Why education need to be disrupted?

Why should we disrupt the present education system?  Because it is unfit for the world of today. It  is archaic. It was designed for old ways of doing things. It was designed for a different culture. It was created for different type of economy. Today it creates more problems than it solves. Because Netocracy has changed the way we live. We are free now and we want more. 

1. ) We need to disrupt the notion that learning need not be fun, it has to be rigorous with a lot of stupid homework.

2.) We need to disrupt the notion that a curriculum is everything and a teacher knows everything. 

3.) We need to disrupt the notion that an examination is the way to measure knowledge and marks are the best measure.

4.)  We need to disrupt the notion that learning need to happen within the brick walls of a college or university. 

Everywhere in the world new models and products are coming out that will make the present education system obsolete. 

1.) Udemy : Created by a Stanford professor this offers several courses online and thousands of students are enrolled with it.    There are no enrollment forms to fill out, no financial aid forms to fill out, no lines to wait in, no advisors to see, no signatures to obtain for permission to enroll in courses, no prerequisite to fulfill to enroll in courses.  The time lag between wanting to enroll and starting is quite short.  You can sign up with your Facebook account or you can sign up with e-mail, browse the courses, and enroll.   

2.) Mozilla's Open Badges project : Mozilla's Open Badges project will make it easy for anyone to issue, earn and display badges across the web -- through a shared infrastructure that's free and open to all.  This will create same credibility that degrees create today.

3.) canXpek : Education need to be personalized. Everybody learns in their own way. We need to replace mass education methods with personalized education. Motivated learning will replace brute methods. Career advisers will guide the candidate in his learning and learning happens in a pace in which the candidate feels comfortable.   

Indian education is creating nothing but slaves.

This happened long back when I was working as a scientist in one of India's most prestigious organization. Well,  here is the story.

My colleague is on leave. His son's term examination is tomorrow.  Yesterday when we met he looked very worried.

Looks worried!  Anything wrong?

"Hey tomorrow is my son's term examination. He should  be scoring good marks"

Why am I am not worried I thought, my son is also studying in the same class. There may be something wrong with me. Did I ever looked at his marks? Probably I am one of that irresponsible fathers.

" I will be on leave tomorrow, if something comes up please take care for me".

Sure, but you said you were taking him for tutions. Does that not help? I do not want to do his work, so I am trying to persuade him to come to office tomorrow.

" Well, Yes I am taking him to tutions everyday at 4AM. There is tution in the evening too. But you know we need to be very careful at this age"

What am I doing?  When was the last time I woke up at 4AM. Oh,, yes a few days back when I heard a noise from my son's room. I went there to look and found that it was  only cat. My son was still sound asleep, did he ever woke up at 4AM?

Half of the office is on leave today. I am happy to see a few of my colleagues at their table.

"Hey why are you here? When is your son's examination?"

How the hell I know that? Did we ever discussed about examination at home? Whenever he is with me he would like to hear a story or he will have a few questions about a few things that he had learned from his friends. Did he ever discussed anything about his studies?

Now I am worried. Am I not a good parent? Do I understand parenting and its duties? What I do is to have fun with my children.When will the children have any fun otherwise?  The school in which my children are studying looks to be very strict. Does not look like they have any fun at school.  My children spends a lot of time in watching TV and spends a lot of time on computer. That is wrong too. Am I failed parent?

 This is past now, the worries are a thing past now. My children has found their way in the maze of life.

Recently I had a hot discussion with somebody about having no innovations in our society. He says

"There is no real R&D happening in our country. They are just copying this from others"

No wonder. Is this not what we taught them? They copied everything from their tuition masters. They did a lot of mugging up to score high marks.  How can they be different now?  We have not told them to think and select their own ways. We took them to tutions, we told them when to get up and when to sleep, we selected what they have to study and we also selected their life partners.
Perfect it s not?

Interviews.. Interviews.... Never ending interviews

I usually get one or two requests every week from relatives of fresh graduates asking a job for them. Some requests are strange and some are stupid.

" My son got a job in Dubai, but they are asking for experience, can you please allow him to be trainee in your office? You do not have to pay him anything, he will be flying to Dubai in six months"

"His ambition is to become a lawyer, but he wants to make some money before he can pursue that. That is why he wants to work in IT"

"I told him that IT is a stupid job, just sitting in front of a computer and typing. I wanted him take EC, you know electronics is a wonderful career, but he will not listen. No..no.. He has finally taken Mechanical.. Please give him a job in your office"

"I want to get my daughter married off.. Just for few months, she will resign after the date is fixed"

I am always ready to meet new people, so I usually ask them to come and meet me. You will never know, sometimes you may be going to meet a genius though they all looks like misguided at the moment.

This was such a moment. Am I going to meet next Einstein? Did Einstein go for B. tech? He would have to if he was born in India.

"I have been looking for a job for the last one year" the next Einstein told me.

" Everybody including my career advisers told me to take Electronics and Communications since it has the highest job prospect" . I am listening, go on..

" I had got admission to IT in a Govt. college with no fees, but I choose to study EC in a self financing college". Good advisers.

" My father is in debt now since I have to pay my fees. Why you people are not employing me?" His life is in ruins and I am responsible for that.

