Walk the talk show with Dr.Anni.....

Dr.Anni is a professor in electrical sciences dept. at California Institute of Technology. He has come to Bangalore to have an overview of the quality of education provided. This blog is Dr.Anni's views on the education system.

Me: Hello Dr.Anni......welcome to our show
Anni: Hello...thank u...its my pleasure..

Me: Sir, how was ur trip here at India?
Anni: Oh...it was wonderful... iwas very lucky,people i met were really hospitable....
Me: So, what do u think about education provided here?
Anni: I have observed the preuniversity and the high school education......ihave not done an exhaustive
research on this.....but still ican confidently say that ive covered most of them...........
Anni: Generally, after the 10th grade board exams, most of the students have the dream of entering the IITs .The competition is so tough that getting an acceptance from these institutes
can be comparable winning a robotics competition at CALTECH or MIT. Many students get a sense of inferiority complex due to this massive competition.
Me: Yes sir, i fully agree with you. These kids struggle very hard to get in to IITs.

Anni: I was really surprised when i was told that, of the total students taking up the IIT-JEE only 3% make it thru.
Anni: I went through the syllabus for JEE. Its just too voluminous. U need to be mentally prepared for such type of studies right from when u r in 7th or 8th grade. U cant prepare for JEE as u do for board exams....students find the difficulty in this area....they tend to remember rather than arriving at the result logically....
Me: So, whats ur point sir? u think kids are forced into this?
Anni: Not exactly....if a kid after his 10th grade is sent for coaching, he needs to put a lot of effort and his chances of making it through is 2 out of 100.His confidence level must be really high....else he might end up screwing even the board exams......
Me: So, u think kids must not be pressurized to get ito iit.

Anni: No, you got me wrong there. What im saying is, develop the art of learning from young age....it helps u later to crack these competitive exams very easily...... why do u waste time in your school days learning the same methods of solving quadratic equation, the same gravitational problems in physics?Why dont you learn something more?like.......... if u r done with quadratic equations, goto cubic, quartic, if u r done with learning how engines work, start with the thermodynamics of that.....

Anni: They would rather prefer doin 500 problems of the same kind where no use of head, brain or mind is required.. :D

Anni: And u kno why this is happening. Students are so dependent on their memory. Ive seen students mugging up math problems from their texts as nothing other than textual questions are asked in their exams. Its horrible.....
Anni: All i want to say is, kids are made to live in a very protected environment(academically)in their schools. Let them explore the beauty of science and maths. Ull see a phenomenal difference in their attitude when they grow up.
Me: Exactly, sir. Even ive seen school kids who get frightened at the sight of books like calculus, linear algebra etc...
Anni: Once that fear is removed from their mind, their is no stopping them.
Me: How about pre-university education?

Anni: Yes, now lets come to preuniv. level......
Anni: Education at preuniversity level is quite decent. Even though the depth covered in each topic is not extraordinary, i feel students will defenitely be in their comfort zones regarding the syllabus.
Anni: Most of the students in metropolitan cities like bangalore, goto IIT-JEE coaching. They initially feel that its out of reach, however, the quality of students in those centres make them compete and they get adjusted.....
Me: Ok...

Anni: This is what iwas refering earlier...a student feels that clearing JEE is out of his reach mainly because he is not exposed to that kind of intensive learning earlier in his school.
Me: Absolutely, i get your point.
Anni: I wanted to mention another aspect that i noticed in PU colleges.
Me: By all means....its your show

Anni: Its very good that students have practical classes as a part of their curriculum. But, i feel that students must be left free to use their thinking and logic to get the results.
Me: Isnt that the case?
Anni: No, never......the student is given a lab manual, in which the aim, the principle, the procedure etcetc is given.....including the result........
Me: Ok...isnt it organized?
Anni: It is organized but its hampering the creativity within you....let me give u an example...

Anni: I was observing a physics practical class in progress. They were performing an experiment to determine the spring constant of some given spring. The method given in the book was somehting like this>>>Load the spring with a given weight and note down the extension of the spring from its undisturbed position. Repeat it with different wieghts and equate the force due to spring to the weight hung on it and get the spring constant value.
Me:Sounds good....

Anni: I saw student asking whether he could use the change in potential energy principle for the wieght and get the spring constant. Guess what the instructor tells him..
Me: Yeah thats a gud idea??
Anni: Hahaha....i would be the happiest person if that was the reply. Instead, he was reprimanded for disturbing the class.
Anni: The method suggested could be lame but still we should appreciate that the guy is thinking.... look this is what happens if the system is too rigid.
Me: Umean to say their should be no instructors for practical sessions?
Anni: No, there shouldnt be any if its killing some one else's idea.......
Me: I agree with you...
Anni: Well, this is all what i wanted to say about the high school and preuniversity education here........thank you once again for inviting me to this show...
Me: Its our pleasure to have u on this show sir......thank you.....