We live in times which are like shifting sand .Nothing is static
even for a day and are changing at a pheneomenal pace .If one brought back to life doctor
who had lived in the 80s ,he would not be able to understand what was happening
in the operating theatre .He would be watching a patient all wired up to a computer watching his operation on a screen ,a few
members of his family would be clutching
at his hands and the doctors would be using computers and lasers for operating
him .Ditto with a lawyer .He would not be conversant with the laws that have
changed –cyber laws !!-and he would have to know how to use technology to find
the listing of his case .Even a man who kept his money in a bank .If by chance
he went to a bank ,he would be surprised to find hardly anyone there .Gone
would have been the queues.!!Why ?Because all accounts are being managed online
and money is no longer withdrawn by standing in a line and handing over a
cheque !!Its with a swipe of of the credit card !!Same with ticket bookings
–train ,airlines ,hotels ,movies,restaurants etc .He would also find rickshaw
wallahs and small children with cell phones and IPads .And restaurants in which
people hardly talked while eating –so busy were they on their iphones and
blackberry’s texting messages and accessing yahoo,google or even watching live
cricket or porn !!
But wait .!!If he were
to make his way into a school (the normal school ),he would find himself
completely at home .He would find crowded classrooms ,he would find chalk
duster and blackboard ,and he would find the teacher teaching with his/her back facing the class because he/she is
writing something on the board all the time from a NCERT text book which was published about 5 years ago .
There might be a few changes in the History chapters ,but that would be because
the government had changed and wanted History to be taught in the way its think
tank interpreted it (communal vs non communal!!).
Its the only profession that
hasn’t changed at the pace at which the world has changed .A Ambassador Car of
the 60s on the track of Formula 1 Racing .!!
Why ?This is so
because of many reasons .Briefly
1.We still live in a era of “brick and mortar schools”.Schools
such as ours are a product of the age of
the industrial revolution-where things were mass produced .So you put 50
students into a class ,assume all of them will grow at exactly the same pace
,and have the same skills .At the end of the 33 weeks ,the product will
be ready ,will be stamped(in the form of a result),there will be some defective
pieces,there will be some “seconds”,and
you have done the job .To hoodwink the masses ,you will introduce CCE which
increases largely meaningless work and to manipulation . (Ask any teacher and
many Principals ).
2.This kind of system envisages more students than teachers .The
teacher if dedicated tries his/her best to teach in a way that most children
are able to comprehend bits and pieces of the “transferred” knowledge .However due to compulsions of the system it ignores children who march to a different beat
.The net result is that advanced students are bored in school and want to move
faster ,while struggling students fall further and further behind .Education is
“customized” for mass production.
The above is the model
that prevails in 99 percent of the schools. Schools were built on the
presumption that teachers and knowledge were in short supply .Hence everyone
had to go to a school to get "scarce" knowledge .They were also built
on the presumption that everyone of a particular age had equal capabilities.But
all that has changed .Knowledge is freely available
on the Web and is in abundance .And we cant continue to see schools where children
come to study from a narrow content list and knowledge through books published
4 years ago .Knowledge on the net is doubling every 10 hours (by the time some
of you read it that figure of 10 may further reduce!!),and google.com gets 2.4
billion (yes billion!!)hits per day .
The great tragedy in our schooling system is that we do not have a window open for “intrinsic”,needs .Very few students are allowed by the parents to pursue something like dance ,music ,fine art or rifle shooting .When I told my father once that I wanted to be a painter ,he laughed and said “Better to be cobbler .At least you are sure to get some work .Everyone wears shoes that may need repair .All your paintings will remain in the attic”.The attitude hasn’t changed amongst the schools and parents .Somehow a Physical Instructor is valued much less than a English or Physics teacher .Why?Becuase those are the subjects that get you the jobs .Hence our education system is “extrinsic”-it is catering to the external demand of the market.It is governed by laws of supply and demand .It is not linked to give boost to “intrinsic” needs –music ,dance,sports ,friendship .There is only one Principal I know who has the background of being a Physical Health Instructor .And one who is a theatre personality .And one who is painter .We don’t value intrinsic needs .We live in the age of the machine and technology .And machines and computers don’t have emotions .To use them you have to be tech savvy .And that is where the nature of schooling will move to in the next 5 years I feel .Laws will overtake values .Right and wrong (value),based on moral precepts will be overtaken by law .If you violate a law you will be punished .You wont be counseled .Counsellers will be replaced by lawyers !!
At the moment all the
above looks very far fetched .It is not in our hands to stop change .When the
time for a “idea” to be born has come –it will be born .The idea of
technological change has already been born .The baby will soon grow up .
What would future classes be like ?
1.Educational
Innovations will take place LARGELY outside traditional classrooms
2.Over a period of time
education software will play a larger and larger role ,until the schools are no
longer necessary .
3.Students will
continue to gather with their local friends in a building called a “school”.(The
word “school” wont go away).
4.Learning in these
“schools” will be determined by learning style ,ability ,and personal interest
rather than the syllabus set by the schools.
The above will happen or
is bound to happen because of a depletion of oil .In 5 years time the prices of
oil and traffic on the roads ,will be so
high that it would be impossible for children to be able to commute over long
distances .The transportation charges
will be 3 times the cost of tuition fee .All that is not going to be
sustainable .
We need to recognize
the fact that we have gone beyond the age of the “INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION”.We
live in a age of the “TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTION”.The future has to belong to “INTERACTIVE ONLINE EDUCATION”,which has
to be better than todays education software which is nothing better than
“GLORIFIED FLASH CARDS “. ONLINE
Education will allow for classes to be customized to a students particular
style .
And computerized systems will enable us to deliver
continuous assessments to students.
I know many of you who
are reading will find it childish and
queer when I write all this .I also know
that there will be questions that many of us who believe that change will take
place wont be able to answer .Its impossible to be able to structure the future
and in a debate the one who is predicting is always going to be on the losing
side to the one who is arguing about the past and providing the facts .But
technology has its own dynamics .The radios confined us to a room where we
needed a plug point .The solid state transistor made it possible for us to move
around the house or carry the transistor with us to parties and picnics
.Remember Murphy Transistor?Then we got into the world of pocket transistors
.Ditto with typewriters ,PCs ,laptops ,ipads ,notebooks etc .Same with phone
.And the same will happen in the world of education.The technological changes
will provide solutions to sustain it (the change).Remember
Karl Marxs concept of
the substructure being sustained by a superstructure ?Infact it is already
happening .Online schooling is very successful in some parts of the world
.Salman Khan (no –not our Salman Khan ) who runs
the highly successful Khan
Academy,in America , a free online education platform and non profit organization has produced more than 4,000 video lessons
teaching a wide spectrum of academic subjects, mainly focusing on mathematics and the sciences. As of
May 2013, the Khan Academy channel
on YouTube attracted 1,000,000
subscribers and the Khan
Academy videos
have been viewed over 268 million times.
I feel we all need to accept the realities .We
may or may not like technology (I don’t ),but it is not a matter of choice .It
has become a compulsion .
To answer the question as to whether there would
be schools like the ones we have now in the future ,the answer is yes and no
.Yes for those who have to be told what to do and no for those who will lead
the world and tell us what to do .The children of today know more about
everything than most of us .And I am suere you must be aware about it whenever your computer or cell phone runs into
trouble !!You always turn to your kid –because
by default he/she was born into technology .My grand nephew is already
running his fingers over a Android phone !!He may never go to a brick and
mortar school .And even if does –his kids wont .This much I am sure about .
Because he does not
want to go into the Formula I Race ,driving a Ambassador Car .!!
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