Deceived Minds

Posted on October 31, 2019 by the Editor

By Vidushi Sharma. Vidushi, 18, is studying for a B.A. in Economics at Maitreyi College, Delhi University. She lives in New Delhi, India. Please read her article and leave your thoughts and comments below.

“Too often we give children answers to remember rather than problems to solve.”

– Roger Lewin

Along the silent streets of delusional knowledge, the faint voice of dilapidated pedagogic outlook is often disregarded. The scholastic prospect of efficiency is deteriorating at a rapid rate. The system that facilitated individuals to develop intellects has actually lost its intellectuality.

However, the objectives of academic institutions have been adulterated and hence have lost their functionality. The main objective of learning, as defined by pedagogues, is to ensure application-based learning. Howbeit, the current system evaluates the intellect of individuals on their ability to reproduce certain facts in a particular sequence. Children are not rated based on what they know, but on the basis of the things they are expected to know.

In addition, the differences in children are neither acknowledged nor respected. Children with different backgrounds and skills are expected to perform, learn and process uniform information. Instead of cherishing the differences, an artificial uniformity is imposed. Children are taught to score marks by performing responses to certain questions in a discrete format, rather than to gain real life knowledge.

Furthermore, the initial cramping of creativity destroys the slightest chance of development in the future. In the words of Edward M. Forster: “Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.” The instructive institution has become a farce, where individuals who have different abilities to perceive and understand are expected to perform homogeneous tasks, often decided by individuals with no prior pedagogic knowledge. Children are not taught to solve problems. Instead, they are taught to memorize answers and write them in exams to score marks and not with the objective of learning.

Additionally, the endeavors of the same are given to the benighted society. The concepts of rote learning are extremely popular in the global south and are considered to be resourceful by the United States as well. The ideals of “we rise together” are sinking individuals and groups alike. To induce equity, the standards have been lowered and the mugging up of answers and concepts a proposed alternative. The lack of diligence and the need to speed up the process of learning are considered to be crucial causes of the same.

However, the inefficiency of individuals is being showcased, which is a severe implication of the ideals of rote learning. Moreover the institution of education stands void under such circumstances, since the education gained during school life is never utilized in real life: the emphasis was laid upon scoring by learning answers rather than by solving questions.

From a bird’s eye view, the contemporary academic institution is amidst a crisis where it has lost its significance, as the objective is itself not satisfied. The emphasis is laid upon learning answers rather than solving questions. The institution which was once identified as an amalgamation of ideas and creativity now stands deprecated. The learning of answers is recognized as an easier alternative than reasoning the never-ending whys. The functionality of education has been sacrificed for convenience. We incoherently give children answers to learn instead of problems to solve.

Return to this year's edition of the Blogging Prizes Explore this year's blogging entries

40 comments on “Deceived Minds”

    • Rajinder on

      The young talent has proved with the small script written and the vocubalary used, that, no doubt, she is a great rising budding star in the years to come. Her level of understanding the topic and putting the necessary ingredients and being crisp is a great talent.

      Hope you will continue to enlighten us all on different topics of today’s societal issues. Great going Young Star.

      Reply
  21. Rajesh Kukreti on

    Very nice. I totally agree with Vidushi’s views.Yatha nam tatha gun. She has proved her name ‘Vidushi’. This article reminds me the days of Gurukul and its importance. We should changed our educational policy according to the principles of Gurukul

    Reply
  22. Narendra Kumar on

    An excellent piece of writing by a budding writer which truly reflects and allows a peep into one of the brightest minds of gen next that I have ever come across. Wishing the young intellectual many more such brilliant pieces of writing in times to come. May the creative mind blossom beyond limits. 👍👍

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe to our newsletter!