On Education in Modern India Essay Example for Free

On Education in Modern India Essay As I was sat down, trying to ‘learn’ chemistry one Friday evening, I began thinking on our education system due to which I had to study in such a poor way; it’s a pity, that I have started hating the subject, or all subjects for that matter, the more the examinations approached. To that end, I wrote a poem later – my debut poem, with which I’d like to introduce the topic; her it goes: â€Å"Education† for Progress You take a pot and fill it with water, the ocean still remains, You make the pot bigger, to douse the house’s flames And you make it even bigger, till you wash all of hell. But as men march on in time’s way, so do the forces grow, That bar the door of wisdom, till it maketh a man (a) crow; And once, but out the feathers come, than you just lo: For cells have formed where ere was Eden, And into the Saharan sands hath Plato been driven; Till now, had man’s asininity been aeon ridden? You look across many a book or any common mind, And surprised you may well be, to find: The fountain remains flowing as ever, waiting for Its very first drinker. But heads of men are now sore, And they allow not the thirsty to have a pour, But Indian crabs as they are, they pull him back onto shore. They set for education a Hammurabi’s code, And state it on an Economist’s ode: not the fountain Whose drink all doth desire, but a mere factory by the road That gives not many the bliss which they hope, but pain; Agony from not just failing to educate the self, But excruciation seeing others that too need help. The birth of a boy sees many a new colour: Businessman, engineer, NRI or a doctor. The scholar of yore is seen no more As machines of the line’s grown stronger than before. The student of the day is not the knowledge seeker, But a piece of iron thrown in the hands of a ‘caster’; That moulds and melts him not into the Being, But a mercantile golem that lives to seek a living. To commend its superiors enjoying the beauteous Nature, Whilst it toils in turmoil on these pans of fire: Institutes that teach not to analyze and wonder, But to gobble, espouse, vomit and then†¦just wander. So, do we just give tests and go on becoming another mechanical product of this degree-machine, or relieve ourselves of this blunder? We find that today, education has reached such a stage, that the difference between the educated and the uneducated, is but a degree (or no degree), however the other may know; which reminds me of what a teacher of mine once said: â€Å"†¦You may wonder at the fact, that I have said Euclid and Aristotle together. You see, in the ancient world, the gift we had got, was the scholar, not the B.Tech, M.A., or B.Sc. (Hons). Thus, you get the same Pythagoras, who devised the theorem, AC2 = BC2 + AB2, giving the theory of transmigration of souls – two very different subjects, philosophy and mathematics, but the very same person.† Indeed, today we do lack such people, for the very fact that, India today is not the divine land where knowledge is respected – the land where the greatest university of the time exists, but a machine designed ages ago, to churn out Indian Civil Service workers, extended beyond into independent India by mistake (rather ignorance and lack of understanding), and united with the pre-ancient Indian processes of rote-learning, to make another machine, completely satisfactory in its ability and purpose of creating doctors and engineers, who work completely like a machine, with no interest in finding new methods or discovering new techniques or findings, but just working as per the age old methods engineered earlier, or today, but certainly by foreigners. The primary cause I believe, which has led to this is the method of education provided by society on him, from day one onwards – the very same day the student sees school that is. But first, let us have a look at the ‘ideal’ student, as society – the Indian society – views him. Is it not a boy, well in attire, i.e. in a neat and clean uniform, sitting in front of the table, with a book in front of him, learning what is written in the book, by-heart, writing down all that he has learnt, and at the end of the year, coming out with flying colours in his report-card? To those who find no problem with this, my question is â€Å"Why the farce?