Tuesday, January 31, 2012

VALUE OF EDUCATION: TWO COMPETING THEORIES

by - Jayshrita Bhagabati
When we discuss the various issues associated with education, perhaps one thing we would never argue about is the very importance of education itself. Going to school is probably considered the bane of their existence by almost every kid who sets foot within the confines of that insufferable place (!) but before long an appreciation of the value of formal learning does awaken in the minds of almost every student, so that hate it or love it, we tend to accept the process of going to specific educational institutions as an integral part of this journey called life. This happens to be especially true for countries like India which place an overriding importance on educational degrees over most extracurricular activities, which in turn accounts for the more impressive performance of India in this field vis-a-vis others.
Lesser known is the fact that there are two competing theories on why education is important, one known as the human capital view of education – the better known and easily deducible one- and other is the signaling theory of education.

The human capital view stresses the importance of the development of skills in production activities. When applied to the field of education it says that getting educated is desirable since it raises workers’ productivity and hence their demand by firms and consequently their wages. In short, the human capital theory argues that an educated population is a productive population and increasing the level of formal education though public investment is naturally desirable for greater economic prosperity of a nation. The concept has relatively more importance in labour surplus regions since the surplus human resource can be transformed into human capital with effective inputs of education, health and moral values.
In contrast, the signaling theory of education believes that education does not enhance productivity and firms merely use the educational credentials of prospective employees to distinguish between individuals with high natural ability and individuals with low natural ability. Assuming that there are just these two kinds of people who exist in the world, it would cost the people with high natural ability less time and effort to acquire an education than the latter. Hence if education is sufficiently costly for the low ability individuals (in terms of the above factors) only the high ability individuals will invest in the same, thus signaling their higher productivity to the employers. The concept was first introduced by Nobel laureate Michael Spence who discovered even if education did not contribute anything to an employee’s productivity, it could still have value for both the employee and the employer by allowing ‘deserving’ employees to get their due (though it might not always work perfectly such as when the high ability individuals are unable to afford education or the low ability individuals are able to get private schooling).
The significance of the signaling theory is that the public funding of education, especially of higher education, is questioned. However since one cannot disqualify the human capital view of education entirely since it has been found to hold water under empirical studies and historical evidences and the relative impacts of the two processes are unknown, the main question that remains now is regarding the appropriate level of public funding. 

The loyal Ekalavya

by - Tejaswini Jayanthy

The education system in India and the world today is deteriorating day by day . With  the cover of technology all the schools sell education for a high price . Education today in the school or college system is a race for ranks . The teachers and the environment in the system today just focus on the student’s performance in exams rather than on working on their overall development to face the world of tomorrow . As they are so not concern about student’s life except for their marks and publicity of their brand name ! But this was not the case with ancient education system where there were no exams but the student was great at the subject , no fee yet teachers always wanted their students to make a mark.


                               
In ancient India ,learning deep about their religion also played a major role in the education system. A number of subjects other than religion were taught to students as a part of their occupational study or even general study. These included subjects such as mathematics, medicine, metallurgy, magic, music, art of warfare, sculpting, temple building, commerce, pottery, weaving and so on. Since the occupations were based upon castes, children were initiated into the secrets of their traditional vocations from a very early age.


                                Admission into the gurukula was not an easy process. A student had to convince his guru that he had the desire, the determination and the required intelligence to pursue the studies and had to serve him for years before he was admitted into the school and initiated into the subjects. Students in the gurukulas were subjected to rigorous discipline. They had to live in a very austere environment and practice yoga and meditation under the supervision of the master and also perform many menial jobs for the master's household. On specific occasions they had to undergo fasting as a necessary means of purification and mastery of the body and mind.
                                Sometimes if the Guru traveled to other places, the students accompanied him. Girls were not admitted to the Gurukulas. They were not even allowed to study like the boys. Ancient India had some educated women, like Maitreyi, wife of Yajnavalkya, who were generally related to some seers and sages or wives of some great kings. But it is doubtful if ordinary women in ancient India had any role other than performing household duties and procreation . This was one of the greatest disadvantages of this system.
                                  Ancient India had a number of universities and centers of education, where not one guru but several lived together and taught to groups of students different subjects.
         
The knowledge in these orders was often related to the tasks a section of the society had to perform . The priest class, the Brahmins, were imparted knowledge of religion, philosophy, and other ancillary branches while the warrior class , the Kshatriya, were trained in the various aspects of warfare. The business class , the Vaishya , were taught their trade and the working class of the Shudras  was generally deprived of educational advantages. The book of laws, the Manusmriti , and the treatise on statecraft the Arthashastra were among the influential works of  the ancient Indian system which reflect the outlook and understanding of the world at the time.


