A Mistake Many School Boards In India Are Making

A mistake that many school boards in India are making is allowing students to choose between Science/Arts/Commerce (and within science: Mathematics/Biology) after 10th grade. The underlying logic is that by then students (which, in India, unfortunately, often means parents) are perfectly clear about their life goals and can start "specializing" from 11th grade itself.

This is wrong on two counts:

1. Students complete their 12th grade when they are 18 years old. That's also the age when we deem them to be adults. This is when they should start making career choices (they, not their parents!). And to enable this, it is best if all subjects are retained in the curriculum till 12th grade.

2. If we want an educated, sensible, society, it is important that people, regardless of their profession, know all science, mathematics, literature and arts subjects till the 12th grade level. Within science, we want a society where folks know both Mathematics and Biology till the 12th grade level. This way they can follow and appreciate developments in engineering, technology as well as medicine with some depth and maturity. Folks will also have a more mature understanding of literature, poetry and the arts - which is a very very important factor in ensuring a psychologically and emotionally healthy society.

I think the above is an important agenda item for our Ministry of Education and the various Central and State School Boards to take up and make the necessary changes.

University Rankings: U Zurich Leads By Example

Sometime in 2012 a colleague had asked me if we'll ever see a return to quality over quantity in Indian academia. I had calmly told him that someone in the west will have to take the first step, then it'll take another decade or so for us to accept that we've been following an incorrect principle like idiots because we don't have convictions of our own, then we'll start chanting quality over quantity, quality over quantity, quality over quantity, as if we had thought of it ourselves!

Here. The process starteth 😊:

Please read: University of Zurich Quits International University Rankings

To quote: "According to the Swiss university, rankings often focus on measurable output, creating an incentive to increase the number of publications rather than prioritise the quality of content."

🤞. Hopefully academia will return to what it is meant to be about: academics.