Some Thoughts #1

Its a well known fact that kids in india always go through lot of difficulties. The problems they face as to the power n (n is read as infinity). But apart from these problems, the main essential thing is education. Without proper education there is nothing one can do in this scientific world. The school system is all screwed up back in india with so many syllabus...ICSE, CBSE, State syllabus and just like the culture and religion..the syllabus is also weird. Next comes the course material which is also weird, politics decide what must be in those textbooks, there are always problems in getting these printed and distributed around. The other biggest problem is those teachers are misfit in this kind of educational setup. Its a well known fact that less than 1% of those teachers are really dedicated and they have the passion and liking to this profession, the rest 99% are there as they couldnt get into any other profession. Now imagine these 99% bringing up the next generation wave? Can you imagine this?

Now let me show you what happens in real....

Imagine an average person scoring 70% and has the ability of grasp 70% of resources. Think that person becomes a teacher, now his input from 100% was 70%..imagine his output to a kid which can grasp 70% like him. By math its easy to show that 70% of 70% is 49%. The efficiency moves from 100% to 70% and 70% to 49%. Now imagine this 49% kid growing up to be a teacher and pushing its 70% to another 70% guy? Can you imagine what this would lead to? Thats what is happening now a days. First of all the kids arent getting what they must get, secondly they are burdened with lot of things ..be it heavy mindless books, projects, assignments etc etc. These are just driving the educational cost higher. This is what is widening the gaps between the rich, neo rich, poor and the poorest. Yes, we have these 4 classes now a days.

Why not use the technology and lessen the burden? Now a days, anything is possible with a click of the button, one can pay off bills, check on account balances, send email etc etc with just one click and few key strokes. Now why cant this be used to push an uniform syllabus all round the country? Why not introduce the new generation to new technology? Why not supplement technology in education? Teaching with hi-fi technology will be fun and it can be a good learning experience if things are shown more rosy than dull. The satellite channels have robbed people of their reading habits, now why not use the same multimedia technology to enhance learning habits?

I was reading about "One Laptop per Child (OLPC)". This is a new, non-profit association dedicated to research to develop a $100 laptop—a technology that could revolutionize educating the world's children. I like this idea, have one laptop given to each kid, stream in supplementary things and see a light beaming on these kids' face. Kids love animation and multimedia and the technology of integrating boring things into these fun things is a way to go to make them better individuals. Wired Classrooms are the next thing that i am waiting for, kids can revise by playing old classes, get better understanding of things by playing them repeatedly and getting the concepts right. Use of technology can put tabs on wastage of paper and unnecessary carrying of voluminous books. Tonnes of material could be stored on hard disks and printed on demand. Home works would look more tidier when sent as an attachment or submitted in disks!!

Any Takers?