Reforming the education system - removing exam pressure

The levels of pressure that students of class X and XII undergo is enormous and ridiculous. We need to do something about it and soon. I have some radical and some not so radical views on this topic.

• Firstly abolish this 'fail' business at class X and XII (guess this logic can be applied elsewhere also). The logic behind 'failing' students in exam is to ensure that students who have not attained a certain level to move on to next level of studies. The intention is genuine and in the interest of the students. However in case of Class X and Class XII there is an implicit system of discriminating between students. A student has scored less marks does not get admission to the college he/she wants or does not get the choice of subjects he/she wants. So if a student has scored less marks which means that he cannot get either the choice of subjects or college or both has the option of taking the exam again to improve his score. Now that being the case, why should the administrative people arbitrarily decide whether a certain score is good enough for him to be eligible to apply to colleges and below a certain score he is not. What scientific logic exists behind that magical number of 35? None to my knowledge. So, lets do away with it. A student gets a certain score in the exam - the exam is the same for every individual and so each student can be compared to other, and now the colleges can decide the criteria for admission. If a student does not get what he wants with his marks, he can appear again. If scoring 20, does not do him any harm, then fine, let him get on with his life. What you are doing in the process is taking a huge stigma associated with 'failing' in exam. The best judge of whether a student has learnt enough is not a arbitrary score in an exam given on a particular day, but whether what he has scored gives him the opportunities he thinks he deserves, if not then clearly the student has 'underperforming' relative to his abilities and will want to take the exam again. But if '20' is at best what a student expects to score and at that score he gets a job or a certain course which hones whatever skills he has then let him get on with it, who are we to say that that student has 'failed' and must score 35. Stop this arbitrariness.
  
• The second thing we need to do, is to stop this business of absolute marks. This is insane to my mind. Putting out a number that a student has scored 97% marks in aggregate and another student has scored 96.9% is to my mind a false precision that we give. The exams conducted are at best an indicator of how well/otherwise a student is compared to other. Giving such precise numbers creates false sense of superiority/discrimination which the exam is not capable of doing. Saying that someone who scores 550 marks in aggregate is a better student than someone who scores 549 is precisely the kind of precision our examination system is incapable of measuring but that is what we precisely end up doing. Admissions to colleges are gained/lost by a single mark. That difference could simply be attributed to randomness and not to skill or intellect. Certainly one can conclude that the student who has scored 550 has done better than a student who has scored say 450 but not 549 or 540. So the solution is to put grades where students in a certain range of scores are bunched together. This will stop the mad competition for marks that is currently plaguing our education system. How insane are things when a student scoring just a single mark less than other student gets rejected admission to a college - precisely because he scored 1 mark less than a student on one particular day on one particular exam. Its insane. We no longer want our students to learn, but simply to score marks. (And this should apply equally to the entrance tests also)
  
• Another byproduct of introducing the grading system rather than absolute percentage system is that it will force colleges to give admissions after some thought. Currently colleges have the most easy task when giving admission. They just take the top x number of students (where x is number of seats) by marks scored. Now with the grades business, it would not be that simple. Certainly colleges have the right to choose the best possible students, but now choosing the best possible students would imply a bit more hard work on the part of colleges. They would ideally have to consider someother parameters also while giving admission to discriminate among students (many would argue, including me that they ought to be doing this even under current system of absolute marks). So they might consider his extra curricular activities, maybe conduct a personal interview, social background etc etc. This would (at least in theory should) result in a superior selection relative to the earlier 'pure' marks based selection process. This ideally ought to also result in a much more diversified bunch of students being selected enhancing the overall quality of atmosphere in the college.

How much of this gets done - I haven't the faintest of ideas. But one thing is for sure, the sooner we at least think of these or some other radical ideas to take the burden of 'scoring marks' out of students and put the burden on them of 'learning' and 'understanding' the better it is for us as a nation.

That's it for now....

Reservations - A simple problem of 'framing'

The government want’s to increase reservation in higher education institutions and there are widespread protests against the same. The government proposes to reduce the impact of this move on general category students by increasing the overall number of seats so that the number of seats in the general category remains the same.

But the issue being protested is one of ‘merit’ and whether number of seats are increased or not – is not the issue at hand.

I myself have been aghast at the proposed move. I simply find it impossible to accept the fact that a bunch of people get entry into a college inspite of their poor performance in the entrance test – but because of their caste. It's outrageous..

But then this morning, I was watching telly (as usual nothing interesting ever seems to be on) and a thought came to my mind. What if the issue was framed differently? What if the government were to announce that they are going to set up new engineering, medical and business schools specifically for backward caste students. All of a sudden, I find that this move is not quite so abhorrent. Why? Both things ideas (reservation with increased seats or new colleges) tantamount to essentially one and the same thing – but the difference in reaction is stark. And although I have not explored this with others, but my sense is that there will be quite a few from the ‘opposition to reservation camp’ who would react in a manner similar to how I reacted.

