Author: changethinker

Born and raised in Mumbai, India with an undergrad degree from Oman and a masters degree from the National University of Singapore. I am an Environmental Professional with a passion for Sustainability, Social Innovation and Governance related issues. A Change Agent in the making who believes that small is beautiful and that impact can be achieved -one soul at a time.

The Metricization of Education at its worst-the admissions ballgame in India

Yesterday, the worst possible news for an average student came across in the Indian media, that in Shriram College of Commerce, a prestigious college of the Delhi University had a undergrad first list cut-off of 100% maximum for the B.Com Hons. programme for a science student, albeit marginally lower percentages for commerce students at the pre university public exams. A full hundred percent, for a seat in a prestigious college!! Its the mockery and absurdity of the education system which is being demonstrated. The SRCC Principal is defending the rationale that commerce students have to be given preference and that science students should become engineers! So much for inter-disciplinary learning and brotherhood. I would not be able to pursue any one of my academic interests if I would have studied in India, firstly- I would not have made it to even a Sanskrit Hons. undergrad degree (I like philosophy better) or had to pursue a distance learning program.  Secondly, I have myriad interests which require some degree of flexibility in the academic system, I am presently reading Sociology at the Grad level in Singapore without any prior Social Science Background!

There is no future for an average student in publicly funded institutions in India. More private universities like Amity will flourish in the country and education is already treated as a business with Manipal as its mascot with private equity stakes in it. The grade inflation in the public exams is responsible for it as well. The maddening and cut throat competition in the public exams that are dependent on rote learning rather than individualized talent and potential leaves thousands like me to leave for greener pastures overseas. I was Blessed enough, millions of my brethren are not.

Radical reforms of the school system is required to prevent such emotional catastrophes for students and parents in the future. Entrance exams should determine the talent for such non technical under grad courses such as CAT, although not perfect but its still a good screening mechanism. For the elite schools, an admissions pie should determine competence along with scores. WE are failing millions to a second tier life by not creating enough opportunities for them. There are good private engineering universities such as Vellore Institute of Technology and BIT Mesra  catering to demand. Why then Liberal Arts and Social Sciences be left behind?

Immigrant Diasporas- a symbol for social resilience or vulnerability?

As an expat myself for half my life, in the Middle East and South East Asia, immigrants and their integration dynamics into their host societies has been one of my interests. In this Globalization2.0 enabled Flat World, semi skilled and hyper educated immigrants make their way for economic reasons, some to settle down and some like in the Middle East fuel post office economies in South Asia, Philippines  and Indonesia, with salaries ‘Western Union’ed home to make families lead better life styles. North African immigrants made post war France and Turkish workers made Germany implement reconstruction. In Sarkozy’s France, the hijab is banned and getthoization of the North African Immigrants in the suburbs is complete in Southern France and the outskirts of Paris. The Turkish Integration experiment has failed in Germany. Efforts by the Muslim Scholar Tariq Ramadan who is a Swiss National to integrate Muslim core shared values in to the European construct is commendable when disgruntled Muslim Youth go to join resistance movements in Iraq and Af-Pak against their own troops defeats the integration objective.  Sikh Immigrants to the UK and Canada are very successful immigrants with businesses and have entered political mainstream. Immigrant Sikhs were at the forefront of the separatist Khalistan movement in Punjab, India in the 1980’s and 90’s. Although the Ghetto mentality among South Asian communities persist.  Bradford is Mirpur Kashmiri majority in England and their representatives have to raise the ‘K-Issue’ in the House of Commons if they have to be re-elected. Leicester, is  the first ‘minority majority’ city in the UK with a holiday on Diwali, a large number of East African Gujarati’s settled in the city after the expulsion by Idi Amin. Immigrants add value and promote diversity hence adds to the social capital in a society by enhancing commerce but fragmented identities lead to ideological exploitation as well. The onus lies on immigrants to integrate in the host society to counter the anti immigrant sentiment which is good for social resilience as a whole.

The non integration breeds the far right in Europe and the conservative wings in the US. A Marie Le Pen could be the next political force in France or the British National Party could influence immigrant policies by capturing the right wing vote share in the UK. Integration is a must, like the Germanic/Prussian Immigrants were assimilated in to America.  A Bobby Jindal or a Roshanara Ali-Labour Party MP from Bangladeshi majority Benthal Green seat in East London is a good symbol for integration.

