336 - EDUCATION OF THE FUTURE,

• I am no Educationist by Profession I am a Technologist 
• Born before Independence in Dec 1946, I have seven decades of experiences rerated to Education
• Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Education
• Education in India & Australia .
• What is education by definition: I had to ask Dr Google and he says 
• Education is the process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, morals, beliefs, and habits. 
• Educational methods include teaching, training, storytelling, discussion and directed research
• Acquisition of Knowledge: Yes basically this is what education is about but how the knowledge is passed on and how much gets absorbed is THE REAL ISSUe which I will come to, later
• But skills, values, morals, beliefs, and habits. 
• Skills:  I got a Top B Tech degree in Civil Engineering but no real skills as there was no practical experience at all. Zilch. I went for my First Interview with Hindustan Constructions and I was asked just one question and I was asked to leave the room after that. Embarassing it was as I had prepared hard for the interview and was expecting complex question to test my knowledge. The question was "How Many Bricks are there in One Lorry Load ?" I hqad no clue not having worked in the field. I Amed and awed and said depends on lorry body. The they said Out. Send the next candidate please
• Ok I Came to Sydney University to do my Masters and all classess were at nigh as majority of students were fully employed engineers and architects
• What was most amazing was even as early as 1976 and even in Australia the IIT B Tech was recognised by the Institution of Engineers and even though I applied for student membership I was given a Full Membership.
• This meant I could have a full Time Job and still attend UNI at night
• So I applied for a Job as a Technician in a Soil mechanics Lab. They rejected me as I was over qualified for that post
• So I applied to a structural engineering company looking for a design engineer and Only one question was asked. Do you know structural engineering design using Finite Element method ? I drew a Blank and they showed me the door. I decided not to look for an engineers job and did a lot of casual odd jobs, worked at a car wash, worked as a Buis conductor, during summer vacation, worked as a cleaner at the Australian Tavern, Worked in Ware houses doing stock takes, Worked at Sydney University Book shop, Worked as Foreman in a Factory making Christmas decorations. Worked at Australia Post sorting letters in a mail exchange 
• What was the most important take home lesson from this varied work experience "There was Dignity of Labour". Even though I was a cleaner vacuuming he carpets the Manager at Australian Tavern would put the kettle on and make coffee for all workers and tell us Coffee Break Chaps. Dignity of Labour is what India Lacks totally. My Plumber who fixes broken sewers Arrives in an Expensive Mercedes Van and when he is finished we sit down in the verandah and share a coffee. This will never happen in India where caste system prevails and we insult even olympic champions because they are not upper caste. Not in my at least in my life time
• Values & Belief system: No one taught me Values at School. I learnt it all from my Parents
• Morals:  I was lucky to study at a Catholic school. The very first period every morning was Christian studies for the Christians and MORAL SCIENCE for non Christians. This was my Favourite class as the masters taught us how to become good human beings. Trust me they did not try to convert non christians to christianity which is a lie. Basically the ten commandments sans Jesus
• Scouts: I was a very keen and active Scout where we learn to do the right thing always and to obey the Scout Laws which says help others at all times and to do at least One Good Deed a Day.

