Mugg It Up!

"Mug it up"-Our educational system's ultimate motto. Millions of students follow this motto with infallible faith. All trying to progress and reach the title of the ultimate mugger. I myself was part of this- Mug Till You Die - system. Though my passing was rather peaceful, I have certain resentments. Some things could have been changed, some rules bent, some policies could have been made more malleable which could have made my journey through this period not only interesting and exiting but also more productive. We all could be living quite different lives. We could have been doing things that we truly WANT and not the things that have been thrown to us as scrap. We could have unleashed our true potential. We could have reached goals that we now deem unassailable. We could have, we should have, we did not. But, we still can.

By now you must have realized that I am going to propose a change in the educational system. But first I must justify my cause. Our system stresses on word to word definitions, theories, dates and names rather than ideas, experiments and free thinking. They continue teaching us age old discarded ideas with unrelenting diligence rather than bringing us up to date with its present applications and helping us understand its impact. Perhaps, the biggest flaw is that they consider Extra-Curricular activities as Extra-Curricular activities. Our system has trampled the free mind and proliferated the Muggers. It forces the students into pools of books and subjects that may mean nothing to them. What would a Artist make use of Biology or Mathematics? What would a Doctor make do of History? But, still I am not that against the teaching of all such subjects as I am on their complete ignorance on the importance of "extra-curricular" as I believe time spent on acquiring any time of knowledge is not a lost cause. Also their entire idea of literally putting up boards of "NO TRESPASSING" and "BEWARE OF FAILURE" for field experiments is also a major flaw that nobody seems to correct. How can we ever understand the practical applications if we never see it made and worked in practical life? Our system may argue "Students who are truly interested would do it all by themselves..." Well, my dear educational system, is your aim to provide education at all levels to all children for practical life or is it to just teach the truly interested students? And have you considered the possibility that some students might be interested in fields that you do not provide any assistance in? And isnt it our country's idea to give education to all students in all walks of life? If you still stand steadfast to your views then I suggest you change your name from Educational System to Muggers World.

Now for my proposed changes. I am not saying that this SHOULD be the change, rather this COULD be the change is my view. Someday, I'd like to see the reforms of educational system kept up on the net just like like an open source software with the source code available to everyone so that everyone can make a contribution in the required change.

• Languages, Mathematics and Sciences should remain mandatory till grade 8 for they give us an idea of what we want to be in the mainstream world. We can pursue the subject of our interest and finally choose our career.
• An extra subject should be added from grade 1 in the mainstream studies covering Arts including Music, Drama, Creative Writing etc. It should be made as important as the mainstream subject. The students in their first 4 years should be given a basic understanding of the arts and from grade 5 they should make a choice.
• Sports should also be mandatory at least 3 times a week. And all students must be encouraged. Students who can make a choice early choice of which sports they want to play should be allowed to do so and for those who cant all help should be provided. We must work assiduously to maintain the physical well being of all students.
• After 8th students should be allowed to choose the subjects of their choice from ninth. These can include anything from Economics to Physics, History to Biology etc. The students should take up a minimum load of 5 subjects and maximum load of 7 subjects. The students themselves should decide the load of their studies for their interests. All kinds of counseling should be given to help the children to choose their subjects.
• A student should also be allowed to change the subjects until a certain time period.
  
• Math and English should still be made a mandatory till 10th. The other 4 subjects can be chosen by the student. For example, a student aspiring to do in the Scientific field(By now th student must at least have an idea of what field he must take-Science, Commerce, Art, Athletics) he should select Biology, Physics and Chemistry as minimum load. Its the same thing that we select in 11th but I personally think this choice should be given to us much earlier on.
  
• If a student is diligent and has clear goals he can choose more specific subjects. For example, if a student wants to be a Geologist he can choose Geology, Physics and Chemistry or any alternate subject that would help him in his goal. This focus on subjects will prove to be very helpful.
  

• To make choices simple it should be given in this form to students:

1. Science: Physics, Chemistry and Subject Of Your Choice
2. Commerce: Business Studies, Economics and Subject Of Your Choice
3. Arts: All Subjects Your Choice
4. Athletics: Two subjects of their choice as safety net and one subject devoted to Sports

• The student according to his choice can pursue the subjects he loves the things he likes and prosper as he should.
• The student should still continue to have weekly once arts classes and sports sessions but it should not be now considered as a mandatory subject. If the student wants to still continue he/she can do that too by taking it up as an extra subject in his course.
• In Grade 11, the student must be given a deeper choice. If a student wants to be a doctor he can take up Physics, Chemistry and Biology. The student should now be allowed to drop Mathematics and English. The student can also opt to continue any subject he likes. But the maximum should not exceed 5.
  
• The school should help the students make the choice of subjects, career and hobbies from 1st Grade itself. The school should guide the students in the right path. And the right path is the path of interest and aspirations of the students.
  
• In this way a student can be trained in specific ways. Suppose you want to be go into the movie business. You take up arts in 9th grade. You select Dramatics, Literature/Creative Writing, Basics For Motion Picture Making/Photography etc. If intelligent you can take up an extra subject of Finance or Event Management. In 11th imagine you decide to be a Director you can take up Intermediate For Motion Picture Making and take other similar subjects. In this subjects you learn may include from Screenwriting and Directing through to Cinematography and Editing. So you learn what you need. Of course its your second subject can be your Safety Net. You can choose Literature. Of course instead of Literature you can choose Psychology, Fashion Designing etc. It depends on what you want your safety net to be.

• So you see you can choose your own subjects depending on what you want to do and what you want to be and what you want to achieve.
• All subjects must have field projects no matter what. There should be at least field projects per subject per year and should be included in marking scheme.
  
• And interactive learning should be encouraged. New technologies and techniques must be used.
  
• The teachers must be supervised from time to time.
• The schools infrastructure must be closely maintained.
• All the small courses like Religion, Moral etc should be allowed to continue.
  

Now, this is all I could think of at moment. From time to time I shall try to improve this blog. To bring it to a more organized format. For this is a subject close to my heart. I believe that the children if allowed to mold themselves the world will see a boom in novelty.There will be new creations, innovativeness, new technologies and unbelievable works of arts.

Free thinking, practical applications, personal interests with basic knowledge should be the base of an education system. This system will not only give responsible citizens but also more productive and much more happier citizens who love their work. The people who love their work obviously do better.

I do not know how many of you approve of this proposed system. I know that my writing this is not going to change anything now. But maybe someday a person in position may be able to change the system. Maybe that person is you. I know, far-fetched. But I cant help it. I am an ardent optimist. But still Impossible is Nothing...