The Attraction of Bollywood- still alive and kicking

Today, I watched the Salman Khan starrer ‘Ready’ at the only theater which screens Bollywood films in Singapore. After, Wanted and Dabangg, the genre of nonsensical entertainment comprising of catchy numbers and over the top action, as in the films in the 1980’s and the early 1990’s were again back in vogue, with the masses craving for style and raw humor. The USP of Bollywood is not tasteful cinema which will be treated as case studies in film schools internationally like kurosawa ans ray, but rather the absence of it. The south asian ethos is captured in bollywood films which is indeed one of the bigger cultural exports apart from yoga to the global community. The TED Talk delivered by Shashi Tharoor on the rising ‘Soft Power’ illustrates the the charm of bollywood over an illiterate women in Dakar, West Africa who travels to the main city to watch a bollywood film every month, even though she understands none of the dialogues. Human emotions are powerful enough to surpass the language barrier and Bollywood’s true strength is in delivering in the face, raw emotions to the person who does not even understand it.  

A Russian and an Indonesian friend of mine was inquiring about Mithun Chakraborty, the famous lead actor of the 1970’s and 80’s and they remember him by the iconic film ‘Disco Dancer’ and the song Jimmy Jimmy… Although Mithun Da, might be a 60 plus, character actor now, his work resonates with people who does not understand any word of it, its only by action and mannerisms that he swayed his audiences. Amitabh Bachchan is a legend whose popularity is from Kabul to Kyoto. His charisma and his sheer talent, has made him India’s unofficial cultural envoy. Shahrukh Khan was honored with the ‘Datuk’ title from the Royalty in Melaka, Malaysia for his sheer popularity to bring in tourists in to Malaysia with his film Don. The film ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ is a household staple in the Malay speaking world. The power of musicals are undermined by the intellectual community in India. Its our identity as the Hong Kong Film Industry has its action choreography as its mantle, leading to Oscar wins in the main category. Lagaan and Slumdog Millionare showed that Bollywood resonates with even the  western audiences. Let us play to our strength instead of being blatant copycats.

Moral Entrepreneurship- The power of values

A couple of months back we have been blown away by the public support in favor of Gandhian Anna Hazare and his crusade for accountability via the Lok Pal Bill, essentially a watch dog cum anti graft legislation, which led the current dispensation, to agree to a joint civil society-government mechanism to draft the law. The People saw a ray of hope in an elderly career activist who stood for his values, lived a life in serving communities in Maharashtra State. The cancer of corruption cost the global economy one trillion dollars last year in lost  revenues and in effective public service delivery. Billions of dollars of stolen tax dollars from India are in off shore tax havens, siphoned off by the elite.  There is acute trust deficit between the electorate and the political class in India. The vacuum is being filled by civil society leadership like Anna Hazare, Mr. Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi and Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev. Well, Baba Ramdev is a spiritual entrepreneur, with declared business interests of 1100 crore, his traditional medicine empire spans globally. According to a tweet of a CNN-IBN Journalist, the preparations of his agitation dwarf that of Anna Hazare, which massive infrastructure. Although,  Baba Ramdev has a political dimension to him, but he has more trust from the common man than the government.

Moral Entrepreneurs are not new, every time there has been a gulf between the ruling class and the people, a group of valued people have bridged the gap. The civil society brigade, which are the NGO’s like Amnesty International, Oxfam and the WWF have stood up as a moral voice in times of persecution and civic unrest. This materialistic world of ours, still treasures values,  particularly when they see the rot effecting their daily lives. The dynastic, career politician class exudes no respect from the middle class. The unrest in the Arab Spring was led by moral entrepreneurs in the middle class, the Google executive who started it all in Cairo  is the poster child of civic activism. Moral values are what binds us as a civilization, a buffer against anarchy beyond redemption.

 

The New Learning Paradigm- Get off the textbook!

Recently, I was reading up on the Thiel Fellowship- An Acumen Fund Type Fellowship or Ashoka Fellowship for super bright young professionals and undergrads under the age of 20, who are real early starters. The catch is however, that these smart chaps take an off from formal tertiary education for two years and spend time in pioneering their own research projects or commercial ventures. A 100k USD scholarship is a decent carrot for their prodigies. Dale Stephens, is a Thiel Fellow and founder of the Un College Movement, which believes College is way to perennial debt and 4 years of needless fun. He is formulating a firm which delivers self directed learning mechanisms. A graduation degree is an equivalent of a high school diploma, 30 years back. We are diagnosed with higher education degree dependence and paralysis. Now, one grad degree is not enough, its the age of double degrees, MD-MPH, MBA-MPP in simple words, one degree is passe! In the age of hyper connectivity and smart phones, data is ensconced in our consciousness. With TED, Open Courseware and multiple learning sources on the internet, learning is open source and free.  The Khan Academy, is providing school tuition classes for free online, which is accelerating the learning curve.

The Text book in this Web 2.0 era is obsolete. Wikipedia was a game changer in democratizing access to information. However, Access to Computers and High Speed Net Connectivity is a limiting factor in the developing world. In the next decade, as technology proliferates and penetrates the walled cities built by the digital divide, things will change for the better. Learning in ten years in a conventional classroom setting will be very technology dependent and will usher in the era of personalized education. The best of simulations and visualizations are available online for science and engineering. Almost almost all books and textbooks are available in e-version on peer to peer sharing websites. The education industry would have to radically shift its business model, if it has to stay relevant in the coming decade, as an alternative education model is evolving.

