Three things that are forcing me to write the blog are:

          A statement by a Vice Chancellor of a University of repute that no students are bad – it is the faculty that are useless. Though he spoke this in a small audience – it spread across the campuses like a wild-fire.

 

          A book written by young Eshan Sharma: The Teacher I never met; it is on Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam.

 

       Third one is Krishnamurti’s thoughts on Indian education

I am pained to see, rather visualize this rather surrealistically and find that the entire environment looks like a mangled mass of steel wire in the scrapyard and some technicians are trying to get out some useful pieces out of it. More of this is done the mass becomes more complicated and conjoined between vision and action.

Thousands of papers have been written on how to develop the education delivery and outcomes. If we are very critical – we are yet to firmly define what an outcome is.

India is a large country with more than 250 dialects and equal array of ethnicity and social practices. I am keeping religion aside as then this small piece will become an epic. Even without these factors, simplistically people at large, recognize that the teacher is a decisive factor in the success and effectiveness of any educational process.

Again like a high school level theory that the teacher is expected to have particular qualities and behave in a certain way. Yet there is no clear definition of the essential nature of “good instruction”. The question of what makes a “good teacher”, what one should do, and what qualities one should have, has long confounded educators and researchers.

Various studies concerning the nature of “effective teaching” at various levels of education, including higher education, have failed to clarify the issues and define the standards by which a “good teacher” can be assessed. Studies in general education have revealed two main categories within assessment: cognitive and affective aspects of learning.

Affective aspects include the teacher’s feelings, values, and personality; Behavior is a function of the personality of the teacher. The teacher is viewed as the primary means of encouraging a positive emotional response to learning.

But my question will be here ‘when do we start learning – in tenth class, post-secondary level or in UG/PG level? So if the student is attuned to a certain mode of learning and assimilation and had experienced a host of teacher-student relationships (along with imposed goals of learning) mostly set by family or even by the past educational institution – where is the point of origin?

A teacher’s duties include providing educational ideals and providing the tools to deal with the material. If we look at the life of Dr. Kalam many aspects become revealed.

Next few lines I shall be discussing some so-called-technical issues.

First one is need for so many subjects that are taught. I remember an OSHO [often a hated individual] story where the neighboring country’s magician had put a potion in drinking water transforming the entire population mad. The two king and queen had to drink that potion to avoid killing by their own subjects. Might be there is some such potion in water!

In a management course PG we normally allocate 36 hours to assimilate the whole concept. I am not showing the calculation here – but in future blogs will do so.

The instruments of course delivery, like smart boards, podium, sound system – even in most well-known colleges fail OFTEN or even  quite absent in a class of 60+. Administrative cost cutting or low budget for these are alibies.

If we compare a short-haul airfare, cost to a student per class is quite close.

Some theoretical issues:

Cognitive aspects include arousing the student’s interest, communicating ideas in a clear and organized manner, and impressing the student with the teacher’s own expertise in the field.

Affective aspects include the teacher’s feelings, values, and personality; behavior is a function of the personality of the teacher and he is often viewed as the primary means of encouraging a positive emotional response to learning. A teacher’s duties include providing educational ideals and providing the tools to deal with the subjects and associated materials. With his help a student develops his or her own skills and thinking processes rather than reprogram them. Could be a conscientious teacher can rightly motivate the student for achievement – but not  like goals (more of a stenciled circular from 1900-s).

I had been in touch with five Universities (2- technical) and three management oriented. The common focus seemed to be, especially in relation to university teaching are: teaching capability, research capability and university service. The accreditation hunger accepts all types of research (often far off from the domain – more so because ready data, is available through connections) to add to the number of publications. The citation factors is becoming a game plan. If one is a teacher or a senior students of a reputed HEI, and is connected to a cooperative band of coworkers / colleagues and thus they are requested to reference this product in all the papers that are published by the group or department; the larger the department or the group – the number reaches an enviable target.

On the other hand there are enough instruments (of the management) to puncture morale and initiative (especially the zest for mentoring students) of the teacher, by false creation of data (rather faulty SOP where 10 out of 45 students provide feedback) for semester feedback result. The studious ones might be too lazy to submit and the computer churns out a skewed result. Some HEI-s have a stringent system of taking up the students but (most) organizations apparently focused on registration volumes, will prefer a ‘mouth shut’ approach from the teacher.

In many cases (a) Delivery (b) Advising & (c) Personal qualities are (structurally) modified to become factory supervisors.

In word of Jiddu Krishnamurti, “Education helps us to be sane, non- mechanical and intelligence”.

To me the learning in HEI-s is highly mechanical, stressful and uninteresting to most; there would be some who are exceptions to the rule. But the country with a burgeoning population can never go forward with a confused & dejected tribe.

Without these embedded in our system the journey of a student (not the certificate purchasers) becomes a gold-rush. Rabindranath Tagore’s vision of the Shantiniketan & Sriniketan also received serious jolts hundred years back (and that too in his lifetime) – all documented.

When will we ever learn?