? Or could be just a place to show off- a free publication of your works say? Or is it just a modern day tradition –  that you’re just not a part of the normal society if u do not have a blog? Or is it just a place to put your thoughts and mull over them? What and Why? 

 

Someone please clarify me what blogging is all about. I’ve no idea why i’ve started blogging or even if i’ll continue it for longer than now. But here goes…