Yes, when I think deeply I can find flaws with this idea as well – but the violent initial reaction that the idea of reservation generates in me was (almost) completely absent here. The difference in initial reaction could not have been starker.

If I think deeper as to why my reaction changes so drastically – the answer is simple. In the reservation idea, one gets a sense (at least I do) that something is being taken away from one section of the society and given to other (rightly or wrongly is immaterial). But in the second idea when the issue is being framed differently, one does not get a sense that something is being taken away. It’s just that something is being created new and given to a section of the society. While one may argue that in the same token something should also be created for the other section of the society – but not creating something for one section does not evoke the same negativity and strong views as when something is taken away from one section and given to other.

Does herein lie the solution for the current imbroglio? I do not know – its for the ‘guardian’s of our constitution’ to decide!

But, this has been a true eye opener for me. I mean I have read in books about the problems associated with ‘framing’ and how humans react differently to what is essentially the same problem if it is framed differently. Fine – but when you yourself experience it, it springs a set of completely contrasting emotions. Firstly there is disappointment – because you’ve just realized how gullible/irrational you are, and then there is elation – because you have probably discovered something new about yourself, something new on the issue at hand and somehow I felt as if I made a connection with the theory!

This incident is going to stay with me for some time.

That’s it for now….

Reservations : Betrayal, Opportunism and a Sly Human Resources Minister

The decision by the Union Cabinet to implement reservations for OBCs in higher education institutions is without an iota of doubt a highly condemnable one. I do so not because I am from upper caste (which I am), but purely on logical-objective grounds. To my knowledge these grounds (many of which are in public domain) have not yet been disputed on objective parameters.

If anyone comes up with objective manner of disputing these objections or if later information contradicts any of the points made here I would be more than happy to reconsider my view points. Indeed there could even be a situation wherein I support reservations (which I am opposed to in principle), if data points out that the condition of OBCs (or for that matter SCs and STs) is even worse than what we think it is and that this is down in large proportions simply to their being of a particular caste rather than any other reason.

Here it goes..

• What makes us believe that we need reservations for OBCs? The main justification given is that OBCs are disadvantaged lot. Does any data bring that out? We cannot go about taking such a decision based on our gut feelings. Indeed the latest government data (NSSO study in 1997) indicates that the OBCs - so far as education is concerned are not as disadvantaged as most of us think. If this data is thought to be incorrect or outdated - there needs a fresh study so that we have facts before us. This is common sense to me.
• Even if the data points that in terms of education the OBCs are a disadvantaged lot, for them to enjoy reservations (if at all), that condition of theirs needs to be attributed to their caste rather than any other reasons. For example it may be the case that a OBCs are disadvantaged educationally - but that is down to their economic backwardness and the economically advanced amongst the OBCs are not educationally disadvantaged. Further, the data may show that the economic disadvantaged amongst the upper caste are equally disadvantaged educationally. Such a scenario clearly calls for a different course of remedies. But unfortunately, we do not have any data - we have not identified the problem, we are doing chemo without knowing where the cancer is (if at all!)
• We have had reservations for more than 50 years now for SCs and STs. There has been no study on the efficacy or otherwise of this measure. What is sacrosanct is the objective - that of uplifting the socially disadvantaged sections (not castes), and not the remedy - reservations. One pointer towards the efficacy of the remedy is that even after 50 years, the SC and ST seats in educational institutions are not fully occupied. This prima facie points towards a deeper malaise or a wrong medicine, certainly (again prima facie at least) warranting the employment of a different medicine. Again continuing the same medicine without knowing for another section of the society without knowing its efficacy (indeed having reason prima facie to believe that the medicine has not worked) seems a bizarre thing to do.
• Finally, there has been no national debate on the said topic. Last time this issue was brought up (in 1990), it had to be shelved due to widespread student protests. What made anyone presume that the objections students had or in general people had gone away? In fact given the fierce competition that exists for the fairly limited seats at institutions of higher education, the stakes are if any, considerably higher today than they were before. If the minister has/intended to address the concerns while bringing this proposal then the manner in which the concerns were going to be addressed needed to be highlighted - this was not done and as it now turns out the concerns have not been addressed.

Don't get me wrong - I am not against the upliftment of the socially disadvantaged sections of the society. I am all for it - my only point is that we identify exactly who the socially disadvantaged sections are and that we apply the right medicine. What we are currently doing sounds highly political to me. The fact that UP elections (a state in which the Congress party has for the last few years done very very badly) are round the corner where a significant portion of the population comes from the very section of the society to whom the proposed reservation (appeasement!?) policy is aimed at.

The opposition - well, no one can really dare to oppose this proposal. If anyone does, they stand to lose the OBC votes.

As a last ditch effort, even if we finally did decide to implement reservations I hope we do so in proper manner. What I think is a right way to implement reservations is mentioned here.

Thats it for now...