A case for open academic spaces
As students are penalised for independent thinking, universities and colleges are losing their spirit
The
task of a modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts.
–
C.S. Lewis
Chronicles
of Narnia
Let
this prescription resonate loud and clear in all the educational institutions
of the country. Colleges and universities must regain the spirit they lost ever
since they turned into degree-production units.
With
the proliferation of professional educational institutions, the concept of
colleges underwent a radical change from a sarvakalashala to an extended
school system with closed academic spaces, where students are often penalised
for independent thinking: forget about thinking aloud.
The
severest exposition of this syndrome was the banning of student politics from some
colleges and universities based on the naive argument that universities and
colleges are spaces for learning. Of course, they are. But learning is much
more than what lies within the lines of textbooks and what is learnt in
enclosed classrooms. Higher educational institutions today have become more
important in shaping one’s career and much less in shaping one’s character.
Mandatory
attendance to the tune of 25 per cent to 50 per cent or more is a norm in most
of the universities today. The attendance norm is tied to eligibility to write
examinations. Attendance is also a major criterion that determines a student’s
internal evaluation marks or grades.
Attendance issues
But
where is this concept of mandatory attendance coming from? It is one way of
ensuring the presence of students on the campus, irrespective of how productive
those time periods actually are. Taking attendance towards the fag end of a
free hour is not uncommon in many colleges — just to make sure that students
cannot move far.
The
so-called benevolent objective of preventing students from straying by
restraining their movement in effect means curtailing the space that students
have in order to be creative, innovative and productive in their own youthful
ways. The more pronounced but unspoken objective of this policy is to fill the
classes handled by less effective teachers.
In
this era of the Internet, where every item of information you need, and more,
is virtually at your fingertips, students are unwilling to settle for the
ordinary. When the teacher is not passionate enough and is shallow in terms of
knowledge, and confines himself/herself to the standard textbooks or guides, it
is highly likely that classrooms will be half-empty unless mandatory attendance
is enforced. The recent pronouncement by the Patna High Court in All India
Students Federation vs State of Bihar is laudable against this backdrop,
for holding that lack of attendance alone cannot be a ground to debar a student
from appearing in examinations.
This
is often a tool, or rather a weapon, used by teachers and the administration to
exercise control over students. With high weightage given for internal marks in
the total, pleasing your teacher becomes more of an academic exercise than a
token of courtesy or respect. This is a mechanism that makes sure that all
those who failed to be in the good books of those who matter suffer, by getting
a back paper in the final examinations, losing a chance to appear for placement
interviews, or to join a job that they secured.
Attitudes change
These
practices also directly curtail the scope of academic discourse and diversity
of opinions, which should ideally enrich our classrooms. Thus, the mechanism
only serves to make a bunch of compliant and conformist beings who would think
twice before seeking to stand for themselves, and forget about others. Those
times when the pain was felt by everyone when one of us is hurt, is fast
disappearing. The prevalent attitude of students in universities today is safe
play — if something does not directly affect us, why bother? Why should we
unnecessarily get into trouble?
That
is the lost spirit of the universities: the spirit of togetherness, humaneness
and righteousness.
Source | The Hindu | 3 May 2016
Regards
Pralhad Jadhav
Senior Manager @ Library
Khaitan & Co
Best Paper Award | Received the Best Paper
Award at TIFR-BOSLA National Conference on Future Librarianship: Innovation for
Excellence (NCFL 2016) on April 23, 2016. The title of the paper is “Removing Barriers to Literacy: Marrakesh VIP
Treaty”
Note | If anybody use these post for
forwarding in any social media coverage or covering in the Newsletter please
give due credit to those who are taking efforts for the same.
No comments:
Post a Comment