† Why the farce of such a false scene that has been idolized, to kill even the Einstein’s that our country has created? Is it that we have been so much into this claptrap of the rote-learner being the ideal, that we form this leucoma, to fail seeing through this farcical non-sense? Now, let us have a look at the true side of this story – the story that many of us have to go through, especially the ‘hopeless’ and the ‘fools’. As the young mind enters the nursery, he is forced to accept what he is told – a good method to teach language the fast way, but, the real problem occurs, when this process is extended into subjects which require full understanding, like mathematics. The student learns that two plus two is four, rarely because two objects and two objects come in to make a number o objects we call four, but rather because it makes four, be all and end all. And practicing thus, he goes on to learn tables, least understanding, what fives times three actually means. Thus, this process of forced learning create a feeling of boredom and the people who become successful, hence, are those who can accept these facts easily, little realizing the beauty that lies behind of the subject that lies beyond it, or the logic of why they are doing such, and at times, even, what they are actually doing, as an interview I carried out on standard three and four students, indicated – they knew very well, that eight into nine is seventy-two, without even the basic knowledge of why it is not seventy-one or seventy-three for that matter; it was seventy-two because they had learnt it to be seventy two PERIOD! It reminds me of Einstein’s â€Å"Concepts that have proven useful in ordering things easily achieve such authority over us, that we forget their earthly origins and accept them as unalterable givens.†(Translated from German) Worse still happens, when we try to extend this method into higher education, especially in the science and arts streams. Speaking of science, wherein I fit, the last blow on the camel’s back comes, when we are forced to accept theory and practical as two different ‘papers’, rarely finding the link lying between them. The only aim the students form now, is to get marks by properly doing what lay in front of us, finding the ‘correct’ answer, and finally, getting the marks. After that, there is nothing more to discover, and in some experiments, they don’t even figure out what physical quantity they are measuring. Some of us again, like a very good engineer, try understanding the things, from what is written in theory, which we have learnt by reading the book – thus, we tend to believe the book at each stage, even at the cost of manipulating the results of our experiments; little do we thus learn, that the value of ‘g’ which we got as 7.9 – 8.1 is actually the correct one, and not 9.81. Thus, we even fail to realize our foolishness. Computer Science is in fact, the only exception to this rule, as in it, we know why we are doing something, clearly, at least to the level of gates, which is generally considered the base of computing – at least as far as the programmer is concerned; which is perfectly acceptable. But as far as the other subjects are concerned, it is a different story altogether. Thus, this rote-learning that most of us have to go through in many subjects, in many schools, and in many standards is the sole cause of this problem. What intensifies this, are the many competitive examinations that we, the high school students, try to prepare ourselves for. In the process, we blindly accept some facts and play as much as we can with them, to tackle the problems that would be given in the exams. Thus, we slowly and painfully, kill the scientist, which lies within someone. But what truly wait, is not more criticism, but a solution to all this; of course, it is only my thought, which I believe can work, but it is a thought that comes from first0hand experiences and realizations. So, let us begin to address this from day one. The child enters the school, knowing nothing; what he especially does not know, is the beauty of knowledge and to him, school is a dreadful place (courtesy the stories that society teaches him). Hence, this can easily break him; thus, we must first break this breaker, by allowing him to play and interact with the other students and the teachers, as time progresses, to get a firm grip on him. As the bond slowly develops, we can introduce him or her to alphabets first those of his mother-tongue, and then that of English – however, both these languages must be taught simultaneously, or at least in the same class – nursery. Thus, we must teach the child, with a caring attitude, having no concern for teaching him this much or that much, as specified by the syllabus, we can form a proper child, who is ready to learn. And as he progresses to higher subjects like mathematics, science and higher English/Bengali/Hindi, it can be taught slowly and in a manner wherein the child learns by experimentation. For example, tables can be taught, not through the usual boring and strict way of mugging up the tables up to 9, but by making him himself realize, that when two is added five times, it gives ten and making him do the exercise a number of times fully understanding how these follow, as tables. This