Do you connect the appliances in your house in a parallel or serial manner? Why?”
Education
What is education? Well, there are plenty of definitions from very learned people. But, let me give my definition of education. For me, education consists of instilling two characteristics in every person…
Ø The character of asking questions and seeking answers. It can also be defined as the ability to learn without being taught - self learning.
Ø The character of using the obtained knowledge for understanding and enriching one’s own life and those around.
Connections
When I meet school kids, I ask questions like the one which appears at the beginning of this blog. Of course, I do some small talk before asking the question to make them more comfortable. The basic idea behind the question is to find out whether the real-world connection has been made.
The various responses that I get from kids are very interesting. Some consider the entire question to be a “studies” question and do not want to deal with it. Others are surprised on why something they learn at school would be connected with everyday-something at home! Others needs wavy lines on a paper to kick start their thinking. Sadly, very few kids make the connection.
Questions
Do only students of central boards have such skills? No! Do you need to go to Eton or Doon to get such skills? The answer is a big NO! So, should you not worry about the school or the board which your children are going to attend? The answer is NO! Though, it is perfectly possible to raise a child with these characteristics at home, a good school or a better board makes things easier.
My Family’s Story
Till Standard V, I was in ICSE. Then from V to VIII, the schools used HSC for all subjects except Math. In 1998, I moved to Ernakulam and the school had only ISC. During initial discussion with my father, the principal suggested that I might not be able to catch up with the other folks since I was in HSC for a long time. So he asked my father to put me through another year in VIII. My father decided to do other-wise. And boy, did I surprise the folks! I continued my ICSE and went on to do my ISC.
On the other hand, my brother was in ICSE up to VII and then moved to HSC (TN). He went on to do his XI in HSC before the family decided that enough was enough. He changed his career plans too. So, we decided to move him to ISC. He lost a year since he had to do his XI again in ISC. But we felt that one year that was lost was OK.
So why ISC?
Before I start dealing with this topic, I need to say that I was not in an elite school. I was in a main stream school. However, we did have kids from various backgrounds. We had the rich, middle class and poor students. We had students whose parent’s backgrounds were very varied. And we had students from all the parts of India.
Here are few factors…
Syllabus
The syllabus is intense. All the subjects are intense. A good example would be the CS syllabus. ICSE has BASIC for 2 years and ISC has C++/Java for 2 years!! So ICSE and ISC students come with an additional four years of programming experience.
Teachers
Since the syllabus is intense, the schools end up hiring top of the class teachers. All my teachers were experienced professors with an M. Phil. and many years of experience with college students. So, good teachers come with ISC.
Question Papers
QPs in ISCE and ISC are classic. I specially remember a question in ICSE 2000 Biology. The question contained pictures of four test tubes with various biotic eco-systems. And the question consisted of inferences. That was a classic. Unlike practical exams in HSC, no one knows the question until the exam begins. This means that you do not which salt you are going to analyze or which program you are going to write.
Unfortunately, in recent years, the standard of questions in ISC has come down. This is mainly due to the fact that ISC students score less compared to other boards and this made them look bad. CISCE (the governing body) was faced with a huge dilemma and sadly, they decided to make the papers less tough. In the 1990s, if an ISC student could cross 80 (out of 100), he was considered a genius. Today, you can quite normally find folks with scores of 95+.
Projects
I loved these projects. I loved the time I spent at Ernakulam Public Library, pouring over books and encyclopedias, trying to do some research and making conclusions.
Scope
Why would one waste “time reading Shakespeare’s Tempest”? This is the beauty of ISC. In ISC, you spent time learning everything. And when you picked up a field after you graduated from school, you loved it.
In my class of 40, there were people who took up literature, pure science, pure math, engineering and medicine. ISC exposes you to a wide variety of fields. Even the best of my class went on to take pure science and math. (A very brilliant guy in my ICSE class took Accountancy!) In my opinion, that is the need of the hour. We need folks who will take up fields that they love.
“The Tempest” was the last Shakespearean play that I read. And it is most probably will be my last. Did I gain anything? Maybe, my over active imagination can be attributed to it! But, I can never say that I never learnt anything from it. And if I ever I am going to be handed a piece of Wordsworth poetry or Dicken prose, you will not find me blinking.
English
Much has been said about English education in ISC. Even when I was in HSC, my Dad grilled grammar into me. (I have almost all the editions of ‘Wren and Martin’!) I loved my ISC English education – prose, poetry and play – I loved it. And it has helped me in many ways.
