Thursday, February 23, 2012

This Education begets Ignorance!

I dedicate my latest blog to all the clueless children who grow up into clueless adults and then rear their children towards becoming the same. I am actually a very positive person with no suicidal tendencies but the last time I really felt like killing myself was when one of my co-workers showed me a shining example of her knowledge of geography.

Another of my co-worker was going on a vacation and we were having a conversation while strolling in office post lunch.We quizzed her on her itinerary and she said that she would be visiting Bhutan.At this, the lady in question(she is a graduate of one of the most reputed colleges in India)  exclaimed "Wow Bhutan, that's in Nepal right!".

I was also tempted to ask her if she knew that Meghalaya and Mizoram are Indian states , but I just couldn't risk a heart attack that her answer could have triggered.

I am sure my parents  never heard about the current buzzwords like raising a "well rounded child" but in our homes history and geography were just as important as Mathematics and Physics.You just could not get a great score in Mathematics and Physics without explaining why I can't name the state where the Sun temple is located.

But now I see a scary trend growing all around me.With children as young as ten being bundled off to IIT preparation schools , I don't imagine their grammar skills going anywhere beyond the basic email communication.With the constant focus on earning great pay checks and the software industry being the easiest way to do that, aren't we stifling the overall development of our children?

Shakespeare? Forget about that gentleman.He will not get you into a reputed engineering college will he? If it has anything to do with Einstein or Newton, my child is all ears.

One of the most reputed (read expensive) schools in Hyderabad has two campuses.One is called, you guessed it, the Newton campus and other one of course the Einstein campus.I don't think that they will be adding a campus called Shakespeare or Milton in a hundred years.I am putting my money on Galileo though.

I can't imagine if it is possible to grow up into a positive , happy and sensitive individual if you did not learn to appreciate poetry and art.

There is so much beauty is languages.The process of putting your thoughts into words, being able to hold an intelligent conversation, being inquisitive should all that not be a part of growing up? If it is not, well what a pity!

Beyond promoting creativity, self-confidence and bringing maturity into your thought process, a good education also teaches you to be non judgmental.It breaks the barriers of a stifled thinking and encourages sensitivity.

So the next time when you see a woman drinking or two men holding hands, before you give them a disapproving look thinking its against the Indian culture, I would advise you to go back to your ABC or bring up your children well.

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