Today a strange thing happened, which made me decide that it is something I definitely need to write about on my blog. I was preparing my sister for a math test which she had the same day in her tuition. Oh, I did not introduce her; she is in the twelfth standard, in the CBSE board. The syllabus of the test included just one exercise (about 20 questions) on ‘application of differentiation’.
My sister, to be very frank is not a genius of minds; she’s quite an average student. A student who finds mugging an easier and time saving route as compared to understanding. When I heard the name of the chapter she needed help with, I knew this is not her cup of tea, as it included understanding and as the name suggests application of various formulae and concepts of differentiation.
We started the exercise, and as expected the level of difficulty was not quite high, the questions were pretty simple, if you give it enough thought. To my pleasant surprise, she solved the first one or two questions with relative ease. I was very glad to see that she has improved and is able to solve questions herself. Then the actual thought provoking questions began and I had expected, she immediately stopped. She could not figure out where to start with. I was expecting this, so started helping her out and explain how you should go about solving differentiation problems.
At a later stage, we both were stuck on a particular question and I could not figure out how to proceed from a particular step; at that moment she suggested “let us use double differentiation”, I said, we do not use double diff, at such places, casually, I asked her, “do you know where it has to be used”, “I don’t now, our sir uses it in almost every other question”. I was shocked to hear this reply. I asked “do you know what differentiation actually is?”, “nope”...
I was shocked; it was then that I decided that this needs to go down into my blog. People need to know what our present education system is doing to our children. The teachers at school, the tuition teachers, all know only one thing; we need to make the students get marks. And making them mug seems an easy way for the same. No wonder, no one cares to actually explain what these concepts are and what they mean, why they are used. What do we expect out of these children, who are taught in this way? How can we blame them? They are, by innocent learners and when the teachers are not ready to take the pains to explain the concepts, why would they go out of the way to understand them? It is indeed pitiful, the situation and the method of teaching the teachers have opted for. For them it is just an easy way out, to get a good result, but in the process, they are limiting the development of these young minds. How do we expect good engineers or doctors, or any experts for that matter, when the students today are not taught to understand? The parents are too busy or too outdated to actually question or check their children’s understanding in any scientific or mathematical subjects. All they can do is look out for English a little. Apart from that they themselves lack sufficient knowledge to test their kids. It is up to the elder children of the house to keep a track on the younger ones of the family.
I really hope the government of India does hear this plea and does something to change this situation that its curriculum has allowed the teachers to produce. It has several countries and education boards to follow and change itself. It is the need of the hour that this matter is made public; it needs to be brought to the notice of the educational council and ministry of India. We need publicity and a huge support from the society. We all need to work on this to make it understood. It is only in the hands of the youth of this country to support it future. Please join in and make this possible.
