Observing the Invisible

"This piece of land is a terrific deal..."says an amateur investor to his father "the area is posh, the prices are good...its a once in a lifetime opportunity".His father also an investor replies "But the police in the area is quite irresponsible...its prices might drop in the long run".Confused the boy asks his father "What has police got to do with realty..??"."Look son, if the police are not efficient it leads to increase in thefts and murders and other crime.It is then obvious that the people do not want to live in an area which is not safe...consequently the prices drop....".

There is a big difference between being literate and being educated.Literacy gives you the skill to read and write while education provides you with a mindset to look beyond what is visible.There are a number of places where this kind of thinking will be very useful

• Sitting for an interview if the candidate can grasp ,not the question, but what the question is asked to test, the candidate will crack it.



• Preparing for an exam if the ,by looking at the past papers, the student sees a pattern that is followed, exam becomes a cake-walk.



• Investing in realty,gold,mutual funds etc..if we can look at the factors that will affect the investment we can avoid many non-profitable deals.



• Negotiating with a person if we can comprehend,not his words, but his motives, we will not only understand the person better but might prevent a lot of troubles arising from misunderstandings

The list can be endless.History was created by people who saw what others did not.But the current education methods ,built on the herd mentality, impairs this skill in a student severely.Not being encouraged to question the rules and systems the institutions have invented kills the ability to grasp the 'why' of things.Understanding the 'why' of things gives us the power to solve all the problems and manipulate circumstances to our requirements.

As the school and college books dont teach us that we will need to take responsibility for our own education.And the only way to develop that skill is by being skeptical.Inquiring the reasons behind the protocols and deductive thinking is what will equip us to prosper....

Teachers Wanted!!!!

Every now and then we see ads in newspaper demanding qualifications like B.ed(for schools) and M.Phil(for colleges) but rarely do we see an ad demanding the most important requirement of teaching.......concern for the students.Teaching has become just an alternative for a job that,in people's opinion,demands minimum of efforts and least hassle.This type of notion has led education to the frustrating state it is presently in.
Some of the characteristics of teachers and professors in our college are:

• Too much arrogance to ADMIT their ignorance ...let alone working on it.
• An urging desire to get their egos pampered
• Utter lack of concern regarding betterment of students and their future
• Using verbal abuse as an important tool for teaching (thank god its not physical)
• Giving students meaningless writeups in the name of submissions.
• Using vivas as a tool to insult/demoralize students.
• Practising a grading system that is majorly based on impressions(the ability to flatter) rather than knowledge

The list can be endless.Most of the teachers in schools and colleges share their characteristics with those above mentioned.Some teachers in today's time even have a characteristic of ogling at the female students and others to the extent of molesting them.What is more fustrating is the parent's lack of intrest in their child's college/school.This has led to an alarming rise in student suicides ,teen violence, use of alchohol,cigarettes , drugs etc.....

Even if the institutes insist on treating educaton and learing as a business, we , their customers, should be allowed to draft ads in the newspapers like......

Teachers Wanted:

Lack of knowledge-not an issue but must not have a tendency to take out their frustrations on students and screw their lives.......

Jaago Grahak Jago!!!!

Money V/S Education

When i was in the 10th standard, one of my friends told me "Nobody sees your report card when you grow up, all they see is your bank balance".This attitude has become very rampant in today's time.The value of education is diminishing in the minds of children as well as their parents.After all children learn from their parents.The question is whether this attitude is correct....?

Well here's a story :

In a voluptuous city known for its entrepreneurial spirit and abundance of business class, there resided a family whose wealth exceeded the possesions 70% of the city population's combined.
The family comprised of a man, his wife and his only son.After his son completed his 12th standard exam, his father asked him to join the family business and he was pleased to do so.When the boy reached a marriagable age his father started looking for a bride.After some looking, a meeting was fixed between the the girl and the boy and the conversation went as follows.
Boy:You look very beautiful and I want to marry you.I will provide you with all the luxuries in the world.What do you have to say..?
Girl:Even I like you but I will marry you only on 1 condition......you must complete your graduation.
Boy:We have a flourishing business and very respectable reputation in the market.What is the use of a degree.....I dont think we need it.
Girl:My condition is unalterable...I have made myself clear....If you cant even do such a small thing for me .....forget the marriage proposal.
And so it was decided.The boy, having fallen in love at first sight, convinced his father to allow him to pursue graduation although both of them considered it a waste of time.The subject of graduation did not matter much so he decided to choose a subject of intrest....computers(BCA to be specific).
Came the new millenium and the world was struck by the revolution called.....internet business.It opened many doors and provided very bright prospects....the world was discovring a whole new way of doing business....But there were a few people who were not all that happy about the progress the word was making.Those were the ignorant and rich business class.The people who once cared two hoots about their competitors were struggling to survive and avoid bankrupcy.
The boy's father could not fathom why his customers were running away.The boy seeing the situation decided to open an online portal.The company was tight on cash and could not afford a professional web designer so the boy decided do all the work himself.
The website started bringing good revenues and their life slowly but steadily returned to normalcy.The day the company revenues reached 10cr mark, he told his wife "Thank you so much for making me do graduation...had it not been you we would have gone bankrupt just like other businesses in our line".....And you know what the wife replied...????
"The world is not stagnant...it changes rapidly....in a world where fortunes are made and lost in the blink of an eye, Education provides the foundation and stability on which empires are build.Money is an important aspect of life but we still need education to retain it...and there are many situations where money alone will not suffice.Knowledge is the new wealth"

Competition Success Review

"Look how good Mr Sharma's son is doing.....You should learn something from him".If you have ever been a student you have probably heard this phrase.Only the names vary but the dialogue remains same.From early childhood we have been conditioned to compete with others and look upon others as adversaries rather than allies."Working hard is not enough,we need to cut others down in this fiercely competitive world if we want to succeed".This type of statements have also become common in today's time.Even premier institutes and teachers preach the philosophy of success at any cost...But is that success worth it...???

