Disrupt Education, Recreate Society

YCC organsied a contest on Disruption as a prelude to the 11th Global Communication conclave and the YCC Convlave held at Bengaluru. The contest has attracted an overwhelming response from across the mass communication student community.

Here, we present, prize winning entries for the readers of GenX Hangout!

Disrupt Education, Recreate Society

By Sheelu Alex

(First Prize, Saint Teresa's College Ernakulam, Kerala)

Ruptures are unlike raptures; they are not easy. Without notice, without warning, ruptures happen, and in the blink of an eye, you find yourself trying to balance on a hanging bridge, suspended between the vast emptiness of the sky and the bleak roughness of the terrain. You see enraptured people coming up, wondering what is new, spending some of their time to stare at you, sometimes a few seconds more to observe you but none to step along with you into the uncertain position.

Don’t give up! Challenge! Rupture! Disrupt! Innovate! Create! And you resurrect a new era where people gather courage to recreate your ripples of disruption and reconstruction.

Is Education in dire need of an imminent disruption? What is education? Is education synonymous with learning? Or is it a vocation to be placed on a pedestal higher than learning? How can you confirm that a person is well educated; by the length of his oratory, by the breadth of his knowledge or by the height of his character? Is the present educational system proficient in addressing the demands of the swirling times? Or does the institutionalisation of education cripple its aims, chain its potential, and serve itself as its meal? Then, what is the remedy for the educational institutions to overcome its own cannibalism? Is the total destruction of the institutional system a practical solution? Is it ever possible to disrupt institutions and return to the long lost traditions of education? How far will the knowledge-thirsty, tech-savvy population of the globe accept the notion of a return? Wouldn’t the choice appear as a decline, a degradation? It is in this state of dilemma and uncertainty, that I suggest the option of the hanging bridge.

Inauguration of the Conclave - YCC Chairperson
Geetha Shankar lighting the lamp

Spare a look at the techniques of the fashion industry; how they mould their products to fit the requirements of the traditional minds and also the liberal ones. Nowadays, the question of wearing a gown for weddings and functions seems to be a highly inflammatory one, at least in some of our societies, precisely because of its dissociation with our culture and the subsequent association with the Western culture. However, it strikes me with wonder to think that the fashion industry rose above the confusion with a remedy by offering a bridge between the two – the traditional minds who scorn the gown wearers and the liberal minds who dream of being the princess in the gown – through the introduction of floor length anarkali frocks. I must agree that in structure, the clothing looks like a traditional salwar or churidar. But you will not disagree with me that, in essence, it has the power to bestow the pride of a gown wearer to its owner, although the realization is calm and subtle.

Disruption is amiable if it comes from within and manifests itself in subtle ways but with magnanimous effects. Destruction of institutions is impossible because it is deeply rooted, gripping the soil of its growth in its teeth firmly and surely. What is possible is the disruptive influence of a few elements of the educational system, for example a few teachers or students with the potential to construct a rupture, in such a way that it doesn’t destroy the entire system but develop and strengthen the structure by filling the missing links. The disruptive influence will be useful if the consequence is constructive, like the example discussed from the fashion industry; if the disruption maintains the structure but subtly change the essence.

However, given the Indian scenario, disruption is easily said than practised. Though a diversity constitute the population of India, the educational system is a well structured institution with less rules written and more unwritten. In the mind of the Indian students, the teacher holds a tyrannical position even when he/she doesn’t want to. The teacher is positioned as the point of convergence, where knowledge not only originates but also ends. The student perceives the teacher and the prescribed texts as the beginning and the end and refuse to look beyond.

However, it should not be forgotten that the Indian culture had an inherent  tendency to idolize anything that required importance or respect. But the aura of the ultimate which earlier meant only to render synonymous the teacher with the need to respect knowledge, now lulls the learners/students into a kind of passivity; a passivity that dissuades the learner from cooperation in the collective search for knowledge. The first step of disruption in the educational system that enables this collective search is the destruction of the false image of the teacher; the tendency to eulogise the teacher as the sole source of all knowledge. Emerson says, “Meek young men grow up in libraries, believing it their duty to accept the views, which Cicero, which Locke, and which Bacon, have given, forgetful that Cicero, Locke, Bacon were only young men in libraries, when they wrote these books”.

The rupture begins when the students begin to understand that these teachers who rise above the crowd, were students like them at some point in their life, who chose to read through the books and understand them on their own, sometimes even more than what the syllabus required of them. It is the dawning of this wisdom that enables each student to cause a disruption in the educational system, by blending the respect for the teacher’s will to power and the search for knowledge even before the lecture, deriving motivation from the teacher.

