On Mon, Sep 29, 2008 at 11:27 AM, . <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: [...] > As if inspirational movies were not enough we just had to show the > American (privatisation) and the German (socialist/public) model that > we can do a better job of messing up.
Our education system is bankrupt. It's a dozen years of monotony and rote memorization, followed by a few years of unbridled freedom or still more rote memorization. It does little to educate you, however it does qualify you to pursue career opportunities that would otherwise have been denied. We Indians place much stock in being "well qualified". IMO, it doesn't take 16+ years of schooling to become economically productive. Most of us use a very small (read miniscule) portion of our accumulated knowledge in our daily jobs. This holds true even for most in the "knowledge" professions. Most have little trouble picking up "skills" on the job. For the moment this approach seems to promise the most return for the least investment. I find most "educated" ^w "literate" Indians to have little education. Knowledge of scientific theories, history, arts, literature, ... NIL. This isn't any indication of course that they aren't capable of possessing such knowledge. Firstly school never gives them a real taste for this, and secondly it's a worthless investment of brain power in non remunerative functions. Come to think of it, we may not really be losing out all that much with this approach when you consider that even with a very fine education system, most Americans are interested in searching the internet for hot pictures of Sarah Palin, and not her political beliefs. Easy access to real education will of course broaden horizons, equipping the populace to be economically productive in many fields. But that's really just a luxury. Everyone can be a carpenter or accountant for life, right? Cheeni P.S. I'm almost sure a metric measuring the ease of switching professions is a valid indicator of economic progress. Perhaps it's already so. An analysis of resumes on job sites in India vs the developed world should produce interesting results.
