Irony of our system!

Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

Years of closed conditioning at schools and colleges (especially in India), constricted approach to knowledge, rote learning and marks centric system had buried Gautam’s creative instincts, questioning skills and conceptual understanding.

Today working on a project at office, he was asked to think out of the box and bring in new innovative ideas!!

Isn’t it a sad irony the young work force face today?

This is the first thought that came to me on seeing the picture. Do share your thoughts on it.

mindlovemiserysmenagerie’s photo-challenge-332

62 thoughts on “Irony of our system!”

  3. Very true, Radhika.
    We are literally caged in a box throughout our education system and later asked to think out of the box..sadly our mind is conditioned to be a mere puppet from a young age at the hands of all contact points from parents to teachers and all others 😔
    Well said 👍

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  4. So true Radhika, sad truth about the current education system that promotes thoughtless rote learning and no original thoughts. I see instances where original answers of the young minds are “corrected” to align back with the textbook version, and good questions in the classroom is declined.
    And the not so funny side of it all is that the innovation in the workspace is very often driven by not so innovative minds, who go about grinding for innovation in the only way they know – like lock everyone into one room and then say “we are going to innovate for ideas over the next one hour”. No doubt Gautam is lost 🙂
    I do think the next gen with access to YouTube and other new gen visual tutorials have more varied thoughts because of the easier drift of knowledge through visuals and the added cognizance of setting vs reading. But there is a risk of shallow knowledge (I won’t generalize, I see some very sharp kids also), and the risk of over exposure to gizmos and phones is there of course. Also the loosing if human touch and self centred time on gizmos alone, wonder if it brings a slight selfish edge along with it – hope not – only time will show.

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    1. The same happened with my son also. While his answers were absolutely correct, concept wise, his Sir refused to award him marks saying it doesn’t have the “key words”. They only look for the key words in the answer. Whether the student has understood the concept/lesson is of no relevance to them.
      The content on the net definitely helps them in giving a comprehensive understanding of the subject. Then again like you pointed out, there is a risk of over exposure.But our system truly sucks.
      Yes, where parents are not so focused only on marks but holistic learning, such kids do look beyond the text books where actual learning happens.
      Thanks Deb for sharing your thoughts here. This is something which all of us feel so strongly about. Don’t know if the new system that our Prime Minister has announced will be any better. Hoping for better times!

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  5. So true Radhika.
    My sister used to teach in Delhi University. When I moved to Delhi in early 80s she told me my nephew won’t go to Modern School, St. Columbus or DPS. They produce zombies, who don’t know how to think.

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  6. I cannot agree with you more! Only few of the students really grow within such a system and the rest of us fall through the gaps. Some of do realize our potential when we get out of these oppression system while most of us have no idea of how contribute something new and better to the society. So we end up in a similar routine of work that we find boring and monotonous and even if given an opportunity to do something different we are scared to take risks.

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    1. Absolutely Shruthi. The system kills such skills in the students. It is really a sad state where the schools, some parents and peers only talk about marks. Other essential life skill which are so important for all round development are just put aside. No wonder we hear so many cases of students committing suicide as they are unable to cope up with the college curriculum.

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  8. Thats some out of the box thinking Radhika. I loved how you interpreted this picture. The sad reality of our society. Curiousity, creativity, innovation all is curbed in the current education system. We have to strictly adhere to the syllabus and text books, thinking anything beyond that is a sin, scoring good marks is the only goal. But sadly once you step into the real world, demands change and thats where we lose our confidence and see the futility of our rigid education system.

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    1. Yes, sadly our system is very narrow in its approach and pretty outdated in its curriculum. it doesn’t prepare the students to take on the challenge of life outside. Many of the so called rank holders are miserable failures later, as their knowledge is very shallow. It really appalls me to see how schooling turns bright young minds into robots .

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  9. I gave my board exams this year and having been a part of our education system for so long, I completely agree with this. We stick to textbooks and marks so much that we forget there are so many other aspects to learning, knowledge and growing. Our minds were conditioned to not stray from the set syllabi at a very young age. We never learned to have our own opinions and perspectives. We were fed other’s perspectives and we stick to it. Flexibility and creativity are foreign topics for us. Thank you for writing about this! It is so well written ✨

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    1. Rishika, I can relate to your frustrations as my kids also went through the same feelings. There are many students who don’t believe in rote learning, but they are always shushed saying the boards look for key words in answers. Our system and most teachers don’t encourage questioning and creativity thus restricting the student’s growth. Plus the teachers are also under tremendous pressure to complete the syllabus making them helpless at times. I strongly believe to progress, we need to invest in a more holistic system of education. Otherwise, sadly each year schools will churn out more zombies in the assembly line.

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  12. I too cannot agree more to this.
    You are absolutely right. You know Radhika we have a poem in 7th Std. Called Chivvy which means to nag, in that poem that tell us how adults keep telling their children what needs to be done and what are the dont’s. And the final lines of the poem is said by parents to their child can’t you use the brain of your own? I mean first they tell us what needs to be done and then they expect us to use our brains.
    I so agree to this!
    It’s written really well!

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    1. This is so true Rashmi. We adults feel we own the children, their thoughts and try to control them. When they grow up to be totally lost and we fail to accept that we have been responsible for that.
      Being a teacher yourself, don’t you feel at times that the syllabus and time restricts you to do better justice to teaching?

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      1. I totally agree, I often say this, I don’t understand a lot of things that schools do, and syllabus demands. We as teachers rush to complete syllabus not bothered if it is clear in the head of students and neither can we give them any extra information. All we do is rush..

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  15. Unfortunately education has fallen all over the world due this kind of teaching. A sense of wonder and questioning has given way to “rote learning”, which has it’s place, but cannot be the main pedagogy. The decline of poetry and philosophy has a big part in this. But also the way are now somewhat universal/technological cultures try to push us all down the same path. And then they expect and want “new ideas” when nobody has ever learned to think “outside of the box”. Quite the paradox. Well thought out!

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    1. Well, i thought this was a more Indian problem, but sad that other countries are in the same boat too. The system is guilty of murdering the curiosity and creative quotient in children and then expects them to be showcasing ingenious and innovative thought process. Indeed a paradoxical situation.

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      1. I think it’s everywhere from what I’ve heard. But definitely in the United States as well. In college it changes a bit, but besides that you’re stuck learning very little. Although we have private and public schooling system here. And the private schools do much better in teaching well-rounded thinking.

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      3. Yes, a lot of it also goes from teacher to teacher and school to school here. There are great ones and not so great ones. But the good ones can lead the students to learn in their own manner and beyond just what is taught in school.

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  16. So true Radhika. I always feel we were tutored to be followers not leaders in many ways. Creativity doesn’t flow easily and out of box thinking is scary. We can only hope and wish the future generations will have a better education than us.

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    1. Thanks Dilip. The only way out is a conscious shift from marks centric to a more holistic approach to education. It is a mammoth task in terms of investment, training teachers and revamping the entire system. But that is the only way out.

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  29. The irony is that still many parents feel that mugging up answers and lots of homework is the only proof of good education. Encouragement of independent thinking will sure change the future of India.

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