Today’s Op-ed page in The Hindu carries a reflective article on teachers in India. Significant, as India observes the day as a tribute to its teacher-president Dr. Radhakrishnan. You can read the article here.
One of my chums here at college observed “KV, your students are gonna pelt stones at you for screwing them in the test”. The associated paranoia inspired this post. (Yes, I am afraid). A startling 26% of the sophomore fluid mechanics class I teach here ended up scoring a zero in my test this week. The feedback that accompanied the test heightened the paranoia that set in while the test was in progress.
The experience, though, is instructive. Motivation, that bolsters education from right under, is of primordial importance to the teacher. The Indian teacher faces a severe paucity of the same. As Dr. Batra rightly observes, the true spirit of Teachers’ Day lies in understanding how the teacher perceives the need of the student and actually accoutring the teacher with the knowledge. The warts exist, though. As in any system.
Yet, the idea of serving the teacher is certainly abysmal, perhaps anti-social too. Students have grown to relate to the pedagogue and no more relish change (or even conceptual tests like the one I set). The focus needs to shift from tranferring information to transferring ideas. The shift is dialectical. It is bound to inspire the teacher and instruct the student. Dr. Balakrishnan nicely writes in The Feynman Lectures on Physics,
Gentle reader, do you know what the ‘model answer’ is? “The application of quantum mechanics are : (1) the hydrogen atom, (2) the rigid rotator, (3) the harmonic oscillator, (4) the particle in a box, and (5) the uncertainty principle” (!) Why these five and no others? Because it’s a five-mark question, of course!
Think about it.
2 Comments
September 5, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Sophomore- Already in US n all
September 5, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Good post! 26% got a zero?! My class hasn’t improved at all!!!