Facts and frictions

With little emphasis on a learner-centred system and the focus on scoring top marks regardless of whether you8217;ve learnt anything or not, students have no option but to mug it all up. So a History lesson doesn8217;t bring alive the glory of the past, of kings and wars, of freedom-fighters and civilisations. There8217;s no point in learning what AC/DC is during your Physics lesson if you8217;re not going to be able to bring it out of the textbook and into your life. No point in learning Life Sciences if you forget all that you learnt the moment you set foot out of the exam hall. It happens, it happens all the time. In schools across the country, where teachers and educationists set store on their three Rs: not Reading, Writing and Arithmetic; but recall, remember and retain. And the ability to spit it out on time in the exam hall is what earns you the topper tag.

I should know. One year I topped the class, the other I was barely pushing the passing grade in Mathematics. Arguments galore could not convince me that my ability to score 10 on 10 proved my intelligence quotient. So the time I felt like it, I would get into a studious mode read mug it all up and get good scores; other times, well, someone has to make the middle grade. My parents must have been relieved that I chose the 8220;studious8221; path in the important years 8212; Classes X and XII. But till today, I refuse to believe that the 99 on 100 I got in Biology, the 89 I scored in Chemistry could be proof of my ability.

Things are changing somewhat. Some schools are anti-exams, preferring to use an-all-year-round grading system to assess their students. But come the all important Board exams, all that vanishes. We really don8217;t need no education 8212; not this kind. And you don8217;t need to take an educated guess on that.