What should be taught in Schools and Colleges?

After all these years of studying in Singapore, what I realise is that the education system has to change drastically to meet contemporary knowledge based economy.

Starting from secondary school education, our education system focus a lot on learning from the book. Every little thing taught in our schools here are focused on getting students to perform well at the O' level. I was so worried about getting good grades that I forgot to enjoy my life and learning life skills.

Even in JCs, loads and loads of information are thrown at us and we just simply study without even understanding why we are studying.

Even now as a University student, I certainly know that given any subject, I will score well. But, what’s the point? What is the need to emphasis on grades when no one cares about it at the end of the day when you apply for a job or even when you have secured a job.

I would suggest that our education system needs to change such that we allow students to expose themselves to different aspects of life. I would prefer yoga classes in secondary schools. I would force every student to develop some skills in arts. Currently only students whose parents are interested in getting their children to all these extra circular activities enrol them in such lessons. What about others? This is where our education system has to step in.

Our schools should aim to develop critical skills and analytical skills among students. I would say this is certainly lacking currently. The most importantly they should get rid of the “students listening to teachers' lessons” practice. Instead, they should hire three teachers for each lesson to guide students to do independent learning, which is a life skill essential to become successful.

And most importantly, during secondary and Junior College, the education system should be such that the University is just a continuation of their education instead of something totally new, which is the case at present.

I believe there are loads of space for improvement in our education system and I sincerely feel that the ministry should step in quickly and alter the system to be more practical and useful.

Child’s future depends on parent’s grades!!

Most of the schools in India are coming up with compulsory set of rules which decides the child’s admit. The top one in the list is “Parents must be Educated”. What made the schools come up with this particular and most preferred criterion on selecting a child?? What does the school achieve by taking a child from educated family compared to an uneducated?? The role of the school is to educate any sort of children and nurture them into morally committed and responsible citizens of any country.

The reason the schools have remarked “Educated parents are taking more responsibility for child’s future”. Is that true for most of the times?? Then what is the role of the schools basically?? By laying these hazardous rules, are the schools sending wrong message across by discouraging the child’s initial foot steps of education. Uneducated parents are not preferred in the society??

Education system in China

Recently, I have read the thread on Indian education and entrepreneur. It is very interesting topic and give me a more ideas on do and learn what you like. However, I am also puzzled that is there no problem for Indians to enter a university. Because in China, the examination, National Higher Education Entrance Examination, is to set the barrier to campus almost can decide one's destiny.

Most of students have 6 years in primary school, 3 years in junior middle school and 3 years in senior middle school. After that they will face the examination and choose what university they want to attend. Generally, examination papers are differentiated by provinces (states) and other geographical area. All the students in the same province will have the same exam papers. At the same time, the university also set different proposition of admission criteria for different provinces. Generally, one university will keep half of its admission quotas to the province which it locate in. The reserve quotas will be dispersed among other areas.

It is very hard to enter a good university. For example, the number of students in the examination in one province is more than 300,000. The no.1 university, Tsinghua University only accept no more than 100. As a result, one in more than 3000 students can enter the no. 1 university. Generally, for top 10 universities in China, the admission rate is about 0.001.

After accepted into the universities, students can select majors given the priority by what mark they have. High mark student can get whatever they like, while low mark student will enter the biggest part in Engineering.

Even you have entered a good university, there is no guarantee that you will have a good job. Since the competition for job scouting is also fierce. The open jobs are limited while the hunters are huge. So most of students will have a job in a lower salary. Averagely, they need to work at least 20 years to pay the loan for one flat off.

That is what happens now in China. Students can not imagine what they will do in the future. At most what they care is that which university he or she can enter. Actually, half of them cannot enter universities. So some will opt for diploma, and others will do some small business. For diploma students, they are at a disadvantage when competing with bachelors in the career hunting.

The result is that, opportunities and chances are limited which definitely cannot fulfill the demands of students.

The Indian dreams

A lot has been spoken about University education in India, good and bad. But in the past four years I have spent in this college, one of the best engineering colleges in India, I have observed something else. The root cause of all issues relating to University education in India lies not just in the way it is taught or the acceptance the current system gains among students, parents and recruiters. Instead I have observed that it is predominantly ingrained in the primary school education system and on a broader scale, greatly influenced by the innate mentality of the people.

As people in any third world country think, the primary objective of higher education is to ensure a secured high paying job. Passion and job satisfaction take the back seat even today when we compete against global powers for international recognition. As an engineering student I was amazed to see the response for non technical electives like Creative Writing, Marketing Management, Entrepreneurship development etc among my friends who echo the frustration of having been made to study engineering for three long years in spite of it not being their interest. So where does this ‘leading the donkey with the carrot’ scheme actually start?

It starts right in the middle school time when a child identifies his passion for cars, his admiration for a cricket player or a singer, his interests in painting etc. But how many of these children end up becoming racing car drivers, cricketers, singers or painters? Unfortunately, very few! I personally know a few friends who still carry the aspiration to become cricketers and singers, even after three years into engineering. But I think we all can predict what they will end up in a year’s time. Engineering trainees or Officers in engineering firms. Some of them might go to the USA or Europe for higher studies and sometimes even Ph.D. In general it would not be wrong to say that we simply adopt the pre existing path and make ourselves suitable for it. In other words, any dream away from the ideal career is a nightmare!

However I saw a striking difference in the approach with which people in the West take up higher education. Students in UK, I saw, tend to get into a job after their GCSE (Class 10 equivalent). These jobs are not very high paying; however there is a rule in the UK that the minimum wages for a paid work must be at least GBP 4/hour. This rule ensures that these people get the necessary financial support. After they work for couple of years, they identify their dreams and take up a university degree in the relevant field. It is important to note here that they actually end up doing what they want to and hence I believe have achieved a greater deal of success.

When I considered the reasons for the absence of such a scheme in India, I felt that primarily two factors contribute to this. One, the lack of flexibility in curriculum and absence of short term jobs for students, and two, the mentality that does not support the adventure called entrepreneurship. There is a severe dearth for good employment opportunities in India; especially the ones that allow you to learn a trade before pursuing higher education. Here education simply cannot end before one completes under graduation and then it becomes very difficult to chalk a new career away from your ‘degree’. This approach must change, and the system of financial independence for children above 18 years must be encouraged. Students above the age of 18 years must be encouraged to earn, especially with the avenues provided by internet, IT and other growing sectors. As a matter of fact financial constraints used to make this mandatory for the people of earlier generation, however the comforts of upper middle class has actually replaced it and this I think has led to stereotyping of vocational education and entrepreneurial ventures. Also this system will help alleviate the students from the distress of having to become what you never wanted to become, and also to chalk out a career for them and be more successful.

History has always supported people with focused goals and strong ambitions to emerge leaders. Unless this concern is addressed I doubt if India can convert the millions of talented youngsters into global leaders.