posted by moondust
Our education system according to me is flawed in many ways. Education is something that is supposed to make us better persons, it should help cultivate our thirst for knowledge, not make us hate the sight of our books. It should help us find something we like to do and develop our aptitude enough to make our career in that line. Instead, our education system conforms people into a fixed mind-set. Not many deviate from the cliché of becoming a doctor/engineer/lawyer/teacher; our system is in need of a huge revamp.
Pandu is a 12th standard student, Here’s a discussion between Pandu and his mother:
Pandu: Amma, I’m really interested in psychology. I think I will apply for Bsc. Psychology.
Pandu’s Mum: Are you mad? BSc. is not a professional course. If you do Bsc. Psychology where will you go for a job? You will end up with a job that pays horribly. What is the point in having studied so much then?
Pandu: No ma.. I could always open a counseling centre.
Pandu’s mum: Adhu ellam namma oorula work out agaadhu! You do engineering.
The conversation ends over there with a BIG full stop. But parents do have a point, it is very difficult for a person to have a successful career if it is in not in any of the conventional fields, at least that is how it is in our country. Most schools here do not have enough infrastructure to support more than the usual set of subjects. The science stream/commerce stream options after tenth standard restricts the students from wanting to do anything new.
Our government should focus more on making it possible for people to have a good environment, right from school, to study whatever they want to. Parents should come out of their fixed mentality that professional courses are the only ways for having successful careers.
Another aspect of our education system that I can’t stand is, how getting marks has become the main aim of studying and not the learning itself. Over the years, marks and grades have psyched students into studying only for the purpose of getting marks or just passing in many cases; this happens to even those who initially start out aiming to learn the subjects rather than “mug” it. I took up Computer science engineering because I was really interested, but the atmosphere I was in, morphed me into someone who hated the thought of studying or having anything to do with those subjects. Incidentally, I came across a video of a lecture on one of my subjects; the lecture was delivered by a professor from U. of California, Berkeley. The lecture was so interesting that it piqued my interest in the subject. I feel that our engineering colleges too, should emulate such methods to make sure the students stay interested in their courses. Studying for the sake of passing and mugging without learning does not accomplish anything. Education makes a better tomorrow; hence we should definitely invest our resources on making it better starting TODAY.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Truly, unbelievable!
posted by moondust
I’ve just been brought to notice about something completely unbelievable that happened today, something that is threatening to shake the foundations of my beliefs and ideals. When people ask me if I believe in god, I always give them this ambiguous answer due to my uncertain feelings about the whole issue, which is a part of my nature as an agnostic. An agnostic individual is not someone who believes in god and nor do they say that god does not exist because; they haven’t obtained enough proof for either case. I think it is highly possible that I as an agnostic may possibly shift to being a theist from what happened today.
Today, my father had a few clients come over to his workplace. One of the clients had brought his friend/acquaintance along with him whom my father has never met before. While my father was conversing with his clients, this individual suddenly asked my dad to stop for a while and requested him to get a stone from the outside. My father, as confused as he was, got a small black rock lying outside the building and showed it to this mysterious person. This person then prayed while keeping the stone in his hands and then placed the stone upon my dad’s right palm and asked him to make a fist. He then asked my dad to go and open in at the swami room (where they keep pictures and idols of god). When my dad opened his hand, he was absolutely stunned; for, where there was a stone there was now a small shiny idol of an amman. PAUSE. I know what is going on through everyone’s heads. A million questions as to how in the world can something like this happen! There surely should be some logical explanation to this. OR if you’re a sceptic, you obviously wouldn’t believe it at first glance. I went and observed the idol, and yes it was the real deal.
Then, I asked my dad questions on the lines of whether or not the mysterious fellow was wearing a long sleeved shirt (easy to hide the idol in his sleeve and slip it in! :P) and my dad was quite clear when he told me that when that person placed the stone on my dad’s palm and he closed it, it was still a stone. Also, that person was nowhere near my father when he opened his hand to find the vigraham. Apparently this person is someone called a siththar. I tried very hard not to believe this as there is absolutely no explanation for what had happened. I perused my dad’s facial expressions to see if he was just joking, which he unfortunately wasn’t! I had to put this on paper(i.e. on my blog :P) because of how absurd this whole incident sounded to me and yet there is no doubt that it happened. There was something that happened that made the stone in my dad’s palm change into an idol of a god. What could that be? Supernatural powers in action, really??!!! I don’t know if I’ll ever find out.
I have heard previously about such incidents happening to others but obviously, me being as sceptic as I usually am, never gave thought to any of that being true. I still don’t say that I suddenly believe all those stories because of this one incident. Just the possibility of all that being true unsettles me. As I am trying to come to terms with all that has just happened, I thought of sharing it with those who are open minded enough to digest this. Let me know what you think :)
I’ve just been brought to notice about something completely unbelievable that happened today, something that is threatening to shake the foundations of my beliefs and ideals. When people ask me if I believe in god, I always give them this ambiguous answer due to my uncertain feelings about the whole issue, which is a part of my nature as an agnostic. An agnostic individual is not someone who believes in god and nor do they say that god does not exist because; they haven’t obtained enough proof for either case. I think it is highly possible that I as an agnostic may possibly shift to being a theist from what happened today.
Today, my father had a few clients come over to his workplace. One of the clients had brought his friend/acquaintance along with him whom my father has never met before. While my father was conversing with his clients, this individual suddenly asked my dad to stop for a while and requested him to get a stone from the outside. My father, as confused as he was, got a small black rock lying outside the building and showed it to this mysterious person. This person then prayed while keeping the stone in his hands and then placed the stone upon my dad’s right palm and asked him to make a fist. He then asked my dad to go and open in at the swami room (where they keep pictures and idols of god). When my dad opened his hand, he was absolutely stunned; for, where there was a stone there was now a small shiny idol of an amman. PAUSE. I know what is going on through everyone’s heads. A million questions as to how in the world can something like this happen! There surely should be some logical explanation to this. OR if you’re a sceptic, you obviously wouldn’t believe it at first glance. I went and observed the idol, and yes it was the real deal.
Then, I asked my dad questions on the lines of whether or not the mysterious fellow was wearing a long sleeved shirt (easy to hide the idol in his sleeve and slip it in! :P) and my dad was quite clear when he told me that when that person placed the stone on my dad’s palm and he closed it, it was still a stone. Also, that person was nowhere near my father when he opened his hand to find the vigraham. Apparently this person is someone called a siththar. I tried very hard not to believe this as there is absolutely no explanation for what had happened. I perused my dad’s facial expressions to see if he was just joking, which he unfortunately wasn’t! I had to put this on paper(i.e. on my blog :P) because of how absurd this whole incident sounded to me and yet there is no doubt that it happened. There was something that happened that made the stone in my dad’s palm change into an idol of a god. What could that be? Supernatural powers in action, really??!!! I don’t know if I’ll ever find out.
I have heard previously about such incidents happening to others but obviously, me being as sceptic as I usually am, never gave thought to any of that being true. I still don’t say that I suddenly believe all those stories because of this one incident. Just the possibility of all that being true unsettles me. As I am trying to come to terms with all that has just happened, I thought of sharing it with those who are open minded enough to digest this. Let me know what you think :)
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