When I decided to compose this article, it took me quite some time to come up with an apt name for it. I don’t know how well I managed to do it. However, the reason behind writing this piece is the constant nag within me regarding the “new” methodology of teaching and education that is being adopted throughout the country and at an increased pace.
“Hey, do you have the slides for tomorrow’s exam?”, “Don’t worry there are only 32 slides. We can finish it off in one night”, “Come on! Why the hell are you going to buy the book for the exams? Jitna slides mein diya hai kaafi hai exam ke liye”
Do you recall the lines I just quoted above? Aren’t these the same lines all of us keep saying most of the time just before and during the exams (or even anytime for that matter)?
Concise, easy-to-view, apparently exhaustive, simple-to-scan and search – these are the essential inherencies of what I call “digital” or “soft” education and this method is also the thing of the day.
On the other hand, text books – conventional, authentic (subject to the honesty of publications and sensibilities of the students, of course), thorough, difficult to finish off in one day (again, not talking about exceptional brilliance), sequential, highly atomic and more material than our apparent “requirements” - the “hard”-hitting education that we had been habituated to since our childhood.
Still, there is one question I keep asking myself – “When there is so much of technology and ease to help me study, why do I still understand the topic better when I read it from a text book rather than from some presentation?”
Maybe it’s because I have studied the conventional way since my childhood and hence have developed a better understanding for it. Maybe my mind doesn’t easily accept the matter when I study like a quick scan and that too from a laptop screen which has no pages to turn back and forth repeatedly, no real feel, nothing to draw patterns on with my pen or fold at corners when I am bored. I just have to keep looking at the artificial screen (look at this, I am talking as if screen is artificial and paper is a living, dancing creature…)
Ok books are nice, educative, very informative, blah blah blah – but what does a person like me, who prefers to understand things the “hard (copy)” way, do one night before the exam? Very simple, he gets dead scared looking at those heavy, 500-paged text books and decides to study from the 100 slides in the presentation, easily searching and studying only the relevant parts of the syllabus and scores 45 out of 50 the next day. One night study, 90% marks. What more does a student want? Moreover, knowledge is also gained to a certain extent – everything on a single platter.
Here come the incidental disasters of nature and its way to balance things. Boom! What happens if there is an electricity failure and your laptop battery is drained one night before the exam? You can’t make it without books. What happens if you have no text book of your own, you have borrowed it from your friend and all the photo-copy shops are shut down as it’s a Sunday? Run to your laptop and download the slides, they alone would help you.
Time taken to search for a specific topic you missed last night, shortly before the exam starts – books don’t stand a chance in helping you greatly. But what if that topic is so specific that the slides don’t have it and its important for your exam? The answer is obvious.
Personally, if I have time on my hands, I prefer to study from my class copy rather than from the slides, I prefer teachers using their whiteboard marker more than the projector remote.
Sequence, atomicity, detailing, exhaustion and a moderate pace – these are what a human mind accepts better. But simplicity, speed, efficiency, objectivity and less pressure – these are what a human heart wants more.
Education and ways to impart it change drastically with generations and “change never changes”. How will our future generations look at this is a totally different and unpredictable matter for us to opine. For now, I leave this question to you – “an easy, soft on the mind way” whereas “a hard-hitting, tough and difficult path” – the choice is yours, life is yours, and success – well, that’s yours or not still remains up to you.
No comments:
Post a Comment