The Student
Finally, it all boils down to the student and the school. ISC provides the medium. It is up to the student to utilize those opportunities. You can have the best math teacher in the whole state. Yet, you could sleep in her class. (Yes, I did that and I regret it very badly now!) You can start to love programming or you could just limit yourself to what is necessary. Out of the 80+ students in my ICSE batch, I guess only 10 people did proper research for the project.
ISC makes things easier. But it is up to the student to utilize the opportunities. And a lot depends on the parents, teachers and the school (in that order).
Big Deal?
I have a Malaysian friend, who is a med student in CMC. He did his A-Level after his GCSE. Education is something that is close to my heart and naturally, we ended up talking about A-level and GCSE. And the conclusion was simple: A-Level was way better than ISC.
What should be my reaction? Prove that ISC is better? No way, ISC was not! My parents (and the circumstances) have done the best thing that they could do for me and I am happy for it. And when it comes to my kids, I will do the best for them. But, I learnt the lessons from my friend and I am willing to apply those lessons for my kids and those around me. Remember the second point about “using the obtained knowledge for understanding and enriching one’s own life and those around”?
CISCE is slowly reducing the quality of education in ISC due to “competition”. And by the sad state of affairs, I would not be surprised if in the near future, an ISC education meant nothing more than a CBSE one. But as of now, ISC is the best Indian syllabus for schooling in India.
What about them?
This blog deals with the issue of education at a very personal level. There are larger questions to be asked. Why about the millions in government schools? Can everyone get an A-Level/ISC education?
These are complex questions and need change of culture and thought both in society and government. But we have had a good start. Everybody recognizes that there is something wrong with the system. We have a National Knowledge Commission working on the problem. Last year, I visited a government school and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the TN government has introduced the Montessori system at the primary level at government schools. Change is happening!
But on a very personal level, this would be my advice: Home-school till GCSE. And follow that by A-Level. (Currently, I am not sure about IB.) If that is not possible, go for ICSE and ISC. If that is not possible, go for CBSE. And your last option would be HSC.
PS: A couple of notes…
Questions
Most parents are confused when I start asking questions to their kids after meeting them and the initial ice-breakers. And the kids are flabbergasted! I usually ask for a favourite subject and then ask a few questions from it. Here are some of the other questions that I use in Science.
Spear fishermen aim at the tail of the fish when they fish. Can you think of a reason?
When a bee leaves the hive, it produces a different buzz than what it produces when it travels back to the hive?
When you stand next to a fast moving train, you feel as though you are pulled toward it. Why?
If the kid gets the right answer, it is great. But, the point is not to get the correct answer. It is about reasoning with using the knowledge that you have.
Ed’s Story
I thought I would write about a very recent incident. It related to the subject under discussion but provides no concrete connections.
Ed, who is in VI grade, is the son of a family friend. He is absolutely brilliant. You can give him a science book and if he finds it interesting, he will sit down and not get up until he finishes it. He reads a lot of techie brochures about computers and mobile phones. When I meet him every week, he has lot of questions for me. “What is VGA?” “Is the camera on your phone VGA?” The family got a laptop recently and he took to it like a duck to water. Last week, I was so impressed with his computer skills that I decided to introduce him to programming. (I will start him on BASIC this week.)
A few weeks back, there was a furor in Ed’s house. He was bunking school and the teacher’s had brought it to his parent’s notice. Ed was in ICSE till V. His parents had to move and so he moved to a new school which had HSC (TN). Ed hated writing notes, mugging them up and then reproducing it verbatim during exams. He had missed a few classes the previous week and the very thought of spending time writing notes made him bunk classes. In addition, classes bored him and he learnt better by reading himself. In short, Ed and HSC were poles apart!
I spoke to his Mom last Saturday. The best solution to Ed’s problems, according to me, was to home-school him. Unfortunately, his mother was a gynecologist and his Dad was a general physician in a remote village hospital. They were busy most of the time and it would be impossible to find a tutor. Next option was ICSE. The family wanted him at home and so boarding school was not an option. I could not think of any other option. So, Ed continues to be in HSC. His marks are going to be low and he is going to have problems with his “education”. Poor Ed!
After Thoughts
Education and education reform are things that are close to my heart. I have written quite a few blogs on the subject of education. Please leave your thoughts here.
Education is a life long process. Everyday, you have something new to learn and something to apply.
