Quality of Education : Misplaced Priorities & False Beliefs

Couldn't help but putting together two different but somewhat related eye-catchers from yesterday's and today's ToI. 

First : A GoI Ad, yesterday

ToI Delhi, 5th March 2014

I got a bit confused with this ad. I couldn't really figure out whether it was related to school education (under RTE, may be) or if it had something to do with the wonderful food security bill / program!!

Where is the education achievement in this? What about the learning outcomes? I have yet to come across any ad with the honourable mantriji's photo which talks about how the quality of education has been impacted through whatever is being done.

Mid-day meals is a great scheme to get the kids to schools. And yet, latest published data from Pratham's ASER 2013 report / NAS report and other sources demonstrates-

1. Enrolment of students is increasing but attendance is falling (maybe its a good idea to come, have free lunch and leave!)
2. Teacher attendance is up (thanks to better monitoring under RTE), yet student attendance is down (so much so for teachers ability to engage and teach!)
3. Spend on private tuitions increasing even in rural and poor households (did I hear height of hopelessness?)
4. Drop-out rates in middle/secondary education going through the roof (school is such a waste of time!)

The fact is that we have no focus, nor any clue how to impact learning outcomes given the sheer number of school age kids (20 Cr, give or take). Our whole strategy seems to be do something / seen to be doing something, and then hope for the best!

BTW, a more apt heading for the ad might have been 'Empowerment Through Food and Nutrition' !

Second : Article on CCE, today

ToI, Delhi, 6th March 2014

CCE has increased scores but not teaching???

Or learning, for that matter...

What does it mean?

It means higher rewards for lesser competence. It means lowering of standards. It means perpetrating false belief in students how easy it is or how brilliant they are (after all, you got 95%!!)

It also means (eventually) cut-off rates for university admissions going sky high. It means a 95% kid not getting the desired college or course. It means reality hitting suddenly and hard that life is not as easy as CCE made it seem. It means frustration, disillusionment...

When we were younger, marks had a different meaning all together.

I remember that I was always a good student but never the best. I never topped in my class. Not necessarily because I was less intelligent but I lacked discipline and hard work, perhaps. Nevertheless, I knew where I stood. So when I got 73% marks in my 10^th boards, they were consistent with my overall level.

Maybe, I was slightly disappointed. Maybe, I was a 75-78% kind of guy. But I was sure that I was not a +80% guy. We knew those guys and they were different!

What I am saying is that back then marks indicated something. Not always, not most accurately but somewhere generally they differentiated people on an academic and proficiency scale. More marks simply meant that you were better academically. Besides, marks also directly translated into college admissions, even professional colleges in most cases.

Things have changed in last 25-30 years. Somewhere, for some inexplicable logic we became very liberal in dispensing marks (CCE being just a case in point).  The stated argument was to reduce stress on kids! As a result, more and more kids started getting higher and higher marks. A clear example is the increasing clutter we have been seeing in high 90% bracket in class 12^th results over last few years.

There are some very ridiculous and serious implications of this-

1.     It is impossible to differentiate the academic level of students through marks today. When differentiation is less, competition is high. Kids getting 95% are not assured of getting admission to colleges or courses of their choice and we have had that absurd situation of 100% cut-offs recently!

Honestly, if I am a student who got 95% and still did not get what I wanted, I will be completely shattered and exasperated. What else do you want me to do, man? And give me a break. We all know that the nerd who got 97% or couple of marks extra is actually no better than me in any significant way.

2.     We have been giving a very clear message to our kids from very early by giving high marks. The message is that they are intelligent and know it alls. How else do you get +95% consistently?

The problem is that the message is, obviously, plain untrue and it plays havoc with kids psyche.  When the kid grows up and finally has to handle the real life situations he expects himself to figure them out and to solve them with ease. Alas, in reality that does not happen and sooner or later the kid realizes how inadequate he is. His make belief world, built on convenient but wrong messaging comes crashing down and what is often left is a deep sense of hopelessness and confusion.

I ask myself how has this reduced stress? If at all, it has increased stress and built in a sense of frustration and futility among kids. I am not surprised at all, though deeply disturbed, to see a steady increase in student suicides over the years.

I am actually quite puzzled how we as parents, teachers and society, for all our wisdom and education be so stupid as to inflict this on our kids? The school years becoming high on stress and low on learning... The golden age ground to dust!

Why can’t we see what is right in front of our nose?

Well, that's another topic for another day...