done, the student formed would be one, who is ready to experiment, loving the subject, fully understanding what he does. At the end of the day, a student who does this, would really want to learn it faster and would do so. Going on to English, comprehension and grammar exercises and short stories can be taught, in a way that makes him realize what the content of the story is, and make him develop a reading habit; reading classes can be organized, so as to develop his reading skills, and full scale discussion of the topics, with debates, speeches, etc. can be taken in order to develop his skills in public speaking, understanding the language, etc. As for science, â€Å"everything around us is science and can be understood if tried to† can be the key to the success in this path. The children can be taught to thus observe the phenomenon around, to learn form what he sees around him and only at this stage, remember (not blindly accept) that something he sees, like wet clothes drying up when it is kept in the sun, etc.; to this note, I remember a personal experience that I cherished: in class two, when we were being taught birds, we were asked to collect feathers of birds that had fallen, in order to study them, match them to find whom they belonged to, and even discuss on them. The experience of that class, as I still remember, was the most entertaining, enthralling and enriching one ever in my life. But sad it is, that few teachers are so innovative enough to draw our full attention, and let our interest in the subject rise to such an extent, where we learn so nicely that we remember those classes for our entire life. Coming back, this process can go on thus, and as for value education, classes should be based on yearly assessment of thoughts, not as in maintaining a diary, but as a class-work. Shifting up to the high school level, children from class six onwards can be allowed to go to the practical labs, to freely experiment with the instruments upon the teachers’ instructions, observing, making systematic recordings, and last but not the least, themselves inferring from the data they find, so as to find patterns in Nature. This can be nicely done in physics, if not chemistry – at least with organic chemicals the students can experiment, as for harsh ones, the teacher can perform the experiment, making the students infer from them. Thus, an ‘experimentative’ approach and curious nature would be instilled into the child’s young mind, as he passes through this elementary level of science, giving rise to the birth of the scientist within him. He should also be given full freedom to talk on the subject in the class, alone with the teacher, in word or in writing, so as to fully clear his/her doubts, and understand the subject deeper than ever. In a line, the student should not learn the laws, but derive them out of his activities. Moving on to class nine, the first six months can be classes of revision of whatever he or she had learnt in the junior classes. Later, new topics can be introduced, and in a very similar manner, he must be taught these. Hence, the final student that would be formed would not be the marks-seeker, but a true knowledge-seeker – thus at least the scientist. As for arts, students can be introduced to philosophy at an elementary level itself, not in the form of boring lectures, but by making them philosophize on everyday happenings, historical events, problems and solutions, etc.; thus he’d not need to learn philosophy, but develop a taste for finding philosophy in everyday life. Hence, when he/she will read texts of great authors, he’d immediately find the essence of it all. The same goes for commercial applications and economics, where he can be made to realize the truth behind all the business policies – through stories, and even experiments in the form of mock business sessions (even on very small imaginary ones, like buying a product of Rs. 2), to make the students understand the principles behind the complex business policies. He should also be given the proper mathematical background required behind this, as in pure statistics and some of pure and applied mathematics, and if a student is found interested more in some subject, which is not in his syllabus, he can well be taught the lesson after school. This method I believe,, will surely create not only a true student, but also a complete human being. As for the so-called ‘boring’ subjects of history and geography, it is the method of teaching alone, that makes all the difference. History can be taught by first drawing the interest of the student. Ancient history is a good place to start this practice, by making history an extension of literature and logic combined. He can be †¦ taught to learn not the whats alone, but taught more importantly the whys and hence, the deeper hows!

