Reserved!

So it was the summer of 2002 and I was all set to join college. All I had to do was to choose which college I would get into and this meant attending the counselling session. So here I was choosing some mid tier colleges which my mid tier grades would fetch me and suddenly the guy next to me says to his dad- " So dad which college do I get into, there is Anna university but its too far from our place. Maybe MIT(Madras! institute of technology) would be better." This guy with the same grades as me was going to get into one of the top tier colleges in Chennai and his only consideration seemed to be the distance from his house. I was aghast! He practically ruined that day for me. And that my friends, was my first brush with the reservation conundrum. And it left a deep imprint in me which for many days was decidedly anti- reservation.

Fast forward to 2006- I was involved in an organization(Pudiyador.org) that seeks to enrich the lives of kids who are less fortunate than us. As a part of this I was teaching a bunch of 11Th grade kids their physics lessons. I was shocked at the level of knowledge these kids had. They had difficulty doing basic arithmetic and these kids were meant to compete at an equal footing with people like me? And its not like these kids weren't smart. They just had not been provided the opportunity to learn which you and me had got.

This made me realize firstly how lucky I am and secondly what reservation aims to achieve. It aims for a level playing field which is necessitated by the chasm which exists between the have and the have-nots in our country. It aims to do what our public education system cannot. But is it the answer? The primary argument against reservation is that its on the basis of communities and not based on economic condition of the people. A very valid argument. But that's how our country is being operated. Everything works on the basis of religion and we don't seem to be complaining elsewhere. Its only when it affects us directly do we begin to dissect it and point out its frailties.

Reservation is necessary- If out of 10 people who avail the benefits of reservation only 1 truly deserves it then so be it. At least 1 person is getting benefited. The other 9 would have gotten by just fine either way. Until we can bridge the gap in early education between the rich and the poor reservation is here to stay. Whether it evolves to be on the basis of economic status or will it continue by the divisions which we have brought on ourselves only time will tell.

The indian education hullabaloo

One of my lunch mates these days is an American and the inspiration to pen my thoughts on this topic is a direct result of a conversation I had with him a few days ago.

The Indian guys in the group were explaining how the Indian education system works and it struck me as appalling as to how draconian a system we have. Every time we explained how something works in Indian schools he burst out laughing. And this is a bunch of us coming from the best schools in the country. The idea of learning by rote and the manner of punishments meted out to the so called 'failures' makes the whole concept of schooling irrelevant.

This got me thinking on whats the primary goal of education- UNESCO defines the role of education as follows:

Education should be a means to empower children and adults alike to become active participants in the transformation of their societies. Learning should also focus on the values, attitudes and behaviors which enable individuals to learn to live together in a world characterized by diversity and pluralism.

Does our education system do any of this? We are just hell bent on making stencilled out students confirming to industrial standards with no scope for creative or cultural or social expression. The fact that some have found means to not confirm to these so called rules is a testament to their stubbornness rather than the system through which they have been put through. But what is it that's so really wrong with our system? It lacks one crucial quality - freedom.

Freedom of expression, freedom of choice, freedom to just do what you want to do. We claim to be a free country and in principle we are but in essence we are curbing the freedom of kids. How many kids get to do what they are good at? Especially if what they are good at is not something which is socially or economically acceptable. How many kids have had to abandon their obvious talent on something and join the rat race to compete at something they are not even interested in. The problem is however more deep rooted than we think and is not limited to the education system. Its society at large. The way we look down upon on someone who does not do well within the established set of rules and goals of the system is despicable. He/she is labelled a failure. Who knows of how many extraordinary talents we lost to this kind of attitude. Its about time this came to an end.

There has to be a change. Every single person is different - allow that expression of difference. That will bring the much needed diversity in our world. All we now have are meaningless copies sput out by the system. The change has to first come in terms of attitude of the society at large - we have to accept that not everyone wants to be an engineer or a doctor or whatever it is that's in fashion now. Parents have to realize that their children are not a means to achieve their dreams or the societies dreams . Give them that freedom. Cultivate and nourish their interests. You ll make truly better people out of them. And yes - they will be able to fend for themselves in this so called dog-eat-dog world.

The way I see it these people will not be the also-rans we are, they will be the head of the curve.

This felt more like a rant than my previous post. :)

ps: An organization which has similar views on education and is doing something about it:

http://pudiyador.org/pudiyador/index.shtml