Something is seriously wrong..

I have interviewed many people from many states and have developed this impression that something is seriously wrong with our education system. Most of the candidates I interviewed could not answer simple fundamental questions.

The other day, a candidate who is a mechanical engineer could not even define the term “WORK” or “Mechanical Equivalent of heat” .

The next day’s experience was even shocking. 

A candidate came to face the interview. His academic records are excellent: 90% in High school (State Board), 86% in Higher Secondary (CBSE) and 80% in BTech.. I felt happy to get such a brilliant young man as a teacher for my students.

I started with the question: 

“How or why does a body float in water or in any liquid?” 

He replied, “Because of buoyancy force.” 

“On what factor does the buoyancy depend?” I asked…He could not answer. 

I asked back, “Why does a needle sink in water but the ship float?”  

And to that his answer was, “The needle has lesser density as compared to the ship.”

I asked, “What is the density of steel/iron, approximately?”

About 1.4 kg/cubic meter, he replied

“And density of mercury?”, I got curious to know his answer.

“1.2 kg/cubic meter” was his reply

“And the density of water?” I asked not losing my cool.

“1000 kg/cubic meter”, he replied correctly for the first time.

So, according to this brilliant mechanical engineer, water is 1000 times heavier than steel.

I could not decide whether to cry or laugh... 

A Little Personal attention..

My son had never joined any coaching classes nor had any home tutors. I encouraged my son to be self-reliant in his studies from the very beginning. He used to come to me for help only when the situation turned desperate for him, otherwise, he studied everything all by himself.

He had been very good in social studies, science and English but could never do very well in mathematics. It is strange, since usually students who are good in science are good in mathematics also.Whatever may be the reason, he was never comfortable with his maths. My initial response was to get angry with him and rebuke him for his poor performance in that subject but it made the matter worse. Finally, I decided to take it easy and advised him to work hard and come to me whenever he feel like clearing any doubts. He hardly came to me and continued to study all by himself. 

When he reached the tenth standard I started getting a bit worried as he could score only fifty something out of hundred in the first two tests in maths. I encouraged him to work even harder. He did. Then came his third and last test before the finals. One fateful day, he returned from school totally downcast. His maths papers had been returned and he could score only 61 out of 100. I could sense his feeling of depression. The finals are only about three months away, time was running out. I knew, it was time for me to take charge of the situation.

The next day, I gave him a model question paper to solve in a simulated examination. He took the examination in right earnest. I checked the papers and his performance was in the expected line. I conducted few more examinations and found out his areas of weaknesses, sat down with him to sort out the related problems in those areas. He fully cooperated like an obedient boy. I continued to conduct examinations for him and he started showing improvements. After about fifteen tests, he scored 96. I knew, he had gained confidence.

The final board examinations started on schedule and the D-day arrived, the day for maths examination. He was very very nervous. I drove him to his examination center and could see him gulping frequently. We did not talk on the way. I had the confidence deep inside me that he would do well to score at least 80% in that subject. And he did. 

A little personal attention to find out the weak areas and to help him improve in those areas did the trick. 

I wish, all the schools did that for their students.

Some things the students do not know...

It was in 1985. I was a fresh lecturer in Assam Engineering College, Guwahati. My HOD, Prof (Dr) A C Sharma was the examination-in-charge and I was his assistant. It was mathematics exam. Huge number of students used to fail in that subject. In addition to about 250 regular students, there were nearly 250 students appearing for their back paper in Maths. that day.

After the exam was over and the invigilators had left submitting the answer scripts, we started sorting out the scripts for packing. Suddenly I came across one loose sheet , one or two answers were written on that, but the sheet did not have any roll number written on it and it was not attached to any answer script either.. My initial thought was to neglect that sheet. “No roll number is written, how do we know whose sheet is this? After all it is the responsibility of the student to write his/her roll number and attach the additional sheet to the main answer script properly”, I was telling myself. And there were about 500 answer scripts to be sorted.

I showed that sheet to A C Sharma sir and he said, “Let us check the hand writings in the answer scripts one by one; we shall attach this sheet to the script that matches the hand writings. This student might pass the exam because of the answers he has written on this additional sheet.”

Checking hand writing one by one of 500 scripts? It would be two to three hours extra job. I was hesitating, but Sharma sir was adamant and we started checking the scripts. After half an hour or so, we could locate the script, attached the additional sheet properly to that and completed our job by around 3.00 pm.

I do not know who that student was and whether he passed the exam on that occasion or not. That student never knew what Sharma sir had done for him. After few months, as a reaction to some incident, the students attacked and ransacked Sharma sir’s house. That particular student may have been a party to that. No one knows. But Sharma sir never complained and continued to be the same sincere and hardworking teacher he used to be.

God bless such teachers.