We need more education, less schooling.

India boasts of a Human Resources dividend because of a young working population in the present times and in the foreseeable future. Actually going by present trends India is heading towards a Human Resources disaster. Here is why.

Surveys have always confirmed what I have experienced in recruiting employees. Our schooling system is out of sync with the needs of our society and our humanity.

As per ASER (Annual Survey of Education Report) India 25 per cent of Class 8 students can't read Class II text.
Another statistic, 56% of Class 8 students cannot do simple basic math


As regards college graduates one survey revealed that [47 Percent graduates in India are unemployable for any job.
Another report reveals that, over 80% Indian engineers are unemployable, lack new-age technology skills

The causes are numerous and blunders of historical past cannot be undone. However with understanding and commitment, transferred into action the future can be created.
The sure sign of an impending disaster is that in spite of knowing that the situation is very bad, we are unable to or unwilling to act.

Though Schooling and Education are terms often used interchangeably, there is a big difference.

Schooling is the pushing out of facts, figures, data, instructions, and the regimentation of the student, by instructors but called teachers so as to get students to think and behave in a reliably predictable manner. 

Society has evolved and changed dramatically but the approach to learning remains mostly unchanged. Mandated by government bureaucrats and effected by various boards, schooling as is currently effected is damaging if not disastrous to society.

Schools nowadays may have modern infrastructure but their soul has mostly been lost. Schools currently do only two things, they babysit students and deliver curriculum.

At the end of their schooling, an intelligent, innocent and pure child will in all probability be converted into an indoctrinated arrogant creature lacking values. Will possess at best a lot of facts and figures and unlikely to live a wholesome, happy and successful life.

Most schools now focus entirely on ensuring that students pursue and achieve high marks in various mandated board examinations, so that the student can join the next level of rote learning and progress to being further dumbed down in colleges.

Only a small percentage of students with the guidance and support of their parents and some committed teachers be able to escape the trap. They will join select institutions and rise to become something. 

Anyone or anything that provides a lesson is a teacher.  In the schooling system of today, the teacher only transfers the information from a syllabus to the student so that the student can pass an examination based on his or her memory.

Education is the creation of an environment which stimulates the student to thirst for information and knowledge, which they will find exciting, relevant and useful. Education is a pulling of knowledge from formal and informal sources.  Education is also experiential learning while schooling provides only rote learning. 

Schooling significantly disregards the numerous natural intelligences, and natural inclination of individual students, so as to produce identical products which will be considered normal. While education excites human intelligence and therefore inspires, schooling tends to deaden and degrade human intelligence. 

Schooling certainly enhances intellect and memory, but it is not the same as enhancing intelligence and creativity which comes only from education. Schooling is a top down approach whereas education is multidirectional. Education can come from ones research and experiences, from public sources, internet, libraries, peers, seniors, juniors, colleagues, associates and even strangers. One of the most impactful source of education are parents and family. 

Demotivated by school managements running as businesses or as ineffective and inefficient government  bureaucracies, overworked and distracted by excessive regulations, and curriculum, intimidated by aggressive parents, teachers in schools have little or no room to really facilitate student learning. 

As a result the student receives information in such an insipid manner, and without understanding its relevance and application, that, whatever is taught is crammed and quickly forgotten after the examinations. Most schools at best convert ignorance into arrogance by providing vast amount of information.

Many of my friends are men of extraordinary character and capabilities. We owe much of our achievements and happiness to the great education we received from our parents, companions and teachers. Pursuing education and not mere schooling made all the difference.

The only way to build a better society and a better humanity is to provide more education understanding and awakening and less of schooling and testing.

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Interesting References:

Annual Status of Education Report - ACER 2018

India's demographic dividend - BBC news

15 interesting ways to view Mumbai

Charlie Chaplin and the Experts

             

Charlie Chaplin (1889 - 1977) is considered a great humanitarian and one of the most important persons in the history of film making. He loved to entertain himself and people.

In 1975 Charlie Chaplin, decided to enter a Charlie Chaplin look alike contest held in France. His entry was amongst one of many entrants.

                                                     

Well, what do you know? The experts on the panel of judges placed Charlie Chaplin third.

This incident begs the question, 'Who is an expert?' 

An expert is defined as someone who is knowledgable or skilful in a particular area. 

When we perceive someone as an expert, its usually because they demonstrate confidence, in what they say or do.

What if the person doesn't really have that knowledge or skill but pretends to have it.  Obviously we will be fooled and feel sorry for ourselves. 

