Indian Education System Sucks
I guess I've basically conveyed the emotions of thousands of students in India. The education system is so idiotic it makes Donald Trump look smart. Why have I started this rant out of nowhere?? Well, let me tell you a story....
So I'm good at maths, I even enjoy maths (surprising for some, I know). I'm not always amazing at it, I do make calculation errors but I still love the subject. So we had this proof in triangles that I successfully proved using concepts from the book (eventhough I knew much more effective methods) and I still got some marks deducted for the question. Naturally I asked the teacher why?? I thought that maybe I used a concept wrong or the calculation had errors. She reads my proof and then looks me straight in the eye and says, "This proof is correct but it's not the one in the book."
Yup! I got less marks because I used creativity to give answers rather than mug them up. Hilarious right!!
I can't really blame the teacher though. She explained to me, "If it were up to me I would have given you the marks but when the paper goes for checking in another school for the boards (Boards are basically the main exams like SATs in India. Takes place in 10th and 12th, I'm in 10th, compulsory for all. Checked by another school's teacher) the teacher who checks your paper may not be very smart and if you don't write the proof as it is described in the book you'll get your marks deducted."
So basically I'm being punished because of another teacher's incompetence. How just. This will surely be beneficial to develop our minds.
I always thought that maths helped increase your intelligence, not your memory power.
It's not just about maths. Science, social science, english, etc. Everything is based on mugging up. I can get that you must stick to what the course contains and not go beyond that, but it's not that, it's writing the exact words of the books, the exact terminology. Doesn't matter if your answer held the same meaning, you must stick to what the book has written.
There are other problems too.
In english, you write an answer within the word limit they say you must explain more and when you explain then they say that you've exceeded the word limit. When you keep both in mind, they say you've cramped too much information into the answer, it wasn't needed. Create the prefect balance they say. Oh I'm sorry, I didn't know that I had to be Shakespeare and reach your impossible standards to get good grades.
In social science, use specific terms. You would think that they are taking about important terms like revolution, patriarchy, civil war or something. Nope, it's terms like vis-a-vis, dominant, value (and these are words from my test that have marks deduced for them) which had been replaced with words or phrases with similar or even the same meaning. Some of the information is also outdated, like the climate chapter which states that summer in Delhi ends in May when everyone knows that the full effect of summer is experienced in June. Even our teacher says that the text is outdated.
The worst part, this won't happen to everyone just the smart kids. It wouldn't even happen in the actual boards. But it will happen all throughout 10th in every test, emphasis on preboard 2. And if you are a student who scores above 90% in most exams. Well good luck cause the teacher's will come after you like rabid animals. Unless you're incredibly good at mugging up cause then you're totally fine. The excuse for this? "You're a smart kid and we are just pointing out your flaws so you can do better in the finals." I guess this is kinda smart in some ways but it has four major negative side effects too.
One, setting seemingly impossible standards. For a student like me who has problem mugging up information, this system of exact terminology is stressful. Even besides that, there are some expectations (like the English one I mentioned) that are so ridiculous. How can you expect a 15-16 year old to cope up with this?
Two, disheartened students. I'm not usually one to fret over less marks. But God, this continuous feeling of not living up to even your own expectations is disheartening. Sure, soon enough this slump gets you even more determined to do better but the original feeling is absolutely horrible. And I've seen people not even take care of their health or become depressed due to this. Thankfully, I have no intentions of going down that path.
Third, acceptance. This is not the good kind of acceptance where the student accepts their marks and moves on, studying hard for the next exam. In this acceptance, the student gets a slump in their marks, starts contemplating if they're not actually as smart as they thought, lowers their own expectations and then still studies somewhat but doesn't care what grade they get. This basically sucks out all the ambitiousness from inside a person.
Fourth and maybe the most important, parents. Fortunately, my parents have been very supportive and have encouraged me to do better. But they do have expectations, not unrealistic ones, but still present. And I feel so horrible when I let then down. I can only imagine what the child of a not so supportive parent feels like.
I'm just talking about 10th, but all throughout your school experience, slowly-slowly students loose their inquisitiveness and become parrots who can repeat the words but not understand its meaning. Why is it that the despite having such a huge working population and being a tech hub, the number of innovative inventions and ideas that come up are limited in India? Students suicides, on the other hand, are enjoying a steady incline. Most of them are done due to stress of studies. Not encouraging suicide, there is always a better way, but this must indicate towards something.
I see some of the smartest students I know getting their marks deducted cause they know too much or cause they don't answer in the exact manner that the teacher wishes the answer to be in. This is complete stupidity!
I could easily rant more if I wanted to but I'll just stop by quoting a line from the movie 3 Idiots (the best movie for any Indian student or even any student in the world). "Even the lion learns how to sit on the stool because of the fear of a whip. But we call that lion well-trained not well-educated."
Unfortunately, it'll take a long time for our country to understand this.
