Do we really know where our Education System is heading??

    The world needs an education system that excites and stimulates children, providing them with the learning they need - and deserve - to fulfill their potential. The education system has not incorporated the change at a pace that is required. It is largely based on a system developed over a century ago; a factory manufacturing model where children are placed on a learning conveyor belt, then sorted, packaged and labeled according to their so-called intelligence. The oppressive, prison like institutions where students are forced to stay seated in a building all day pumping out paperwork can and should be reformed.

        I blame institutions as much as I blame parents. They feel validated only when their children score a 98%. Rarely is the path to the goal question. A student is only a sum of his grades. Less than 90% marks is not acceptable – It makes his/her existence as a student questionable. The system is creating clones. Sad and unhappy clones wearing same uniform and shoes. What our education system is doing the best is - Nazification of the entire student population. Everybody is taught to think in a certain way. You cannot question the book?

    I am also the product of the same system but I always had grievances. While I was doing what I was required to do, I had an innate sense of anger and protest. Nothing in the system excites your intelligence. One learns by rote and regurgitates in a manner prescribed by the teacher. There is no room for individual thought. One cannot disapprove of or have an opinion about anything being taught. In truth the system does not educate or enlighten us. It just makes us literate. We continue to live with prejudices and beliefs that are handed down.

   

       The belief that children need to be "taught" is based on the arrogant, adult centered belief that children are unmotivated and will not learn unless adults force it upon them. Nature endows all children with the passion and ability to learn what they need and want to learn on their own. Youth learn the best when they themselves are the driving force behind their learning process and when they are doing what they love. When I did a project for NASA Space Settlement Design Competition this year with one of my friends, we both worked really hard because this was something we really wanted to do. We worked for hundreds of hours, day and night. It was our passion and hard work, which helped us to bag first prize in the competition.

How can we reform a system where children need a doctor's note to go to the bathroom when needed? Do we truly believe that a place that runs this contrary to the needs and humanity in children can be "reformed"? “Reform” has been attempted over and over since forced schooling was instituted in 1852. The only change has been more systematic and regimented drudgery. Reform in the system is always exclusive of the students – because it is firmly believed they are incapable of understanding what is best for them. They are driven to 90% and sometimes to suicide. But the system still insists it knows best. School continues to steal their free time, commit human rights violations against their bodies and minds and confine them. School continues to prevent children from doing what nature intended- Playing, running, jumping, climbing, exploring, creating, socializing and inventing…

    It is shocking that while this great nation takes such pride in its heritage pays such little attention to the student with whom the legacy rests in the future. The mind needs to be shacked for the spirit to soar