Lets build a cohesive ‘Indian’ Identity- A collective persona

The idea of India is an intellectual contest since the moment Nehruji, uttered his memorable Freedom at Night.. independence day speech. Every nation builds its culture derived from the majority religion in the nation, The secular yet culturally Christian West, The Muslim World across the Organization of Islamic Countries, Arab League, GCC are very particular about reflecting Islamic Values in their daily lives, as it is not only a Faith, but a world view, culture and governing and legal system as well. Japan and Korea are very modern, but have Buddhist leanings.  Thailand, Burma and Cambodia are very Buddhist in character, indeed and hence their cultural ethos. Turkey and Indonesia are secular by constitution, but Islam being the majority religion is the moral compass in daily lives.

India is a continent in itself, an anthropologist’s paradise and a complex model on to itself. A 5000 year old civilization, multi religious country with multitudes of races, linguistic groups and sub communities. Its Organized chaos at its best. China with all its dialects and regional variations, implemented the one national language policy with Mandarin, which made communication uniform from Qingdao to Guangzhou. Even Hindi as a National Language is contested with it not being taught to my Tamil friends down south. Following the Singaporean model of Multi-Racial harmony with four National Languages is an excellent model, but consensus is something hard to ferment in India, apart from Bollywood, Cricket or a territorial conflict with Pakistan.

A Language is a frame of mind, a window to a culture and the diversity in India is a our biggest strength and an enormous weakness as well. This coupled with caste based politics and fragmentation in India with affirmative action for lower castes in the Hindu fold, makes the concept of an Indian Identity harder to define than rocket science. A hundred low level separatist movements around the country, weaved around identity and economic issues do not help either. India is a vibrant, economic power with global aspirations, identity has risen above social and ethnic factors to a single economic community identity like the EU or the former Soviet Bloc, with regional political players and two national parties with in significant reach in one part of the nation or other. There are many sub identities, within the larger persona of being an Indian. This a question to be answered by every citizen of this nation. Identity is a work in progress all the time but a National Identity helps build resilience and further social capital. Lets Build One India, like One Malaysia not only in campaign but in spirit as well.

The Obsession about Academic Grades- Is it worth much?

Recently a local university in Singapore came out with semester results, a lot of my friends graduated with flying colours, some have got job offers, even carry even multiple job calls! Its amazing to hear about success stories, fills our heart with joy and enthusiasm for for life. Not everybody comes out with a First Class Honors degree at the end of the day, what about those B Players? Dont they have a life to live, a opportunity at succeeding at what they are good at? As a person who has not been an A Player all his life and has attributed his value to a rounded upbringing and not academic fanaticism, i would say a college degree gives a platform and nothing else. Most of the time in university we are finding our footing, improving our thinking, writing and social skills unknowingly which keeps us in good stead when we leave this borrowed time for the real world. Grades attained in college are a reflection of cracking an exam system, and not of intellect in a chosen domain. Although students having good grades, may be focused and determined this cannot be the general rule. Metrics for recruitment are not based only on academic credentials.

The emphasis in education should be creating better people with the right skill sets. Learning is not simply about rote learning facts and theories, which having to see what they are learning is applicable or not. A History major can be told, that working in a school or in a museum is not the only job prospects he has, but can be a play wright or a screen play writer in the entertainment industry.  The intellectual snobbery and elitism about the rigor of STEM disciplines, ie. Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics are highly inflated, and as an engineer trained up to the masters level, i can vouch that engineering does create economic value, but there is no need of mythifying  the knowledge sector.

There is grade inflation in different majors like music and public policy in comparison to a chemical engineering one,  and in various grading systems, the anomalies have to accounted for in the final analysis as well. Creativity is the currency of the 21st century, as the renowned education expert Sir Ken Robinson says, thinking out of the box will be a necessity to survive in todays globalization fueled hire and fire job market, lets out innovate, out think and out create value for ourselves in our personal lives.

Lets Fail Forward and realize that a missed actualization of an opportunity is a part of a process not an end it itself, do not create a cognitive obstacle.  Good Grades help a lot, but bad grades do not hinder either, imagination creates opportunity and innovation helps us to operationalize the situation for creating value. We are all unique and no grade sheet can reduce our potential assessed by a few exams.