Office of National Drug Control Policy Essay -- Drug Abuse

Office of National Drug Control and the Present Threat Over the last decade, Southwest border violence has elevated into a national security concern. Much of the violence appears to stem from the competing growth and distribution networks that many powerful Mexican drug cartels exercise today. The unfortunate byproduct of this criminality reaches many citizens of the Mexican border communities in the form of indiscriminate street gang shootings, stabbings, and hangings which equated to approximately 6,500 deaths in 2009 alone (AllGov, 2012). That same danger which now extends across the border regions of New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, and California has the potential for alarming escalation. Yet, despite the violence, evermore-brazen behavior continues to grow, as does America’s appetite for drugs. Even though drug-related violence mandates that law enforcement agencies focus on supply reduction, the Office of National Drug Control Policy should shift its present policy formulation efforts to only drug demand reduction because t reatment and prevention efforts are inadequate and strategy has evolved little over the last three decades. Role of the ONDCP President Reagan established the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) following the passage of the Anti-Abuse Act of 1988 amidst mounting risk of drug dependence becoming more pervasive in American workplaces and schools. The legislation established the need for the federal government to make a good-faith effort in maintaining drug-free work places, schools, and drug abuse and rehabilitation programs for many users (Eddy, 2005). The early focus for the ONDCP’s was to curb the rising drug threat emanating from the drug cartels operating throughout South America, in... ...ved from http://www.gao.gov/assets/100/97472.pdf Office of National Drug Control Policy. (n.d.).AllGov: Everything Our Government Really Does. Retrieved March 18, 2012, from http://www.allgov.com/Agency/Office_of_National_Drug_Control_Policy Reduce the Threat, Incidence and Prevalence of Violent Crime and Drug Trafficking: FY 2011 Overview. (2011).Intelligence (p. 6). Washington, D. C. Retrieved from http://www.justice.gov/jmd/2011factsheets/pdf/reduce-drug-trafficking.pdf Roberts, M., Trace, M., & Klein, A. (2004). Law Enforcement and Supply Reduction: Report Three (p. 15). Retrieved from http://www.beckleyfoundation.org/pdf/report_lawenforce.pdf White, F. E. (1988). Memorandum from Frank E. White to Donald L. Ashton, Drug Enforcement Agency, on Operation Snowcap dated March 8, 1988 (p. 12). Retrieved from http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB69/part1.html

Examine Marxist views of the role of the family Essay

Marxist is a perspective view that society is built as class conflict between the Capitalist who own the means of production and the working class. Capitalists believe that there is are three functions of the family: Inheritance of property; ideology functions and unit of consumptions. Marxists say that the family benefits capitalist. Marxists say that one role or functions of the family is inheritance of property. The Bourgeoisie own the means of production whereas the working class just work for the capitalist and own no means of production. The Capitalist want to keep control of the means of production and the only way they can do this is by inheritance of property, which means that all the property is handed down to the first son. A Marxist sociologist, Engles, says this explains the rise in monogamist marriages as marriage makes sure there is a legitimate heir. This is why families are important as it helps maintain a capitalist society. Another role or function the family has i s an ideology function. Ideology function means a set of beliefs and ideas that the capital is a dominant class and that the equality is right and just. The family helps keep this idea by primary socialisation of the young and children being brought up learning these ideas that Capitalism is right. This helps maintain capitalism because children will eventually become the next labour force for capitalists. The last role of the family is that it is a unit of consumption which means that Capitalist own the production and the working class are wanting for Capitalist as well as buying from them. This helps maintain capitalism, which is a family’s main role or function, because they are buying from capitalism and they would benefit. Feminist would criticise Marxist by saying that the family benefit men and men only, causing aoppression for women. Functionalist would criticise the Marxist view that the family benefits Capitalist. They believe that society is based or a value consensus. And that the family benefits society as well as its individual members.

Analysis Of The Poem Harlem - 1303 Words

