fantasticguy
08-02-2006, 10:36 AM
If you study to remember, you will forget, but, If you study to understand, you will remember -- Anonymous
The Situation : piles of books, parental pressure, peer pressure.
Task : Complete 25 chapters per subject by the end of the year for the final examinations.
Memorize! Memorize! That's the key word.
Believe it or not, the Indian educational system tests your memory-skills rather than the 'application of concepts' in real-life situation. It concentrates too much on the theroetical aspects of topics, rather than focussing on the practical knowledge. All a student needs to do to top his class is:
1- Read and re-read
2- Memorize the text (which gets too much for the brain)
3- Vomit it all out on the day of the examination
And if you happen to have great mugging-skills, BINGO! You are in the top 5 list of the most "intelligent" students of the class. Is that right ?? That is what has been happening in India since decades, but is it serving the purpose? That is the question.
The purpose of education is to develop the young minds into beautiful brains. But is that purpose being achieved by judging the intellectual capability of students by taking yearly examinations? Do we need periodic-assessment or the grading system in India?
Maybe not, maybe yes?
The opposite view :
Taking examinations is essential to test one's knowledge. In the absence of examinations, the student would feel a sense of freedom and wouldn't bother to study. Examinations are supposed to be the challenges which bring out the best in the best and separate the best from the rest.
Also, we have people from India who designed the pentium-chips, we have very talented and renownded doctors and engineers. So, is the educational system really wrong? Do we need a change ? Where are we going wrong, if we are.
If the rate of change outside is faster then the rate of change within, you're doomed - Jack Welsh
The Situation : piles of books, parental pressure, peer pressure.
Task : Complete 25 chapters per subject by the end of the year for the final examinations.
Memorize! Memorize! That's the key word.
Believe it or not, the Indian educational system tests your memory-skills rather than the 'application of concepts' in real-life situation. It concentrates too much on the theroetical aspects of topics, rather than focussing on the practical knowledge. All a student needs to do to top his class is:
1- Read and re-read
2- Memorize the text (which gets too much for the brain)
3- Vomit it all out on the day of the examination
And if you happen to have great mugging-skills, BINGO! You are in the top 5 list of the most "intelligent" students of the class. Is that right ?? That is what has been happening in India since decades, but is it serving the purpose? That is the question.
The purpose of education is to develop the young minds into beautiful brains. But is that purpose being achieved by judging the intellectual capability of students by taking yearly examinations? Do we need periodic-assessment or the grading system in India?
Maybe not, maybe yes?
The opposite view :
Taking examinations is essential to test one's knowledge. In the absence of examinations, the student would feel a sense of freedom and wouldn't bother to study. Examinations are supposed to be the challenges which bring out the best in the best and separate the best from the rest.
Also, we have people from India who designed the pentium-chips, we have very talented and renownded doctors and engineers. So, is the educational system really wrong? Do we need a change ? Where are we going wrong, if we are.
If the rate of change outside is faster then the rate of change within, you're doomed - Jack Welsh