PRIMARY EDUCATION

• I was home taught by my mother and she taught me English and Maths at home. the only school was Hindi Medium so I could not join. when a new english medium school was started I was tested and admitted into 4th Std. My First day at school was scary. The Girl sitting next to me was Zubeida and she says Bhaiya I am 16 years old on the other side is Patric and he is 17 years old. Age no Bar it was. I was scared as hell. English class was OK. When the Hindi teacher walked in every one took out their text books and were asked to read the Poem aloud and I did nit even know A A E E. The same class teacher came home to teach me Hindi and gave up. She told my mother it was unfair . At the end of the year I had scored top marks in English, Maths Geography, Science and History but Zero Very Poor in Hindi. I was given a special prize and I think the headmistress told my parents she could not promote me and I was shipped off to Madras
• Fast forward to 1988 when my son went o 1st Class at age 4 1/2. The emphasis was on the Childs development. Every day they had what they call Show and Tell. Each kid has to take something from home and when their turn came they had to stand up and tell a story. Encouraging the child to speak fearlessly. There were no books really and very little homework like writing. I was in India watching my nieces son go to primary school. The Kids bag was so full of books it was heavier that a soldiers back pack I do not see why in India we burden children and torture their young minds taking all the fun out of education.
• Until year six the focus was on sport Rugby and Cricket, debating, and music besides the regular subjects
  Secondary School:
• This was the best Part of my education at St Bedes High school Madras
• First the Moral science teaching me good values
• Each and every Master was top notch
• My Maths Master Mr Gomes Told me never to mug up formulae etc and to derive everything from first Principles
• My English Master Mr Perry was so good hat no one wanted to miss his class.
• In year 8 a new Master Devaraj was appointed as Science Teacher. His Teaching style was unique. e were 40 students in the class so he had names of 40 scientist in a bag and each one had to pick one It had a number as well as the name of the scientist and we were given a full week to do a write up and tell the whole class about the scientist. Remember who was in 1959 and there was no search engine then
• he decided to go outside the syllabus and teach us how to make a Crystal set Radio. I was over the moon when my little crude radio picked up Madras B that I could hear through a second hand army head phone
• For he summer vacation he gave us a Project. he said go find a Popular mechanics magazine and make something unique from scratch. I made a submarine made of carved wood weighted down by lead sheets and propelled by a Rubber band and it was tested in the school pond and I won he first prize too.
• His words to me. You are a natural Born engineer make sure you become one. 
  My sons High school in Sydney was different. In Year sis they had an exam for Govt selective schools. There are five selective High schools in Sydney and entry is by examination. he made it to the Top school North Sydney Boys, was school,Cricket Captain, and scored 99.15 in his HSc yes a Top student. But there was a problem In year seven the kids decides their subjects  and he chose World History, Economics and Business studies and 4 units maths.
• Unfortunately to day I realise he has zero understanding of the laws of Physics, Chemistry and Biology. So it is nt his faulty but a faulty system 
  Tertiary Education:
• All I can say is that education at IITs are overrated. they pick the cream of the crop using a crazy entrance exam that even Einstein cannot clear. Only a small percentage of faculty are worthy of praise majority are public servants hanging on to a job. 90% of faculty have never held jobs as engineers or technologists. Meaning zero hands on field experience.
• Not only that a PhD does not make them Good Teachers. So many of them cannot speak a word so they read from some notes they. made or read text books.
• I lost interest in my first there years totally and even told my father I wanted to quit as I wanted to be a Practical hands on Engineer
• Faculty members were like Prison wardens and we were the Prisoners. Very strained relationship or virtually no relationship what so ever
• Basically in IITs the Take the Fun out of Learning
  

Sydney University:

• Learning was Fun again  for me like at high school
• Faculty were extremely friendly
• They were there to teach we were there to learn
• Students called Faculty by the first name no Sirs or Mr allowed
• Best of all each and every Prof teaching us was a Full Time professional teaching us after hours
• For Example Tall Building Structures was Taught by the Chief Engineer of Civil and Civic the company that was building the 54 storey Qantas Building and taught us all about the Jack up system of Building an entire floor and then jacking it up and pouring he columns and integrating it with the slabs
• Then we had a Prof who taught us Tropical engineering of how to design structures to survive storms and also Nuclear fall out Structures
• Last but not least was my Acoustics Prof Fergus Fricke. Physics was my Forte and I aced two f his courses and he asked me to do a Doctorate and the topic was designing acoustic barriers for Highway Traffic Noise
• More than anything we used to visit our profs in their houses and host dinners at home for them and families
• far cry from the hostility I experienced at IITM

Basically it is a Cultural thing of the Boss and the slave and yes Sir Mentality and Boss is always right. Basically no room for creativity in Indian education

IITians who succeeded did so despite the oppressive Regimes at IITs. If Yiu take a close look Every IITians who has made it Big in USA & India has a PG Degree in Managament from MIT or Kellogs or IIMs