                                    After imparting such knowledge  the individuals attained the capacity to overcome different situations of life . Hence the ancient education system always played a key role in the over all development of a student.
                                 
                                                 Let us see a story of the long-gone era as an example. Nearly five thousand years back, lived a boy named Eklavya, the son of a tribal chief in the forests of the kingdom- Hastinapura. Eklavya was a brave, handsome boy. He was loved by all. But he was not happy.
His father saw that something troubled Eklavya. More than once he found his son lost deep in thought when other boys enjoyed the pleasures of hunting and playing. One day the father asked his son, “Why are you so unhappy, Eklavya? Why don’t you join your friends? Why are you not interested in hunting?”.
“Father, I want to be an archer” replied Eklavya, “I want to become a disciple of the great Dronacharya, the great tutor of Archery in Hastinapura. His Gurukul is a magical place where ordinary boys are turned into mighty warriors.”
Eklavya saw his father was silent. He continued, “ Father, I know that we belong to the hunting tribe, but I want to be a warrior, father, not a mere hunter. So please allow me to leave home and become the disciple of Dronacharya.”
Eklavya's father was troubled, for he knew that his son’s ambition was not an easy one. But the chief was a loving father and he did not want to refuse his only son’s wish. So the kind man gave his blessings and sent his son on his way to Drona’s Gurukul.
Eklavya set on his way. Soon he reached the part of the forest where Drona taught the princes of Hastinapur.
A Gurukul (Guru refers to "teacher" or "master"; Kul refers to his domain, from the Sanskrit word kula, meaning extended family.) is a type of ancient Hindu school in India that is residential in nature with the shishyas or students and the guru or teacher living in proximity, many a time within the same house. The Gurukul is the place where the students resided together as equals, irrespective of their social standing. The students learned from the guru and also helped the guru in his day-to-day life, including the carrying out of mundane chores such as washing clothes, cooking, etc. The education imparted thus, was a wholesome one.
Having said this much, let us now return to Eklavya. When the boy reached Dronacharya’s Gurukul, he saw that it consisted of a group of huts, surrounded by trees and an archery yard. The disciples were practicing to shoot arrows with their bows and arrows in the yard. It was an engaging sight. But Eklavya’s eyes searched Drona. Where was he? Will he be able to see the man? Without Drona, all his purpose of coming here would be meaningless. But all his worries soon subsided. He didn’t have to wait for long. There was the man standing near a tree busy instructing a boy, who was none else than the third Pandava prince Arjuna, as Eklavya came to know later. Though Eklavya had never seen Drona before, he put his guess at work. He went near Drona and bowed.
The sage was surprised to see a strange boy addressing him. “Who are you?” he asked.
"Dronacharya, I am Eklavya, son of the Tribal Chief in the western part of the forests of Hastinapura." Eklavya replied. "Please accept me as your disciple and teach me the wonderful art of Archery."
Drona sighed. "Eklavya..." said he,"... if you are a tribal hunter, you must be a Shudra, the lowest social community according to the Vedic Caste System. I am a Brahmin, the highest caste in the kingdom. I cannot teach a Shudra boy."
"And he's also a Royal teacher," interrupted Prince Arjuna. "Our Guru has been appointed by the King to train us, the princes and the highborn. How dare you come inside the Gurukul and seek him? Leave! NOW!" he spat out, looking enraged that Eklavya had disturbed his practice.
Eklavya was stunned at Arjuna's behaviour. He himself was the son of the chief of his clan, but he never insulted anyone below him in such a way. He looked at Drona for some kind of support, but the sage remained silent. The message was loud and clear. Dronacharya also wanted him to leave. He refused to teach him.
The innocent tribal boy was deeply hurt by Drona's refusal to teach him. "It's not fair!" he thought miserably. "God has given knowledge to all, but man alone differentiates his kind."
He left the place with a broken heart and a bitter taste in his mouth. But it could not shatter his ambition to learn Archery. He was still as determined to learn Archery.
"I may be a Shudra but does it make any difference?" thought he. " I am as strong and zealous as Drona's princes and disciples. If I practice the art everyday, I can surely become an archer."
Eklavya reached his own forests and took some mud from a nearby river. He made a statue of Dronacharya and selected a secluded clearing in the forests to place it. Eklavya did this because he faithfully believed that if he practiced before his Guru, he would become an able archer. Thus, though his Guru shunned him, he still held him in high esteem and thought of him as his Guru.
Day after day, he took his bow and arrow, worshipped the statue of Drona and started practice. In time faith, courage and perseverance transformed Eklavya the mere tribal hunter into Eklavya the extraordinary archer. Eklavya became an archer of exceptional prowess, superior even to Drona's best pupil, Arjuna.
One day while Eklavya is practicing, he hears a dog barking. At first the boy ignored the dog, but continuous disturbance in his practice angered him. He stopped his practice and went towards the place where the dog was barking. Before the dog could shut up or get out of the way, Eklavya fired seven arrows in rapid succession to fill the dog's mouth without injuring it. As a result it roamed the forests with its mouth opened.
But Eklavya was not alone in his practice. He was unaware of the fact that just some distance away, the Pandava princes were also present in that area of the forest. As fate would have it, that day, they had come with their teacher, Drona, who was instructing them about some finer points of archery by making them learn in the real-life condition of the open jungle.
As they were busy practicing, they suddenly chanced upon the "stuffed" dog, and wonder who could have pulled off such a feat of archery. Drona was amazed too." Such an excellent aim can only come from a mighty archer." he exclaimed. He told the Pandavas that if somebody was such a good archer then he surely needed to be met. The practice was stopped and together they began searching the forest for the one behind such amazing feat. They found a dark-skinned man dressed all in black, his body besmeared with filth and his hair in matted locks. It was Eklavya. Dronacharya went up to him.


