R for Ratta

“Students, the syllabus for the next unit test is going to be evolutionary biology”, announced my biology teacher. And that proved the literal death knell for me. This was way back at the beginning of the new millennium. I was in Class XI then and had been performing poorly in biology all through the term. The reason, this teacher expected us to write down the answers as they were given in the book, effectively meaning that the answers were or rather the chapters were supposed to be mugged, something I was very bad at. As expected, I scored 24 out of a total of 50 marks. The sad saga continued throughout my graduation. M.Sc. was a welcome relief, as despite the muggings, we were given a lot of opportunities to see things in the fields and understand how things actually work.
Watching the movie, 3 idiots evoked these sad memories in me. The movie, apart from generating the laughs, also sends out a subtle message. Learning in the present education system is definitely not fun. Life has actually been made a race. The race to excel. The rat race. We study for marks. We study so that we do not come last in the class. We study so that our parents don’t ask us, “if X in your class scored 95 on 100 why did you score a 94.5”. We study so that we get enough marks in our board exams, so that getting into the coveted school after Class X and getting into “the “ college after class XII does not become difficult. When we were in school, India was slowly but surely enjoying the fruits of the opening up of the economy. The IT sector was booming. Engineering was “the” course to be in. For the ones who were not very good with numbers, it had to be medical sciences. There was no other course one could even think of. “Commerce was for those who did not study enough to get good marks in the Xth board exams” and arts were “for duffers”. You want to learn history? Get lost. Science is the in thing.
I still remember a well meaning father of my friend telling me just before my Xth board exams, “Beta you should study hard for your board exams, otherwise, you might well end up studying commerce or arts”. As luck would have it, his son ended up studying commerce, failing to score well in Class X.
These are just some of the instances of the intense pressure the students find themselves under. Being second is simply out of question, because, “being second means you are the first in a line of losers.” The subjects do not matter here, neither does the stream. The instances which I have provided here are mostly which I came across, growing up in an industrial township, where there were too many engineers and more wannabe engineers.
Even studying something as interesting as science, did not make matters easy for me. The practicals, normally meant to complement the theory, did not evoke enthusiasm. While we would merrily solve problems of pulleys and strings and tensile strength in the physics class, we never had any practical on the same. It was as if, practicals were not used as a complement to the class room learning, but rather as a supplement to make up for the time lost for the busy teachers. The salt tests in Chemistry were learnt by rote again, because no one cared to show us the equations or rather their actual reactions. Adding Fehling’s solution to sugar water gives a particular colour. Why? That is not required. Practicals were in fact something which decided, which teacher you took tuitions from, so as to be able to score the perfect 30. And that was all they were done for. To project yourself as a hardworking student and be in the good books of the teacher, so that you score the full marks. Glimpses of Chatur Ramalingam from 3 idiots? And yes , to top the class, you needed to study hard yourself and at the same time, prevent others from studying. Engineering school is too late for that to happen. The trend would begin in Class XI itself.
Some courses do have entrance examinations but again barring some, the emphasis of the questions are more on remembering than understanding.
Infact I got the shock of my life when I started preparing for my M.Sc.entrance examinations. We were taught the “left side right side method of rote.” “If what you see on the left column of the Xeroxed note, appears in the question stem”, the seniors guiding us would parrot, “then mark the answer as what you see on the right column.” And thus is decided the fate of hundreds of agricultural graduates all over the country, who want to lend a hand in feeding the nation. I am sure many others having studied in various other courses must have faced the same situation while taking their entrance exams, if at all they were given.
I really missed the word “analyse” in the question papers. It was so in high school, it was the same in college. It was almost the same during post graduation too, but byy then I had surely become a part of the system.
I began the post by criticising the expectations, which my biology teacher in school had from us. But, then taking a more objective view, it was not her fault alone. The board expects us to write such answers. The evaluation plans, which are provided to the teachers carry specific marks for key words, which in many cases are the only things which the evaluators look for in an answer. The reason, I feel, again, is marks. .Its all a game of numbers. You have to show the numbers, number of school goers who took the XIIth board and scored more than 33%. The number of final year college students, who took their university exams and scored more than 30%. Fuck learning. What have you got to learn any ways. You are required to be a graduate because that is what gets you jobs. Not the amount of learning you have achieved.
3 idiots might be remembered in the history of Indian cinema for the breast-in-the-hands-of-the-rapist speech, but it’s a slap on the face of the whole educational system prevalent in the country. It is a warning signal. To all the “educationists”, that education and grades should better be compartmentalised. Grades be not made the only criterion for movement in the careers of students. It projects a feeling of empathy for the lakhs of students around the country, on the verge of becoming machines and robots.