suraj Posted March 15, 2009 Posted March 15, 2009 back to the OP I have a similar problem concentrating on work because of ICF
Lurker Posted March 15, 2009 Posted March 15, 2009 What is fun about sitting the night before the exam and mugging up the locations of Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary or the Mt.K2 on an India map? Who gave you the impression that studies/exams is about fun?? You should probably read up on Lal Bahadur Shashtri who would swim across river with his books on top of his head(to keep them from getting wet) just to get education. Oh wait, you obviously dont like history. Strike out that suggestion please. xxx
Lord Posted March 15, 2009 Author Posted March 15, 2009 Rox, u studying for your undergrad / post grad exams? what course? i'm studying for (or trying to study for)exams for BCOM-II
The Outsider Posted March 15, 2009 Posted March 15, 2009 Sriram, you are pointing out the flaws in our education system - a lot of which I agree with. But that does not detract from my point that at school level all these subjects should be taught. Knowledge of the highest peaks in the world or why cotton is grown in Maharashtra and not UP is certainly not a bad thing. And why are you guys complaining only about the Social Sciences here? It's not as if Physics or Math was taught to you in a radically more interesting way. It's just that you realized with the help of your parents, relatives, friends, and the society that going through the grind is going to put you in a better job position in the future. So you do not complain about that as much.
punjabi_khota Posted March 15, 2009 Posted March 15, 2009 I disagree with the sentiment about learning different subjects is a useless exercise at school level - the examination system is bad in certain situations specially in India, but school level knowledge should not be about specializations anyway. If anything the system in India is way too rigid. Why should I have to choose between Arts, Science, Math, Biology at the age of 15? Personally, I was really interested in Geography but had to drop it becaus I could not study it with Physics. In undergrad I could not take up Economics as a minor to my honors subject, Physics. I had to wait till grad school in the US to do a lot of things I wanted to do, making it a point to take one subject out of my field every semester after the qualifying exam - Economics, wine tasting, Anthropology. I don't use any of these things directly in my profession, but it was just for fun and knowledge which is what education should be all about. Personally, I am yet to come across a 'boring' subject if taught and learnt with the pursuit of gaining an understanding. What's wrong with knowing which soil is found where and is conduciv to the cultivation of which crops or where Kanchenjuga is if taught in the right spirit. School education is supposed to he fun about learning as diverse things as possible rather than making yourself an expert in solving complex differential equations. There is enough time in life for all that. I strongly agree with this post. :two_thumbs_up: I regret not knowing enough world and Indian history as is. Although I agree we should all be learning more about India, I thnk learning about the world is even more important since we live in a globalized environent now, and it helps to know where the other person is coming from. History is probably the most important subject, if learnt in a right way in school. For math and such, there is always college and grad school.
Dhondy Posted March 15, 2009 Posted March 15, 2009 History is overrated. Depends on who's telling it.
ludhianvi Posted March 15, 2009 Posted March 15, 2009 History is overrated. Depends on who's telling it. History = His story
punjabi_khota Posted March 15, 2009 Posted March 15, 2009 History is overrated. Depends on who's telling it. Maybe if you read enough sources, you can get some truth out of it ?
The Outsider Posted March 15, 2009 Posted March 15, 2009 History is overrated. Depends on who's telling it. True, but a logical collaboration with Science can lead pretty close to what actually transpired. And in this day of inter disciplinary studies where Math invented to describe how saw dust particles behave in water is being used to model stock markets, where statistical tools developed to explain how dark matter clusters are being used to explain how neurons communicate, it's disappointing to see subjects being derided upon. Say no one new or attempted to climb the Everest we would have missed out or at least taken much longer to graduate to space travel.
fineleg Posted March 15, 2009 Posted March 15, 2009 I agree with shwetabh and Lurker. School is a time to learn and explore different subjects - not just "Math, Phy, Chem, CompSc/Biology" - even in Class XI and Class XII - they should not have "restricted" to MPCC or MPCB By the way - this reason given by shwetabh is very real in India " It's just that you realized with the help of your parents, relatives, friends, and the society that going through the grind is going to put you in a better job position in the future. So you do not complain about that as much." This is the time when general education in different fields are given. The Indian education system has problems for sure, but the requirement to study History, Civics, Geography is not a bad thing. It provides a foundation. When else do you learn all that? In your job while writing C++?? History or Geography can be as much fun as C++ or Integrated chip design However teachers need to teach it the right way and involve students with field trips, games etc.
Mr. Wicket Posted March 15, 2009 Posted March 15, 2009 Indeed fineleg; I had some outstanding teachers (in an English middle school equivalent system) in history and geography... the subjects can be boring as hell if taught badly (that can be said for anything though), but I was pretty fortunate to have teachers who encouraged a real interest in those subjects (as well as several others). And I certainly did remember a lot of it (or have my memory refreshed) when travelling to places like Italy, France and England much later on - being able to explore a place like Versailles or the Tower of London and really appreciate some of what took place there a few hundred yrs ago does make one very grateful for a good education and good teachers.
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