Rahul Mehta Gandhinagar LsCandidate

1. which education system is good (or bad) etc etc --- The education system which improves weapon manufacturing is a better education system !!
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2. should parents force their kids to study hard? Yes, in India, IMO, there is no other option
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1. which education system is good (or bad) etc etc --- The education system which improves weapon manufacturing is a better education system !!
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There are dime a dozen theories on what is good (or bad) education and what is good (or bad) way of teaching and so on and on and on. eg One theory is that education should be so that kid remains happy. And so he should not be pressured to study hard and so exams are bad. And let him pick the line he wants. This was the theme of "3 idiots" movie. And like that, there are dozens of the theory.
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So here is one more from mine
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Lets start with one important goal of life --- happiness. Say you have a nice bungalow type home, a good car, good food, good dresses, great books and also lots of jewels and gold. So are you happy? Well, lets say you have all that, but dont a gun. And your neighbor has a gun. Now who has the house? Who has the gold? And who will have your car? And who will have your food? May be, he will let you keep the books. So how much happiness will you have now?
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IOW, whatever may be the goal of life, the FIRST goal has to be ---- weapons. Because without weapons, all achievements get passed to the ones who have weapons. And how many weapons are sufficient? well, that depends on how many weapons neighbor has. If neighbor has nothing buy a knife, then a knife or a stick will suffice. But if neighbor buys a pistol, then you better at least have a katta. If he buys a rifle, then you better have a rifle. And he gets a an AK-100, then you better get at least an AK-47. And he gets a tank, then you better at least get a howitzer. And if he manages to make a fighter plane, then you better have a fighter planes and so on. IOW, more the weapons adversary has, more the weapons you will need. There is no end in next 10 years. And after 10 years. Well, once Bill Gates said in 1995 "about software industry, 10 years is as far as I can see" !!! So even Bill Gates in year 1995 didnt dare to predict what software industry will look like in year 2006 !!! So we should NOT dare to predict international politics of beyond 10 years from now. For next 10 years, weapons will play important role.
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And poet Rahim once told me ---
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"Rahiman paani raakhiye , bin paani sab sun ;
paanu gaaye naa ubare , moti manus chun ."
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Here, word "paani" means "weapons".
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So at national level, IMO, the FIRST goal of a good education system should be to ensure that population makes good weapons !!
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So the theme of movie "three idiots" that kids should not be forced to learn Maths \ Science is piece of nonsense. Actors like Amri Khan make movies that their sponsors ask them to make. They are good at entertaining. But their goal is to keep their sponsors happy. The sponsors there are USUK-MNC-owners who want to weaken Maths\Science education in India. And so these sponsors ask people like Amri Khan to make such movie and so they make such movies.
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Now lets say we have two countries in the world. One is India and another is USA (or China). Say we have education system which keeps kids happy. And the other country has education system which forces or motivates (or manipulates) kids to increase their maths / science proficiency. The which country will have more / better weapons? My answer is -- second country (i.e. USA or China in this example) will have better weapons. So now people of which country will have "happiness"?
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IOW, all these theories like theory that the "three idiots" movie promoted, that kids should not be forced to learn Maths \ Science \ Engineering are all useless theories.
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Now which "education system" will enable a nation to improve its weapon manufacturing.
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Here the opinions may vary.
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But whenever two competing methods method-A and method-B are proposed, I would request an activist to apply following test in his mind -- (a) say nation-1 adopts method-A (b) say nation-2 adopts method-B. And other factors kept same, which country's Military will become better? Again, depending on difference in analysis, the answers can vary.
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eg say nation-1 adopts "dont fail students till class-VIII" and nation-2 adopts "do test and fail students even in class-I". Then other all factors same, which nation will have better Military? IMO, nation-2. Because nation-2 will have students with better maths / science skills and so engineering will be better and so will be weapon manufacturing. Now of course, other factors, such as nature of courts, play more important role in deciding level of engineering in the society. But this factor is important.