"Your aim is truly remarkable!" Drona praised Eklavya, and asked "From whom did you learn Archery?"
Eklavya was thrilled to hear Drona's praises. How surprised he will be if he told Drona that he, in fact was his Guru!
"From you my Master. You are my Guru," Eklavya replied humbly.
"Your Guru? How can I be your Guru? I have never seen you before!" Drona exclaimed in surprise. But all of a sudden he remembered something. He remembered about an eager boy who had visited his Gurukul several months ago. " Now I remember," said he. "Are you not the same hunter boy whom I refused admission in my Gurukul some months back?"
"Yes, Dronacharya", replied the boy. "After I left your Gurukul, I came home and made a statue like you and worshipped it every day. I practiced before your image. You refused to teach me, but your statue did not. Thanks to it, I have become a good archer."
Hearing this, Arjuna became angry. "But you promised me that you'd make me the best archer in the world!" he accused Drona. "Now how can that be? Now a common hunter has become better than me!"
The other princes remembered their master frequently praising Arjuna that he had immense talent and will be the greatest archer in the kingdom. They waited with bated breath. What will their teacher do now?
Unable to answer Arjuna's question, Drona remained silent. The sage too was upset that his promise to Prince Arjuna was not going to be fulfilled. He was also angry with Eklavya for disobeying him. So the sage planned to punish Eklavya.
"Where is your guru dakhsina? You have to give me a gift for your training," the sage demanded. He had finally found a way to make Eklavya suffer for his disobedience.
Eklavya was overjoyed. A guru dakshina was the voluntary fee or gift offered by a disciple to his guru at the end of his training. The guru-shishya parampara, i.e. the teacher-student tradition, was a hallowed tradition in Hinduism. At the end of a shishya's study, the guru asks for a "guru dakshina," since a guru does not take fees. A guru dakshina is the final offering from a student to the guru before leaving the ashram. The teacher may ask for something or nothing at all.
"Dronacharya, I'll be the happiest person on earth to serve you. Ask me anything and I will offer it to you as my guru dhakshina "he said.
"I might ask something you don't like to give me. What if you refuse the dhakshina I want?" Drona asked cunningly.
Eklavya was shocked. It was considered a grave insult and a great sin if a guru's dakshina was refused. "No! How can I, teacher? I am not that ungrateful. I'll never refuse anything you ask, Dronacharya," promised the unsuspecting boy.
Drona did not wait anymore. "Eklavya, I seek to have your right-hand thumb as my guru dhakshina" he declared.
Silence befell on everyone. Everyone was shocked, even Arjuna. He looked at his teacher in horror and disbelief. How could their teacher make such a cruel demand? That too, from a mere boy?
For a moment Eklavya stood silent. Without his thumb he could never shoot arrows again. But the teacher must be satisfied. "Ok Gurudev, as you wish." said he. Then, without the slightest hesitation, Eklavya drew out his knife and cut his thumb!
The princes gasped at Eklavya's act of bravery. But the tribal boy betrayed no signs of pain, and held out his severed thumb to Dronacharya.
"Here is my guru dakshina, Drona", Ekalavya said. "I am happy that you have made me your disciple, even if I'm a mere Shudra hunter."
The sage was humbled. He blessed the young archer for his courage. "Eklavya, even with out your thumb, you'll be known as a great archer. I bless you that you will be remembered forever for your loyalty to your guru," Drona declared and left the forests. He was moved and grieved at his own action. But he was content that his promise to Arjuna was not broken. The Gods blessed Eklavya from above.


