Relevance of Education

With a student in Goa, 2013 - I learnt more from him than he from me. 

Does education play any significant role in one’s success in life? Vardan Kabra, educationist, motivator, and author of the provocative book Reimagining Indian Education, asked this question to many parents in different parts of India while conducting workshops for them. The answer was surprisingly revealing. NO.

A lot of successful people aren’t highly educated. Mark Zuckerberg is a school dropout. Steve Jobs dropped out of college. Sharukh Khan didn’t learn acting from any school. Narendra Modi’s educational qualifications exist only on forged papers. Donald Trump is the most awkward entry on this list with his bachelor’s degree from the elite Wharton School which didn’t do him any good in life. Trump mocks “educated elites.”

Let me take a leaf out of Kabra’s book and give you a quiz.

1.     How many times did you use the quadratic equation in your life? (math)

2.     Mention any one specific duty of the Vice President of India. (social science)

3.     Did this equation mean anything to you at any time outside the school examination? CH₄ + 2O₂ à CO₂ + 2H₂O. Does the equation make any sense to you now? (chemistry)

4.     Give an example for litotes. (English)

5.     Differentiate between speed, velocity, and acceleration. (physics)

Never mind if you don’t know any of the answers. My point is that much of what we learnt at school is never used in our actual life. Then what use is that school education?

Kabra, mentioned above, put a question to the parents in his school workshops. What are the factors that create successful people? Education was not one among the answers. Parents listed: Determination, hard work, persistence. Confidence and readiness to take risks. Vision. Passion. Time management. Attitude, flexibility, adaptability…

Nobody mentioned education. “It’s because,” says Kabra, “most of us KNOW that education as we know it, doesn’t play a make-or-break role in success in the real world.”

Now, under Narendra Modi’s leadership, India is making education ever more redundant. Why do further research in physics or biology at all if everything was already known thousands of years ago as claimed by the Indian Knowledge System [IKS]? The IKS with its emphasis on tradition and culture dissuades students from questioning, debating, and falsifying what should be falsified. IKS is presented as a corrective to “Western influence” and thus the entire global knowledge system with its infinite potential is downplayed.

When knowledge is inherited rather than investigated, education ceases to be a pursuit and becomes a ritual. 

But, wait. My complaint is not just about IKS. IKS is the last nail on the education system’s coffin. The rest is not much effective either.

School education should be made more effective and practically useful. It should be fun going to school because the school provides lessons required for success in actual life.

How to do that?

February is dedicated to investigate that. Be with me here in this space if you’re interested. I would love to hear from you too on this matter of vital importance. Do share your experience either in the comment box or personally with me. Your views may enrich this discussion.