Open Source Education – bridging the academic deficit

The Open Source movement in software revolutionized the way we integrate the personal computer in to the ethos of our everyday lives, and all this is because some geeks in the basement garages in the 1980’s and 90’s, did programming to score geeky brownie points among their peers. Some became Microsoft, Google, Amazon and other internet biggies. Linux, is the bench mark for open source software, the operating system which is only next to Google and challenges the Corporate hegemony of the Seattle major. Web 2.0 Technology is revolutionizing and accelerating the trajectory of  the open source movement. Education is jumping on the band wagon of Web 2.0 tech to expand the reach of world class education to people in remote parts of the world. Its the age of the PROSUMER – We are both creators and consumers of content. E-Learning is changing the landscape of learning. Most Universities have a E-Learning week once a semester, mostly before the reading week (I had one at NUS).

MIT Open Course Ware is a miracle for students in the developing world, who have access to MIT lectures, which are usually a lot better than their local schools. ICT is changing the learning paradigm in the third world, learning is liberation from poverty.  Khan Academy, is the Open Source Tuition Website for School Kids and basic university course ware. TED and Pop Tech are amazing sources of ideas or twitter is a open source way of obtaining real time data.  Long is the time passed where, the Guru of the class is the ultimate source of knowledge, now a days He is only a Facilitator of our ideas.

The Awkward Elitism of Academic Institutions

This is a topic which I have touched up on in my earlier posts as education and its dispensation, is something I feel passionately about, as The Rise of  Branded Elitist Institutions all over the World, are the new citadels of clergy as in the middle ages. Whether these are the Ecole Grandes in France or ITB in Indonesia,  Education is increasingly more about a passport to prosperity and upward social mobility rather than learning and empowerment of the mind. The recent debate sparked off by the Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, IITB and CMU/MIT Alumni, about the reason why the IIT’s and the IIM’s are not producing world class research and the value is only due to the exceptional caliber of the human potential.  Educational Institutions are in the end analysis nothing but elite clubs of limited access to cultural and social capital as emphasized by Sociologist Pierre Bourdieu and Harvard Don Robert Putnam.  They are about personal branding and private networks ultimately and not about knowledge accumulation and reproduction for enhancement of the cause of humanity.

The prep coaching industry for the IIT’s, IIM’s and Med School’s in Kota and Hyderabad are insane, the monetization of cultural capital is complete. Cultural Capital is translated into Symbolic Capital and Power later on in life. Preparation for IIT exams begin in the early teens, as if that the IIT exam is the pinnacle of achievement. Or the Liberal Arts equivalent of St. Stephens, St. Xaviers and Loyola is the stuff which dreams are made of.  The myth of the IIT/IIM passout has reached new heights post liberalization and has reach the zenith symbolism of a myth. The enorminty of the Chinese university entrance exam of the Gao Kao is equally maddening.

The whole dimension that a person is a failure if a person is not bright enough to make it to the elite schools like Oxbridge, Ivy League or the IIT-IIM phenomena in India is mis-informed. Success is not assured if a person, makes it to these institutions, life is a cross country race and not a 100m dash. There are things in life people do which make them great, even if they do not make to these elite schools. Human Potential is more than a Brand. The greatest of Artists, Musicians, Writers and Entrepreneurs were not Ivy-Retarded and write did not to enshrine their names in the annals of History. Let the Rat Race be confined to the Rats and not infect the Homo Sapien species.

The Myth of The ‘Self Made Man’

Success is relative and the term means different things to different people of a socioeconomic edifice. We all need success stories to inspire us to fulfill our potential. The entire genre of motivational books is based on parables and human stories which inspire us. There are some extra special individuals , which we all can be if we are passionately driven enough to make a positive transformation in our day to day existence. By presenting the higher moral ground to the so called ‘Self Made Man’ , we are all abdicating our responsibility for a better life for all of us. One member of a family who does well, can transform a group of people, the power is in our hands. it is all in the mind and the flesh is weak.  It needs sacrifices, facing rebukes from near and dear ones and giving up on a lot of things, well life is treacherous and a very bad master. Life is never fair, it will always seem that the grass is greener on the other side. We always wish that things could have been different. The thing we can do is to try our hardest and to be a good trier. One does not have to possess the IQ of 150 to make a good life, it about finding what we are good at and working hard at it.

The people who are blessed with opportunities, are just having the same stuff, we are trying to attain a bit earlier. Having the right opportunities does not mean that the person has has a easy way, because he has worked to capitalize on the opportunity and not left it by the wayside. Being born in a family of wealth and stature, gets a person a head start but nothing more, if anything it makes a person even more aware of the potential the world has to offer. It does not make him a weaker person or have a fragile spine to deal with the vagaries of this sinful world than the person who is so called self made.

A Dhirubhai Ambani is a one in a billion, we are all here, because of the teacher who had patience on us when we could not understand a high school math problem, a parent who had patience even we made a bad call regarding our finances or a friend who stood by us when we were in the midst of a emotional breakdown. A million multitudes of gratitude and generosity makes the person we are ultimately, and by that understanding; I would not be arrogant enough to call myself self made.