Suresh Ramanathan, dean, principal at Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai shares his views on opportunities and challenges of the education system in India with FE Education.
What is the best thing about today’s education system?
In my time, higher education meant either getting into engineering/medicine or commerce. Other fields were rarely encouraged. Today, there are many more choices and many more career paths. I am especially enthused about the advent of high quality liberal arts universities that encourage a spirit of active enquiry and socratic learning. I am also very happy that more colleges and universities are encouraging research by faculty. It is time that India gets its rightful place on the knowledge creation map of the world, rather than merely being known for high quality knowledge dissemination.
What is the one thing you would like to change in the system?
We need to foster a culture of critical and integrative thinking very early in a child’s life. Unfortunately, we are an exam-driven society. Our teachers teach exams rather than challenge their students to go beyond the confines of the syllabus or the pages of a textbook. We do not encourage our students to synthesize different points of view but rather force them to learn only one point of view that is then reinforced by exams that penalize them for “wrong” answers. Our system breeds linear thinkers. It is rare that we will ever recognize a nail that sticks out – we hammer it into mediocre sameness.
What is the role digital has played in the evolution of the education system?
Digital plays two major roles, in my opinion. First, and most important, it democratises education, making it accessible to far more people than can be accommodated in a brick-and-mortar school building or college campus. It provides access to people in lower-tier towns and villages, allowing them to dream the big dream and realise their true potential. Second, it leverages technology to create and deliver content that can be very engaging for the learner and provides opportunities for non-linear thinking.
What has been the disadvantage of digital in education?
As with all disruptions, the initial quality of digital education, particularly in terms of content delivery, has been a bit spotty. Students enrolled in online programs were not happy about the quality of videos created or about the quality of engagement created by faculty. Such programs were also seen as cheap and inferior in quality compared to standard brick-and-mortar operations. However, again as with all disruptions, I expect quality of digital education to improve in leaps and bounds particularly if incumbents in the brick-and-mortar space are slow to adapt to the changes in the needs of prospective students.
What is the career advice you would like to give to students?
I will begin with some general advice before talking about career advice. In my opinion, students need to be eternally curious. Learning is not simply about memorizing facts from a textbook and regurgitating it during an exam. Learning is about expanding your brain to take in as much information as possible, most of it being unrelated to what is immediately relevant. These are times when the average student consumes news in one-minute video reels. Attention levels are so low that most people tune out within five minutes of a class. Staying curious is the only way to grow intellectually. It is okay to learn useless trivia. Some day, they may be useful. And even if not, you can still win a trivia quiz!
From a career point of view, I would advise students to challenge themselves, to push themselves hard. We are a nation that produces millions of engineers, doctors, and graduates from other fields. We are a nation of sameness. Think about what makes you or will make you different from everyone else. You need to develop ideas, thoughts, points of view that are distinct. Be bold and be different.
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