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So first factor to be seen while comparing two systems of education is -- which education system will improve Military and weapon manufacturing.
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Other important factors are ---
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(a) which education system will improve quality of medicine and health
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(b) which education system will reduce disputes and enable faster resolutions of disputes when they happen
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(c) which education system will improve level of manufacturing in the society
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(d) which education system will increase level of entertainment in the society and so on.
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In short all these factors matter. And IMO, the order is also important. IMO, highest priority has to be weapon manufacturing, next medicine, next is dispute resolution and so on, And all this are inter-related. If a country doesnt have good dispute resolution system,. then manufacturing would not grow and neither would weapon manufacturing, And good weapon manufacturing isnt possible without good general manufacturing. And higher level of entertainment will automatically come as other things progress.and so on.
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2. should parents force their kids to study hard? Yes, in India, IMO, there is no other option
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I would compare and contrast some parts of education systems in India and USA. Now education system across India isnt uniform --- parts of it has good education system while other parts of India, such as municipal schools are in shambles. And likewise, USA too has wide spectrum of efficient and inefficient education systems.
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The general differences are --- in USA , district govts take most decision on school education. So the districts where parents are well off, the funding per student is very high and the school manages to get teachers for so called AP = Advanced Program. So the students' ability in Maths \ Science is much higher. Many parents additionally put their kids in coaching classes such Kumon System which further increases Maths \ Science levels. And many school students also attend additional summer courses organized by colleges (eg John Hopkins Center for Talented Youth) . All this factors increases competitiveness in these students. The students who cant cope up leave all these advanced programs and go for ordinary syllabus, and get a pass/
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In China / India , due to lack of funds, most parents cant afford such systems to increase competitiveness in their kids, So they use the traditional method of pushing their kids.The parents will often tell their kids to study hard,. or else they will fail in their lives,. So the student often sees his parent as evil who is pushing him to do study the boring subjects.
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IOW, USA has expensive "out of home" systems to push the students to study hard. So the wealthy parents need not push their kids by verbally. They only need to move to a wealthy area, where school system is good, and that school system will push the kid. So the "good cop , bad cop" method in USA's education system works as ---
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1. The parent moves to an expensive area with good school system
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2. The school system will put the kids in highly competitive environment, which works as bad cop
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3. The parents will work as good cop, and say "see son (or daughter) you dont need to push yourself ; just do you best and if you want to move to ordinary program, we are fine".
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Now in India, govt schools are in shambles and most (not all) private schools focus on making a quick buck. So in USA, students see the school as provider, and they also see that teachers are there to earn an income. So the student has respect for school and teachers as whole.
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In India, govt schools are hell holes of corruption. And private schools are local private monopolies abd so they only focus on fleecing parents at every step of the school. The reason why private schools are local private monopolies is that land prices are high and school licensing system is so corrupt, that it is very cumbersome and expensive to start a new school. So existing schools have a oligopoly where demand is more than supply, and new entrants cant come easily. So the existing schools can make a lot of money by just fleecing parents rather than improving education in the school.
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So students in govt schools think that "corruption is way of life" and students in private school see that "way to make money is to fleece people". IOW, students have no respect for schools. So schools are not able to convince students to study hard. Also, school management in govt school is laid back and corrupt, and in private school , is interested only in feecing parents. So school management devises no techniques to motivate / manipulate / force student to study hard
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So In India, only option is --- parents have to become the bad cop and push the kid harder and harder to study. The method can be verbal shouts or persuasion or incentives or whatever.
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But given that govt school system is corrupt and private schools are enjoy higher demand than supply, the only option as of now is --- parents will have to push their kids to study harder boring subjects like maths \ science. The movies like "three idiots" etc. which emphasis that kids should not be forced should be dismissed as useless. Such movies are only because foreign sponsors pay people like AmKh to make such movies.
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