Taare Zameen Par is about a dyslexic kid, Ishaan Awasthi, who is unable to comprehend the rigors of a typical formal Indian education system that is so mindless and abnormal quite so often. However, instead of correcting itself to be able to adapt to the poor kid, all the participants [teachers, parents and the like] in the system deem the kid to be abnormal, making his life nothing less than miserable.
Everyone can relate to it, especially if you have grown up in India where most children are labeled as worthless if they "can't" become engineers , doctors or MBAs. Even this I do not blame much, because if one were to see the other side of the coin , it is precisely these professions that has helped India as a nation to accelerate its economic growth during the last decade. Science and technology are usually the tickets for a "developing" nation to propel their growth and stand up in the face of global competition. Even within a nation, it is the ticket for the lower and middle classes to climb up to the next level in the class ladder, because the next levels always represent more economic prosperity. Indulging in creativity, arts and humanities can usually be a privilege of the more wealthier classes and nations.
But what initiates the most angst is, it is even this making of "good" engineers and doctors is what the system cannot get right. What good creativity and innovative thinking can a system achieve that promotes an extensive amount of "rote" learning. It is simply churning mindless graduates based on lame exams wherein "rote" answers are the only ones accepted to the questions asked. Forget creating something, it even nips an average thought process, rendering the brain dyslexic even if it wasn't to start with.
I copy my sister's views here :) - Education does not mean scoring high marks good numbers high elite degrees in exams and certificates. Life is an exam where the syllabus is not defined and there are no pre-known question papers nor there are any most likely questions.Instead there are challenges , questions coming from all directions.
What matters most is the confidence within us which needs to be persistent in cuting the challenges like a sharf knife :) !!
There was an article in The New York times about the Japanese envying India's schools. It mentions that Japanese are amazed with the way Indian schools teach counting at the age of 2 yrs, computers at the age of 3-5 yrs etc. Why, why , oh why? What in the whole world is going to collapse if the 2-year old toddler doesn't know the numbers? That is an age where children ought to be doing nothing but playing, and not be pressured to learn such stuff at all.
Sigh !! :(
An occasional visit to Barnes and Noble is something that I often look for as one of my pastimes.
They sure have a winning marketing streak ! Anyone with even a faint passion for books can succumb to their strategy and walk out with a couple of books.
In addition to carving out a hole in my [read - husband's] pocket [;)], I often leave with a wishlist of books.
Come what may, I am determined to read the following books during 2008.
- The World is Flat [Thomas Friedman] - currently reading.
- Complications [ Atul Gawande]
- Guns, Germs and Steel [Jared Diamond]
- The Lord of the Rings [J.R.R. Tolkein]
- Shantaram [Gregory David ROberts]
- Blink [Malcolm Gladwell]
- The Tipping Point [Malcolm Gladwell]
Weeks before 2008 dawns, the extreme planner in me tries to make a wish list of my resolutions for the New Year. And it just doesn't end. Albeit such TODOs can be stressful , but they have always helped me accomplish at least something instead of nothing at all. I recently stumbled upon Zen Habits blog and it is a good piece of advice for all of us who really like to dream big but fall short when it comes to actions. The real problem is when there are too many things on the wishlist, achieving any one , atleast one of those items too can get daunting. I have always been of the kind where I wish like doing all things at the same time, which is definitely not pragmatic [:D] .
So amongst the copious wishes, I try to make some [loose] priorities as such -
1. Write blogs on a regular basis.
2. Learn the Web2.0 drama and all that gets encompassed within its umbrella - Web design, Ajax, Social networking, Search Engine Optimization, AdSenses et al.
3. Be in sync with health,nutrition, food and lifestyle. Exercise atleast 3-4 times a week.
4. "Create" ample time to be able to focus on my passion - reading.
5. Tinker a little bit with my new obsession - Travel & Tourism Industry Trends Research