Well Here's a Story:

Dhruv had just completed his 9th standard and stepped into 10th standard.Being a crucial year,his parents had told him "Look son,you are our hope and you have to make us proud.We want to see you in the boards"(i.e among top ten rankers).They put him into coaching for the exam even before the vacations got over.He also studied hard to fulfill his parents expectations.He missed out all the cricket matches(that he loved),stopped going out with friends on get-togethers and gave up on everything he loved.Success at any cost was what was taught to him.He was even advised to demoralize other competitors to boost his chances of success.Gradually his friends found out what he was upto and stopped socializing with him.

Results came and he got what he had always wanted.He had topped the center and was among top 15 in the state....What a proud moment that was for his parents and for him too.......But wait .....just look what the stupid boy did......this boy,after seeing the results simply ran away from his home!!!!!Before fleeing, he met his only friend Raj ,and the conversation went as follows............
Raj:Why do you wanna run away??Look how successful your life is....You have topped center, your parents will buy you anything you want now,you have become an example for all the students in our school.......
Dhruv:Successful i am....but the price i have paid for it is too large....By competing with every one in the school i have lost all my friends,i have missed my cricket matches, get togethers picnic outings.For this one moment of joy, i have missed out on thousands or probably millions of little joys that i cant get back....Moreover i am fed up of the conditional love that my parents have to offer to me...We love you if you are successful...and dont if you are not......I am running away because i dont believe in "Success at the cost of Life....."

UNITED WE STAND, EDUCATED WE FALL!

Ever wondered why co-operation in exams is termed cheating.....???
We are never trained in team formation,rather any form of union is condemned and considered illegal.

By creating an atmosphere of low level stress and danger,we( students) are habituated to abandon trust in our peers and sometimes even ourselves.

This is also a reason why very few people follow their dreams.They fail because they are alone. Success is a team sport and we can observe it around us.Top businesses are made of top "teams" ,sports also has "teams", the rock bands are also "teams" and the list could be endless.

Instead of falling a prey to the ways of the system, i would rather rebel .I would rather, make my colleague a friend than a competitor,study together than study alone,form alliances than work alone.

Moreover different people are good at different things.How the "educationists" could overlook a simple logic that different people are gifted in different areas and if played by their strengths could do wonders,is beyond my reckoning.

I believe and will always believe...that "In Unity is Strength"........Do you?????

Portal to THE GENIUS within

When the teachers in my school and college classify students as 'Intelligent' and 'Dumb' ,I usually sigh.The reason being that i have always believed that there is a Genius within everyone,which is smothered with the implementation of "Education".

How is Everyone a Genius????

Once Einstein said "It is not that I am extraordinarily more intelligent but its just that i spend more time with problems".While we all know he was being modest ,there is some truth in his modesty.

While in school, in college or at work we have been trained to avoid mistakes and stay away from problems(and i am not talking about math problems ;>).The fear of a mistake cripples our mind to an extent that we lose all our capacity to learn from them.This has a very adverse on the minds of the young that remains till the old age.

Ever observed old people afraid to touch the latest piece of machinery or technology????While all the knowledge in the world(i dare say ,and i mean it) is discovered and inventions possible with the help of "experimentation", business and investment strategies,strategy in sports.... derived from simply "Experimentation",is it fair to teach us to avoid  Experimenting???

In life there will,many a times, be circumstances when all the books you have read will be of no help and a person adept to experimentation will not only survive but rule the roost.

Dont agree????Just tell me which book did Bill Gates,Steve Jobs,Warren Buffet,Richard Branson,Dhirubhai Ambani  etc read for success?

Genius is not a man who is learned but a man who is learning!!!!!!

Meritorious Failures-Surviving The Desert

It is possible to fill the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated.The function of real education should be to prepare us for life and not transform us into a cramming machine.And what happens when Education ,like today's , fails to do so..................??????

Here's a true story:

Once two people got lost in the desert.One was a chemistry professor(with a Phd) , and the other ,a camel man.

While the professor was taking a sip from his water bottle,suddenly he stumbled and all the water from the bottle fell onto the ground.Their last reserve of water was exhausted.

Prof:How are we gonna survive without water!!!!That was the last bottle.

Camelman:Don't worry we will get the spilled water back into the bottle.

Prof:But that is impossible!!!!All the water will soon evaporate.

Camelman:Precisely!!!!

Saying so ,the camel man took out a transparent plastic foil and tore it up.Then he started digging a hole and put the bottle in the middle of the place where the water had spilled.After that he spread the transparent foil across the hole and put the stone in the middle so that the the foil dipped down in the bottle in the shape of a funnel.

Soon, small drops of water began to form on the underside of the foil.The sun heated the ground under the foil,so the moisture in the sand evaporated until enclosed air became so saturated that small drops of water deposited on the cooler foil and eventually filled the bottle.

        The professor with all his degrees and qualifications would not have been able to save himself had it not been for the camel man.We are trained to memorize facts but are never encouraged to apply it.We are taught Apollonian theorems and calculus and so on, most of which the we don't ever use in our entire lives or rather don't know how to............I wonder why so???????