But despite his handicap, Eklavya continued to practice archery. How could he do so? When one is dedicated, one can make even mountains bow. With practice, Eklavya could shoot arrows with his index and middle finger and he became a greater archer than he was ever before. His renown spread far and wide. When Drona came to know this, he blessed the boy silently and begged for divine forgiveness.
And true to Drona's blessing, Eklavya is still praised as the most loyal and brave student in the epic of Mahabharatha.
                  So from this we can realise that if students put in sincere efforts to achieve something , there is nothing which can stop !!

Importance of being TECH savvy

by - Vishakha Gopinath

299 792 458 m/s this is the speed of light and what is the speed of the advancement in technology?? It’s the same! Yes today technology is moving at the speed of light. So fast that if we buy any technology related products this month it would turn out to be out dated after 3 or 4 months. Today’s world runs on TECHNOLOGY you can’t actually do anything without gadgets. It is not only important for those who have a serious career or who have a lot of appointments. Even students who are expected to study all day can’t survive without this fast moving technology; I mean they too have blackberries and iphones. The senior citizens who are expected to sit at home living on their pension and enjoying their retired life, have facebook profiles and know exactly how to send a friend request to their friend who sat with them in the same class back in 1965.  


Since the advancement of technology is happing super fast it is natural that we too have to move with it, in other words we ought to be tech savvy. Some people however have given up this option and still try to be comfortable using Microsoft word 2003 on their computers that run on oldest operating system. It all started with the basic computer & the basic oversized phone or mobile. It was difficult to carry the information on the computer so the floppy was invented, then later CD’s and then the entire computer could be carried along with you, this today is known as the Laptop. This later turned out to be heavy so the Palmtop was invented. Simultaneously the pen drive, phones with Bluetooth and later Phones that had the entire computer in it! The I-phone! One of the huge massive inventions that had ever hit the population of the globe. It does not end with all this the I-phone has different versions. Simultaneously came the blackberry and the KINDS of personal computers and palmtops, cameras, phones with various application etc… once I start listing the inventions I might not be able to stop.
Today it is a must to know what gadgets that run the world’s population else it is really hard to survive. The advancement of technology has hit each and every sector the population survives on. Starting from publishing a simple news letter to imparting education among the students, technology plays a very important role. As far as education is concerned, being tech savvy helps in many ways, learners can now access innovative content around-the-clock without wasting time and money, commuting to and from campus locations.  Being tech-savvy enough to navigate and use eLearning courses to their full potential is a quality that maximizes knowledge intake and minimizes costs. To add to that school children who have taken up a foreign language can practice, in real-time, their skills with school children in other countries.  In this case, being-tech savvy opens doors we never thought possible.
 

Radio and communications is a career path that interests many young students. In order to give them an early start, it's best that radio learning take place in a classroom environment. In the past large amounts of equipment were necessary, but with the advent of Internet radio, teaching students how to create podcasts and how to be tech savvy is becoming easier on educators. Another use of being tech savvy is getting students to work in groups. Working together in groups is one of the most essential skills that people need in the workplace. By encouraging students to put together radio pieces, students are challenged to work together to complete a project. In addition to learning how to cut sound and mix programs, students will learn how to divide responsibility and how to problem solve not only technical issues but also group dynamics. While students could learn this through writing a group paper, the medium of radio, or the internet may prove more challenging as well as more fun. Distance learning which is another advantage thanks to the advancement in technology has helped a million students to acquire their degree without actually attending the college and sitting in the classrooms. Students today just have to register online to a university that supports distance education and make sure that the notes sent to them via e-mail or post are studied. Later writing an online exam would give them a degree! This is one of the major advantages of being tech savvy. Perusing a degree or doing a job online, can now be done sitting at home!  You just have to know the exact method of doing it.
 

As more technology becomes available, it is clear that being tech-savvy can simplify daily life.  Whether it is checking out your groceries at the local supermarket or picking up your kids from school, technology is present.  We should take advantage of the opportunities we have to absorb technology in order to start working with it rather than against it.  Just like those generation “Y” learners, we need to jump on the technology ship and start racing full speed ahead !!