Mug Up, Puke! Education, Is It?

‘Avoid irrelevant and unnecessary details’; the first thing we, generally, get to read when we look at our question papers. This statement has to be the most irrelevant and unnecessary when it comes to our education system. Teachers, usually, in the orientations say that they want the concepts to be clear and they give a damn to the scores and the grades.  But, what happens in reality is all they want the students is to mug up the notes and book words and puke everything, except the page numbers, on the answer sheets.

This is, probably, the way our teachers were taught and that’s how their teachers were taught. It has been our system since we don’t even know when and it will be there till we agree to change it. I don’t ever get this system. Why do we need to learn the things by heart? Why is mugging up the subjects more important than understanding them? Why do we need to know the exact words of the book? Those were said by the people who have long gone. Yes! They need to be honored but is quoting their exact words the only way they can be respected?  Why can’t acknowledge them by just understanding their views? Why do we need humans for this purpose, weren’t parrots enough?

I never found a teacher, in these many years, who was good with his/her students with just understanding what he/she was teaching. They always need the exact words; the words either said by them in the notes or by the old writers in the books. Why can’t we just get out of the old system and renovate the policies?

We will never progress unless we give the students their fair space. Give them the time to think, to research and bring in their own ideas. Learning everything by heart and producing it all exactly the way it is, from introduction to conclusion, cannot help us move ahead. There have to be better ways to do it. Let the student know what he/she is capable of. This is like tying somebody’s hands and motivating him/her to fight. Let the student float around. Let him enjoy the subject. If he will be capable of doing it, he will keep in; if not, he should let it go. But, let the student decide and know of his capacities.

Grades can never measure the intelligence of a student. The capabilities of a student are beyond those assignments and the exams. Why are only those successful in exams that are capable of mugging things up instead of those who have a better understanding? The teachers have to understand the fact that the students need a practical approach and a better understanding when they step out of the premises of the school and the university.

Our education system has been plagued by these faulty policies. It’s been years that things have been like this. But, it’s time that we change them now. The students cannot be ignored when it comes to making the policies about them. They, themselves, should realize that this sort of a system of judging them can get them marks and degrees but won’t be helpful for long. It is better being ‘learned’ than being a plain degree holder with no understanding of your field.

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