The second point of rupture dawns with the realization that the real aim of education is not to grant good scores in exams but to prepare us for life. Therefore, the knowledge we seek through education should not be merely gathered from the pages of the textbook, but also from the words and actions of the teachers and the students. Any words without action and any knowledge without practice is worthless. Words take fruit from the action and practice root the knowledge in our mind and prepare it for further analysis. Unfortunately, the present educational system is rooted less in action and practice, that the knowledge stays active in the students’ minds only till the completion of the exams. Such knowledge do not find a space for analysis and recreation by incorporating the involvement or contribution from the part of the students. The possessors of this knowledge function more or less like the machines replicating multiple copies without novelties. This practice cultivated by the educational institutions find a parallel in the real lives where the focus is more on the present without analysing its consequences for the future. However, this machine life which focuses primarily on the immediate consequences is dangerous. The excess concentration on the present and the complete denial of the future can be tragic. Therefore, the present educational system must valorise the score less and uphold life more. To facilitate ‘education for life’, the teaching in educational institutions should be re-directed towards activities and programmes that sustain the acquired knowledge in the mind of the students and make it suitable for analysis and recreation. Activities that can keep the acquired knowledge active should be devised. Linking the subject of study with the current happenings and the experiences of life is one way. Real time exhibitions can be helpful in terms of science subjects. Science parks and planetarium, which use the principles of science to create a fantasy world for children and where the written principles of science come alive, makes them realise that what they study is related to their life as well. Apart from the positive effects, it is also important to show children some of the dangerous effects of science. These dangerous effects, when effectively incorporated into exhibitions, demonstrate clearly the pros and cons of using scientific technology. As for literature, an hour can be allotted in the teaching schedule, where students are encouraged to explore the different structures available for the composition of books. Online bases, where the students can see the front and the back covers of the book, can encourage students to think about the theme of the books. Such approaches can align the thought processes of students towards an interdisciplinary bend of mind by associating the picture on the front cover and the title. As for the humanities subjects, the interaction with the subject under study is important to keep the knowledge active for a longer duration. Students should be encouraged to perform field studies. Moreover, the importance of education lies in the realization of the need for an interdisciplinary approach to subjects. In the present times, the separation between the arts and the sciences is highly inflammable. An amazing inter-disciplinary approach that has the potential to resolve this conflict in education can be witnessed in the Kochi Muziris biennale. Visiting the historical as well as the geographical sites, which appear as pictures in their textbooks, can help to root the places in their minds.

The third point of rupture I would like to discuss, Information technology, is not just in the queue; it is already in play, on stage. The excess interest of the new generation towards the technologies of communication and information should be effectively channelled towards the aims of education. Social network groups can be efficiently used to collect and share knowledge. Mass psychology is an important trigger in the social media and persuades the group members to search for newer knowledge to post online, when part of a social media group. The emerging trend of short film making using the available materials if properly nurtured can serve as a potent source of referential videos, capable of inspiration and education . Smart classes are already on the show, where students have an opportunity to see, to hear and to touch what they learn. Compared to the earlier times, the opportunities for gathering knowledge is immense. There are numerous discussion forums available online, with a panorama of objectives ranging from enabling students to gather knowledge, involving in participatory research, to sharing ideas.

As you know, most of these educational techniques are not very recent; they have been part of life and part of education for quite a long time. In modern times when technology rules the world, the success of education lies in the effective incorporation of these aids into the system. It is true that the lower grades of the educational system has already integrated these aids into the curriculum through the continuous and comprehensive evaluation of students. However, these aids enjoy only an optional status in the higher grades. Some value is allotted to them but the status offered does not assure them of an equal standing with the subjects. Why are the educational institutions unable to introduce them on a larger scale? The cause of this lack can be traced back to the existing unwritten  rules of education.  Most of the educational institutions have inherited the legacy of good scores as the only visible evidence of success. The best way to rupture this complacency is to strike at its roots- the importance given to grades and scores, solely in terms of exams written. The allotment of scores to the extra curricular and field activities encourage students to participate in them as well. Therefore, the practical aspect of education should not be incorporated into the syllabus as an option but as something compulsory. Giving the development outside the text an equal standing with the development inside the text is important to beat the tribulations of the times. Therefore, the disruption in education should aim at an effective blending of the chosen strategies diplomatically; a cautious fusion of tradition and modernity. Focus should be laid on the incorporation of these strategies into the higher education initiatives because we live in a world that no longer need bibliomaniacs but flesh and blood professionals, capable of handling a myriad circumstances. As Maya Angelou, the Afro – American writer said, “If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.”