James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet; a Joplin, Missouri native and an active, versatile writer, earning acclaim as a poet, novelist, playwright and columnist. He was one of the first poets to explore an innovative sing-songy, stylized delivery called jazz poetry. As an African-American, his point of view, collectively synergized with this then-new literary art, catapulted his writings between the 1930s - 1960s. He is often credited as the leader of the Harlem Renaissance, and â€Å"famously wrote about the period that ‘the negro was in vogue.’† (Langston). Throughout his body of work, Hughes spoke eloquently to the full spectrum of dreams - both their inspirational power and their heavy burden, if not fully realized. His famed†¦show more content†¦In his 1951 poem, the title alone, â€Å"Harlem (Dream Deferred) makes the reader immediately conscious of the speaker’s dismissal of ownership.The piece examines, upon deferral, what happens to a dream - â€Å"Does it dry up / like a raisin the sun?† Hughes later deduces â€Å"Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.† There, with its indication of weight, the reader draws comparison to a dream being a burden - an unbearable, unattainable measuring stick in the speaker’s life, or in this piece’s case, America’s life. Hughes, now older, having seen â€Å"more of the world† is grappling with the injustices of equality and equity. Can an African-American attain his/her dream without it wilting under the prejudices of an unfair America? He saw the dreams of many residents of Harlem, New York disintegrate in the wake of World War II. Some read this poem as a warning, believing that the speaker â€Å"argues that deferred dreams will lead to social unrest. Notably, Lorraine Hansberry chose a line from this poem as the title of her famous play, A Raisin in the Sun, which explores the idea of delayed dreams in the world of a black family living in the South Side of Chicago during the 1950s. Both the play and Hughes s poem champion the power of pursuing dreams, and both comment on the state of civil rights in America.(Shmoop)† This work seems to continually call for theShow MoreRelated Harlem, An Analysis of a Langston Hughes Poem Essay1405 Words   |  6 PagesHarlem, An Analysis of a Langston Hughes Poem The short but inspirational poem Harlem by Langston Hughes addresses what happens to aspirations that are postponed or lost. The brief, mind provoking questions posed throughout the poem allow the readers to reflect--on the effects of delaying our dreams. In addition, the questions give indications about Hughes views on deferred dreams. Harlem is an open form poem. The poem consists of three stanzas that do not have a regularRead MoreAn Analysis of Langston Hughes Poem Harlem1520 Words   |  6 PagesPoems Harlem by Langston Hughes Thesis statement: Hughes wrote this when Jim Crow laws were still imposing an bitter segregated society in the South. There were still lynchings of innocent African Americans, there was no Civil Rights Movement, there was no Civil Rights legislation yet, and Blacks couldnt eat at lunch counters in the South. Harlem, however, was not at all like the South in terms of blatant, legal segregation. However, racism was very much in place in many places in America. BlacksRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem Harlem By Langston Hughes2117 Words   |  9 Pages In the poem â€Å"Harlem† by Langston Hughes, Hughes discusses the fate of the American dream and more specifically, he questions us about the destiny of the dream that never gets realized. He wonders whether it explodes violently or if it just dries up. Forty years later, Tony Kushner explored the fate of the suppressed, exploding dream in â€Å"Angels in America† through the character of Joseph Porter Pitt as he struggles to cope with his own repressed, but surfacing homosexuality, while also balancingRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem Sonnet And The Negro Harlem Essay1830 Words   |  8 PagesUnit 3: Short Answer Response Danticat s Krik? Krak! best emulates the poem Sonnet to a Negro in Harlem by Helene Johnson. Danticat’s work shows a Haitian immigrant following her mother around New York and observing her behaviors and activities while Johnson’s tells the story of a black man walking down the streets with a narrator talking about his features. While these two works seem unrelated at first glance they both share common themes, for example: â€Å"My mother keeps on walking as though sheRead MoreAnalysis Of Langston Hughes s Poem Harlem Sweeties 2195 Words   |  9 Pages From â€Å"Mother to Son† to â€Å"Harlem Sweeties†, Langston Hughes uses various themes and poetic structures within his writing. Hughes writing style consisted of the black pride and strength of the black community that would later be considered as the â€Å"driving force† behind The Harlem Renaissance. His poems and short stories seemed to evoke a feeling of hopefulness, pride and self- realization. He wrote song lyrics, essays, autobiographies and plays however, his multi-dimensional style of writing consistedRead MoreReoccurring Themes in the Work of Langston Hughes Essay1649 Words   |  7 PagesLangston Hughes is an extremely successful and well known black writer who emerged from the Harlem Renaissance (â€Å"Langston Hughes† 792). He is recognized for his poetry and like many other writers from the Harlem Renaissance, lived most of his life outside of Harlem (â€Å"Langston Hughes† 792). His personal experiences and opinions inspire his writing intricately. Unlike other writers of his time, Hughes expresses his discontent with black oppression and focuses on the hardships of his people. Hughes’Read MoreThe Poetry Of Harlem And Women Have Loved Before As I Love Now925 Words   |  4 Pagesthe opening statement of Harlem that grabs the attention of everyone who is reading this phenomenal poem. Of the two poems listed in this essay, this opening statement is more attention-grabbing and is a fantastic hook to being with. Harlem and Women Have Loved Before As I Love Now, are ideally comparable and contrastable. The meanings of the poems and the authors of the poems are some topics that are different in these poems. 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