Having a discussion with a friend of mine at lunch left me thinking and contemplating: what does best education get you?
Maybe we need a few definitions of what is best, and how will you judge your success to be part of this “best” education anyone receives. Growing up in India, education is of prime importance, its almost every middle class parents dream that their sons or daughters would be doctors and engineers: nothing less is acceptable. My parents stayed apart for almost 10 years to give us a stable schooling and also the best school in Andaman Nicobar Islands: Carmel High School. Why was it the best: it was English medium, convent school with great 10th class results. What did I benefit from that school, or that period of my life that I still carry in me today: my friends and library. It wasn’t the school which introduced my to libraries and my love for it, it was my dad. After 10th, was the paradox of education system, I moved to a government school called Model School, and so did all of my friends; and we all made it into a great school to study. Any school, but it was all the tuitions after class for physics, math, biology, chemistry that shaped our minds to question and us to survive after 12th. Even to this day when my friends from school meet or talk, we drool over our tuition days, we all miss those nights.
12th class results almost shape your remaining life, whether you can make it into engineering or medicine. I can speak for engineering as that was what I chose, but what did I do the 4 years of engineering, my achievements. I did get a BTech degree, but did I learn 4 years worth of engineering: No. Who is it to blame, education system or me? But does it matter, as what I gained in those 4 years shaped me. I lived in a hostel, I could think independently, live independently, take up responsibilities, shape my life in any way desired, made friends for lifetime.
Engineering college should guide you to your job, but sometimes destiny has different plans for you. I landed up in Mumbai, teaching, how was it related to my engineering college, which is a “Regional Engineering College, now National Institute of Tech”, next only to IITs. My answer would be nowhere. The students that I taught were very smart, intelligent, they in their rights should be in the best college, and they were, it was one of the best in Mumbai. Driving home the point, best is comparative and self defined? What happens to the best of Indian IITs when compared to MIT.
Than there is all the population in the world, like me, who does not come 1st in our classes, but are smart and intelligent J . I have done well in life, but was it because of my education only, or was it the right opportunity and more than 90% luck. You can be smart, intelligent and unfortunately unlucky: what do you do? Hope your luck switches.
I have a cousin, who was not very good at studies, but was smart. She is independent and working, she has made a life for herself, and I admire her guts. If India did not see this unprecedented growth in IT and call center, many of our middle class would be lower middle class, and my cousin might not have found a job. Even the best education, and a topper of colleges could not find a job sometimes. Hyderabad is an example of how this culture of coming to US for Masters has changed every household, has given hope of a good life in US for even an average student. On the other hand are the brilliant students in Calcutta, but why someone from every household is not here, why does an average student in Calcutta have to struggle even harder to have a good comfortable life. Doesn’t Calcutta have some of the best schools of India, when compared to Hyderabad. Many of my friends have great jobs in India because of the current India, and many of them would forgo any great American education although it is the best. And I have to say, I do envy them as all of a sudden, India is happening.
Everything is how we perceive. Good education is a must, but than there are these many uncontrollable forces which define our path in life, our positions in life. If only school could shape a human being, wouldn’t it be an easy job being a parent. I agree we should strive for betterment, for a better school, for a better life, for everything better than what we have today. What if I strive to be just happy?
