The Indian Education System - A Glass Half Full of Scholarly Excellence, Half Empty of Character
While generations of students continue to memorise text book pages, the subjects of the real world elude the Indian education system.
Just the other day, I overheard one of my mum’s friends complaining about her son’s unwillingness to study Shakespeare. The poor kid has to write pages and pages on “to be or not to be” at the age of 13 only to realise much later that the subject serves no relevance to life whatsoever. WHY, oh why must the Shakespeare show still go on!? And it got me thinking; when will schools move beyond the past and more importantly, the irrelevant?
What are the ‘subjects’ of adulthood, you would say? Language for basic communication, basic knowledge of Science and Geography to an extent, basic knowledge of Economics and Politics, basic Math and the subject of your chosen career. I don’t mean to be unjust towards History because yes, while the remarkable events are important for our knowledge, the (many) irrelevant characters, dates and incidents were really not momentous enough to be included in our History books for us to mindlessly memorise.
Now think about adult problems; depression, anxiety, stress, relationships, basic personal financial management and so on. I don’t recall our schools bracing us for any of these. Our school years have such a strong impact on our personal growth and yet, the education system fails to address some of the most common individual issues.
Mental Health Awareness
The introduction of this subject early on could go a long way in preventing depression amongst teens and twenty-somethings. IMAGINE how many issues could be mitigated if kids learned about mindfulness, anger management and battling stress and anxiety at the crucial age of 13-14.
According to the World Health Organisation, 50% of individuals experiencing any kind of mental illness begin to exhibit signs by the age of 14.
Instead of being ignorant towards children who appear to show signs of mental instability, teach them how to overcome it. Encourage counselling (or simply talking things out friends and family), help them find their solace and indulge in comforting activities to relieve negative thoughts. It’s important to teach kids how to recover from failure because let’s face it, everyone experiences it at some point in time.
Source: https://resetfest.com/the-reset-guide-to-helping-your-students-develop-positive-mental-health/
Emotional Intelligence
What is Emotional Intelligence? It is the ability to understand and manage our own emotions, as well as understand and influence those of the people around you. ‘Managing your emotions’ involves a process; case in point: you recognise you’re angry - you ask yourself why you’re feeling angry - you assess the intensity of your anger - you indulge in a stress-relieving, comforting activity to reduce the intensity and to avoid impulsive behaviour - if an external factor is involved, you confront it with a calm mind after you’ve understood your own emotions.
Harvard Business Review suggests that Emotional Intelligence comprises of four domains - self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.
Why do we learn about this term much later in life, if at all? The awareness of this subject in school can help teens deal with their emotions early on instead of suppressing them and well, avoid volcanic eruptions later in life.
Basic Personal Financial Management
I can’t begin to count the number of times I’ve looked up “investment for beginners” on Google and landed up on Investopedia. But then I click on another link. And then another. And a few links and financial mumbo-jumbo later, I’m overloaded with information with no idea of the best way to begin. I’ve ended up investing in the current cool kid on the block (mutual funds), gotten extremely confused weeks later and withdrawn my investment eventually. It’s great that we can learn this subject online these days but let’s face it, too many ideas gets us back to square one, questioning where to begin.
According to an S&P research, 75% of Indian adults do not possess basic financial knowledge.
If personal financial management is taught in school, the information is filtered, credible and well explained from start to finish. You grow up with basic knowledge on how to smartly manage your money instead of relying on “advisors” to sell you needless financial products. In an ideal scenario (again, please bear with my highly optimistic thought), by the age of 30, you are financially stable with profitable investments because you knew exactly when and how to begin.
Effective Communication and People Skills
The irony is, we’re taught communication theoretically but our system fails to teach us the real world practical application of it. For instance, listening, expressing intelligently, managing conflicts and even non-verbal communication in the form of body language. Effective communication is one of the most desired skills amongst employers and a highly valued skill in general.
According to a LinkedIn report, 89% of APAC executives claim it is difficult to find people with soft skills.
We are constantly dealing with people day in, day out whether we like it or not. The ability to make a positive impression, empathise with others, work well in teams and the ability to lead and influence people are highly admired skills. ‘Networking’ is so crucial in today’s world, and yet it makes some of us want to pack our bags and bolt; why? Because there is a certain level of social anxiety associated with meeting new people. While this may be a personality trait some are naturally blessed with (I’m constantly amazed by extroverts), it’s also something others can learn early on and develop over time (shoutout to my introvert fam).
Do you know which country has the best education system in the world? Finland. Do you know which country has been termed the “happiest country in the world”? That’s right. The extraordinary education system focuses on learning for oneself, self-development and problem-solving by using creative teaching methods. The concept of rankings does not exist and they only have one standardised test in the final year of high school. Creative and cognitive thinking, life skills and the mental well-being of students is at the heart of the Finnish education system.
Since our schools “shape the future leaders” and all that, isn’t it time they focused on creating good, content, creative and capable individuals with character?