That is why we often discover that,

Often, an expert is someone who is never in doubt but frequently in error.

                                     

We ourselves, know our situation, problem or needs better than anyone else. Therefore we are best poised to find and implement solutions to our problems.

Spending time alone to look within myself, I have often been able to find answers to doubts and and solutions to challenges.

But we do not trust ourselves. We have grown so distant from ourselves that we rarely look within ourselves for answers. We would rather trust a stranger believing them to be experts.

Maybe its a good idea to take off time to be alone with ourselves at least once a day. One will be surprised by the focus, energy and positiveness it brings into one's life. 

Sure, we will make mistakes, but its useful to remember that, all success is based on failures and setbacks.

Interesting speech by Charlie Chaplin - Final Speech from The Great Dictator  - YouTube

Way we see things

We often ask, why can't they see the obvious.
What is obvious to us, is not necessarily obvious to others. 

A man is usually stretched between two women, both who who desire to monopolise him. The mother and the wife. The affection they have for the man is of different types, but yet he must belong to them both. Both women are right but not entirely.

This is because we recognise things, events, relationships and experiences through the window and filter of our mind. We like to believe that we exist in the reality but in fact we exist within a reality. We exist within a reality  created by our own mind. It is a reality created by our own minds with us at the very centre of our universe.

Everyone's centre and hence universe and therefore our reality differs. Great communicators seek to step out of their own realities and seek to place themselves in the hearts and minds of the other. 
All great souls and minds, have this ability to empathise. They may not agree with our reality, but at least they understand and accommodate the other.

Many families and organisations break up because the members and leaders do not take the effort to inculcate this way of understanding. No great endeavour can be achieved and sustained without this great quality of empathy.

Why this happens, will be the subject of another article.

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From my seminar on 'Effective Communication & Conversation'

Who are the poor?

6th December 1993. Mohini, my compassionate wife wanted to do something thoughtful as a tribute to her late father. She thought it would  be nice to provide some warm shawls to the homeless poor. So we bought 100 woollen shawls and distributed some to the cooks, maids, drivers, watchmen etc. in the neighbourhood.

We further decided to drive around at night, find homeless people and gift them the remaining 85 shawls. Believing it would be an appropriate education our young sons Mohit (10) and Pavit (8) we took them along. Always ready for adventure, the boys eagerly accompanied us.

We were amazed that we could not find any homeless person. Damn! They are always hassling people at traffic signals, and yet we couldn't find beggars when we wanted them. 
After about 30 minutes of cruising around in the cold we eventually saw near Koregaon Park, a man sitting cross legged under a tree wearing only a loin cloth.

Mohini asked the boys to gift the shawls with their own hands. The boys eagerly grabbed one shawl, leapt out of the car  and ran up to him and said "Namaste! it is very cold, we would like you to have this shawl to keep you warm." The boys were shocked when the man scowled at them, snatched the shawl and flung it away. Quite surprised, our sons scampered back to the safety of the car.

We then drove towards the railway station, there would certainly be some poor people near there. After about a further half  hour, we finally spotted a man near the Sadhu Vaswani Circle. There he was, dressed in simple and thin cotton clothes. He seemed lost in thought, sitting cross legged on the pavement, between a large plastic shopping bag on either side. Unnerved by the previous encounter, our sons cautiously walked up to him and without a word handed him a shawl.

He was taken aback, he returned the shawl saying, "I don't want or need this shawl." The boys pressed him to keep it, saying "Don't worry you don't have to pay for it. It's a gift and it will keep you warm during these cold winter nights."

He gave a strange reply, "I am already struggling to cope with so many possessions" and he pointed to the two plastic bags. "Please take your shawl back as I have no place to keep it. Thank you for your kindness but I am quite comfortable."


Confused and dejected the boys returned back to the car. They refused to proceed with the humanitarian effort that night.

Mohit said "Really strange, we thought these guys were poor, but they behave like they are very wealthy,  mom, dad don't you think they are crazy? Sitting in the cold, no roof over his head and 
content with his meagre possessions and . How can that be possible?"

We had no answer as we drove back home silently, each of us lost in our thoughts, mulling over what had just transpired. It has been many years since that incident but none of us speaks about charity in the same arrogant or patronising manner anymore. Much, much later we finally came to realise the meaning of that evening.
The wealthy are not those who have much, but those that have stopped desiring more.

The next day we handed the remaining shawls to the Gurudwara for distribution to whom they felt were needy.