"All those stupid fellows who went for IT got placed. I have got more marks than all of them".

My dear fellow what I can do with your marks.

Do you know any languages? I mean like C, C++?

" Yes, yes, they taught us C".

What academic project have done in C?

"My tuition sir told me that there is somebody who can prepare excellent C project. So I paid for it. Do you want to see my project report? I got full marks for this report. I admire that person who has done it for me. His fees are little high, but his work is very good. I have recommended him for my juniors."

"By the by he also prepared my Resume sir, please take a look at it. I also attended a course on how to face an interview. They will prepare us for all possible scenarios of an interview like this. So sir I come fully prepared sir, I am confident that I can pas any Interview " That is true he is even wearing a tie.

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Am I against education?

What is wrong with today's college education. We have great colleges, universities and Professors. We  have made huge investments in college education. We also have huge population that believes in the glory of college degrees.  

Well, I am not happy with the results. Why are we treating all subjects and profession the same way ? Why are we using the same model for every subject? Is it because of simplicity? For me it looks like nobody had really put any thought into it.  Or is it mediocrity? 

Today 's education is best suited for a subject like English literature. Classes by good professors may sound like "poetry". But the tragedy is that we treat Computer science same way, use the same model. I agree that some lab hours were added as an after thought. But what is needed is a new model from the ground up.  If we do not do that we are looking at a huge failure.

It is time that we do something about it.   We support the new approaches worldwide  in gaining knowledge and skills. Using canXpek.com you can talk to industry expert and get their advice about planning your career.  Using canXpek.com companies will reach you with a job offer. More over it is free now since the product is in beta testing. Please visit our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/CanXpek to know more about it.

The good for nothing Career advisers.

We have plenty of doctors and career advisers. They are always ready to give their advice free of cost.  These doctors have juts one pill for all your ails. Similarly the career advisers will tell you what to study and what not. Does this career adviser pay your tuition fees too.

 "The boom in IT sector will be over soon".

"There is no job security in IT sector, they will make you work day and night".

"If you want job security then try a government sector job".

The king of the jungle that lives in African forests do have to struggle everyday to survive. But will the caged creature with a tag "lion" in the zoo do have a lot of security in his life.

Before they try to give you their advice, please ask them in which industry are they working.  Have they got any business experience?  What type of risks have they taken in their life?  Are they another caged creature?

We need to close the loop with the advisers. Make  them  responsible for your future. Let them find you a job.

It is time that we do something about it.   We support the new approaches worldwide  in gaining knowledge and skills. Using canXpek.com you can talk to industry expert and get their advice about planning your career.  Using canXpek.com companies will reach you with a job offer. More over it is free now since the product is in beta testing. Please visit our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/CanXpek to know more about it. 

My first class in M. Tech Computer Science

Zero as a most natural Number - Dijkstra 1982

I still remember my first class in Software engineering while I was studying for M. tech.  It was also our first class by our Professor and Dept. head. He started his class by saying " It all started with Edsger Dijkstra's letter Go To Statement Considered Harmful, published in the March 1968 Communications of the ACM ". During the class he not only proved his mastery on the subject but he also demonstrated his oratory skills. I did not blink an eye and when the class was over I could hardly wait to hear his next lecture.

I had around 8 years of programming experience before I joined for my M. Tech. How I was initiated into programming and when, is another story which I will tell some other time. But here I was enjoying the campus, the subjects and lectures.  Even though I was an ardent lover of books and had read many computer science books  and journal before my M. Tech course this was my first systematic initiation into theories of computers.  I was familiar with many topics that was being taught and so I do not felt that the whole course was difficult. I should admit that I did not enjoy all classes not because the topic was bad but because the people who taught the subjects had absolutely no idea what they were talking. But as a whole it was not a bad experience.

The subject I loved most was Software engineering and my favorite teacher was of course our master orator the department head.  So after the class I was in all smiles and was walking back to the bus stop. Suddenly another student of my class came running to catchup with me to the bus stop. He told me this

" Hey it looks like you were enjoying today's class. Can you please tell me what this Go to is" .

I looked at him in astonishment, trying to comprehend the meaning of his question. I said

" What! You have not heard about Gotos".

He replied

" No"

Am I living in some other planet? Did something happened between the class and bus stop? Did I enter into some other world by mistake? I asked him

"  You are an engineering graduate and  you are telling me you have not heard about Gotos. Then how did you choose to do M. Tech in computer Science?  Did you study any programming language? ".

At that time most of courses teach either Fortran or Basic which are goto programming language.

Now thinking back, I have this question. Should we study theory first and then  acquire a skill or vice versa? Computer science courses are theories while programming is a skill.  To become a programmer one do not need theories. But as we progress in our career we have to learn it.  I had the skill and so I enjoyed the course. People having no experience was wasting their time. 

Having a degree in computer science or any other engineering branch will not make you a good programmer. Industry wants skills and not education. 

It is time that we do something about it.   We support the new approaches worldwide  in gaining knowledge and skills. Using canXpek.com you can talk to industry expert and get their advice about planning your career.  Using canXpek.com companies will reach you with a job offer. More over it is free now since the product is in beta testing. Please visit our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/CanXpek to know more about it.