I once heard that there are two noble professions in the world - Teaching and Medicine. The reasoning - Teachers and Doctors are the ones who can really make and save your life. I never really understood the meaning and the significance of the statement then but today I truly believe in it.
Teacher doesn't necessarily mean our academic teacher in school/college. A teacher is anyone who teaches us, tutors us, guides us or leads us. A teacher is a guiding light for us and a life without a teacher is like lost in woods without a light. I believe that we can find teachers in any sphere of life, any age group, anywhere.
History is full of events, which have shaped our present and many teachers have been the mastermind of such events. For eg, Chandra Gupt Maurya, a great conqueror of ancient Indian Kingdom, his whole life changed after he became Chanakya's Disciple. Another great example is Dronacharya who was Arjuna's guru in Mahabharata. In fact, Krishna became Arjuna's guide during battle and whole Bhagwad Gita is based on those teachings.
I feel a good teacher always understands his students potential, works on the capabilities of the student, helps the student take care of his short-comings, teaches his/her student the ability to deal with failure. A good teacher also knows how to keep the student grounded on achieving success.
These days many corporates are also working on mentor/mentee programs which is more or less modern day version of guru-shishya relationship. I am currently working on a document forwarded by my colleague and soon plan to introduce the same at my organization.
Till then, salute and a wish that we all get good teachers and get the most out of their learning's.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Fallacies of Indian Education System
Last month saw an absolute time pass Hindi movie...and the title of the movie was quite apt "Faltu", which means extra or waste...Though the theme highlighted in the movie was a take on Indian education system but it failed at narration level.
But off late, I have been thinking about the relevance of the topic "Indian Education System". Today, I am going to write about my views on the same. Another factor which caught my fancy was reading about many Hollywood stars going back to college for earning their degrees. Recently, Actor James Brown went to University of Houston and many other stars are following suit. I have been thinking can i possibly return to college mid term in my career. Various thoughts clouded my mind- I will be the oldest employee? Will i be able to study? Who will sponsor my education? Will I be able to fit again in corporate world after the gap? I sincerely believe that there are many like me who have similar concerns and doubts.
It has lot to do with our education system. As a child, we are expected to ace each and every subject. Subjects like science are considered as stepping stones to ones career but vocational subjects and arts are never given prominence. Sports take a big backseat in our education system. We are expected to mug and vomit out answers year after year. We are further expected to make a career choice and then stick by it forever.
This has to change. We need to inculcate right education practices amongst our children. Besides, Doctors and Engineers, we need to talk about alternate professions as well. The grading system has to be towards highlighting the progress of students and not demeaning them, just because they cannot score a particular percentage. The innocence of childhood has to be revived.
Hope reforms in education system will be introduced and new system will aim at building careers and not robotic machines..
But off late, I have been thinking about the relevance of the topic "Indian Education System". Today, I am going to write about my views on the same. Another factor which caught my fancy was reading about many Hollywood stars going back to college for earning their degrees. Recently, Actor James Brown went to University of Houston and many other stars are following suit. I have been thinking can i possibly return to college mid term in my career. Various thoughts clouded my mind- I will be the oldest employee? Will i be able to study? Who will sponsor my education? Will I be able to fit again in corporate world after the gap? I sincerely believe that there are many like me who have similar concerns and doubts.
It has lot to do with our education system. As a child, we are expected to ace each and every subject. Subjects like science are considered as stepping stones to ones career but vocational subjects and arts are never given prominence. Sports take a big backseat in our education system. We are expected to mug and vomit out answers year after year. We are further expected to make a career choice and then stick by it forever.
This has to change. We need to inculcate right education practices amongst our children. Besides, Doctors and Engineers, we need to talk about alternate professions as well. The grading system has to be towards highlighting the progress of students and not demeaning them, just because they cannot score a particular percentage. The innocence of childhood has to be revived.
Hope reforms in education system will be introduced and new system will aim at building careers and not robotic machines..
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