Education? Huh.

The whole of last month, results of different entrance examinations were announced and the next day, wherever you looked, all you could see was advertisements of these educational institutions with results. There are students who score 98.3%. This is something unimaginable for someone like me who barely ever got into the 70s. I have an innocent 17 year old geek neighbor who got a epic scolding from his father for scoring only 84% in his plus 2 exams. His father, I'm sure couldn't have even got a first class in his life. Whatever be the case, with this kind of pressure, it is these kids who lose out even before they start their career. To find a 12th grader who knows careers beyond engineering is like finding an honest auto-rickshaw driver in Chennai. 

I am not sure who is to be blamed for this, but these corporate colleges who teach for 14 hours a day and give a 18 hour homework have a huge role to play in mass production of losers in our country, especially in Andhra Pradesh. Seriously, If you sit for twelve hours on a wooden bench caged inside a building, one thing you are most likely to get is Piles. And  they charge about a lakh and a half for two years of this jail. In AP, one need not struggle too  much to become an engineer. You just have to be present for the entrance exam and darken a few circles. There are more seats available in colleges than the number of engineers we actually need.

This doesn't really mean that there shouldn't be focus on studies. Academics are the backbone of anybody's career. They are so damn important. But people overdo it. I knew of someone who fed her son while he studied. He wasn't even allowed to take a break. He never scored higher than 60%. He now runs a general store and a daily finance business. He does well though. But even today, his mother regrets he couldn't become an engineer. 

While I rest this case here, there is another set of great parents who get sold to horse-shit  like International Schools. Fraud businessmen with loads of black money  buy  land outside the city, construct a huge air-conditioned facility and start a so-called International School, charge 2 lakhs a year for Kindergarten and make more money. In the mean while, they teach the same A B C D as they teach in any other school. A/c bus, A/c class, A/c toilet and five star hotel like facilities everywhere make the students habituated to one kind of lifestyle. How does it really impact his learning? I have no idea.  And once he comes out of this luxurious Cockaigne into the real world, you have another depressed loser ready.

Unsuspecting parents get sold to the Einstein ads, 'International facilities' and the fake hype that's built around these schools. In my opinion, these futile international schools serve only one purpose - consumption of existing black money and its conversion to white both by the owners and the parents who send their kids to a Rs. 2 lakh a year kindergarten. This more than what I spent for my MBA. 

What is needed is a fine balance between these two extremes. Neither it should be a piles-inducing 14 hour grind everyday, nor should it be too many prodigalities when the kid is young. The former ones end up in Ameerpet for IT courses and the later ones end up in Pubs. As they say in Sanskrit, आती सर्वत्र वर्ज्यते. which means, "Excess is condemnable everywhere". 

- Deepak Karamungikar