Bangalore now boasts of numerous radio channels. But there is little or almost no difference between their offerings. All of them play the same songs, one after the other. They also play the same ads, one after the other. After getting bored with all these channels, we have now become fans of All India Radio's ancient but relevant broadcasting. Their series of programs under the name Vividhbharati are a treat to listen to. One of the programs broadcast on AIR (on 102.9 FM) is called Manthan. This program is aired at 7:30 pm daily and is a show which tries to get people's views on various important issues facing our society today. Yesterday's show focused on whether the Indian education system helps in identifying talent in students, or whether it churns out minds which can only memorize concepts but cannot apply them. All the speakers in this talk were unanimous in their decision that our education system does not help in identifying and nurturing different talents in our students. Some blamed the examination structure which emphasizes rote learning. Others, especially some students, were of the opinion that the syllabus was too overwhelming and hence a lot of areas got diluted. I have of course been a part of this education system and my friends who read this blog will rub their hands in glee at the opportunity to take digs at my way of dealing with this system. I have also been a part of a slightly different education system while doing my MBA, which proclaimed a case-study based approach. Firstly, the so called rote-learning method employed by our schools and colleges isn't really all that bad. How else do you explain the great number of Indian academicians and technical professionals being churned out year after year, working successfully in different sectors and achieving decent accolades. If something had to be intrinsically wrong with our education system, I don't think we would have been able to carry it off this far. Yes, I agree that the examination system is a bit flawed and it defeats the purpose of learning. I think it would be better to do away with the annual or semi-annual examination pattern. Instead, there should be small and easy ways to evaluate every learning immediately after the teaching is done to ensure that the impact is long lasting. Do not ask students to sit on their books at the end of the year. Ask them to learn a concept, apply it and get themselves evaluated. More importantly, there should be a feedback mechanism after the exam/evaluation. This goes a long way than just marks written in bold red. If after every evaluation the student gets to know what he/she could have done better, then I think the real purpose of learning would be achieved to a great extent. When I moved into my MBA course, I was surprised to see that most students continued to employ the rote-learning mechanism in their way of dealing with academics. The case-study approach looked great in concept and in brochures, but I found many people indulging in "mugging" (word used in common parlance for 'learning by memorizing'). I think this has to do more with the thinking that we are embedded with during our schooling - hard work and learning by heart is the best way to top the class. My fellow students, many of them coming back to school after 5-6 years of industry experience, continued to fall back on the method that did wonders to them in school. Did it work? I don't know, primarily because there is no way to measure the success of different learning methods. In an MBA course, the main parameter of measurement is the job you obtain upon graduation and the money that it brings with it. With that parameter, I can safely say that everyone was successful. I would like to admit here that I learnt a great deal about computer science engineering in my last workplace and in fact was then able to make sense of many of my textbooks which I had successfully managed to "learn" for examination purposes. I am, therefore, a firm believer of the concept that it is ultimately your work life that teaches you how to make the best skyscraper with the couple of burnt bricks that you managed to steal from your school. But yes, you do need those couple of burnt bricks to make your way up.