THE HINDU EDITORIAL : MAY 22, 2018
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THE HINDU EDITORIAL : MAY 22, 2018
THE HINDU EDITORIAL like many other sections will be the imperative one to crack the forthcoming exams like SBI PO 2018, SBI Clerk 2018 and DENA BANK PO Exam 2018. Learn new vocabulary words routinely.
The classroom as the instructor’s castle
Some months ago, a global leader of the IT industry set sections of India’s corporate-sector elite aflutter with the comment that Indians are not creative. It is possible to disagree with the criterion Steve Wozniak, a co-founder of Apple Computer, had adopted while at the same time agreeing with some of his observations. He had predicted that Indians are unlikely to create world-leading IT companies because they lack the creativity to do so and argued that this has to do with the education system.
While building global IT giants may have more to do with an appetite for growing a business rather than anything else, Mr. Wozniak’s assessment of India’s education system is sharp. He traced the lack of creativity to an education system that rewarded studiousness over independent thought. He also managed an anthropological take when he identified the ‘MBA and the Merc’ as the mark of success in India’s corporate world. For good measure he likened this to the culture of Singapore, but here he may have missed a trick. The per capita income of Singaporeans is quite close to that of Americans. And that country has achieved much of what it set out to do when it struck off on its own, which was to turn a swampy colonial port into a prosperous city state proudly independent of world powers. Also, it has a national leadership more educated and responsible than what the U.S. has currently. Singapore’s orderly society may not be everybody’s cup of tea but its history suggests one way we could identify the creativity of a people as a whole. That is, a people are truly creative when they are able to collectively surmount the challenges that their country faces.
Crisis in higher education
Actually, what India is experiencing in higher education today is far worse than merely the production of studious but creativity-challenged youth. There is abetment of a toxic productivity whereby our universities churn out youth with a poor grasp of the subject matter that they are expected to know and an even poorer understanding of the challenges that India today faces, for which they alone can provide the solutions. This is particularly troubling as public expenditure on education in India favours higher education far more than elsewhere in the world when schooling is severely neglected by comparison. In addition, this is a sector so micro-managed that it answers to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s description of the Indian economy in the 1990s as “over regulated and under governed” better than the economy itself. So, neither funding nor neglect can be blamed for the lack of vitality in India’s institutions of higher education.
Universities are embedded in society and cannot be expected to naturally rise above them. Close to 50 years ago, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen had spoken of a ‘crisis in Indian education’ pointing to how India’s educational policy had been shaped by the aspiration of its middle class. Creativity is unlikely to have been a part of it. However, it is precisely to ensure that there is no sectional capture of public institutions intended to serve a larger purpose that we have public regulators. While there is more than one regulator for the higher education sector in India, for sheer reach the University Grants Commission (UGC) is unmatched. To say that it has a major responsibility in the state of affairs that we are experiencing in higher education would be an understatement. The government would be advised to follow email discussions of UGC regulations circulating on the Internet right now to garner a sense of how wide the resentment against the body is.
Journal publication
The bone of contention is the basis on which the regulator identifies ‘recognised’ journals, publication in which alone earns credit for faculty. Having drawn up such a list a couple of years ago, the Commission appears to have now backtracked. Possibly stung by the claim that an astonishingly high percentage of the journals on its original list are of dubious distinction — the term for which is ‘predatory’ in that they either solicit articles to be published for a fee or follow no clear refereeing procedure — the UGC has suddenly trimmed the list. This has led to questions of the criterion that has been used.
While predatory journals are not a uniquely Indian problem, the problem appears to be more grave here, and has possibly been aggravated by the UGC’s policy of soliciting recommendations for inclusion of journals in its approved list. The whole process has led to a severe diminishing of credibility for one of the most crucial regulators of the country.
To believe that the problem of dubious journals on the UGC’s whitelist is the sole issue awaiting resolution in the university would be naive. This is actually quite recent and just another manifestation of the unaccountable regulation that has had a vandalising effect on the higher education space in the country. A small set of actionable points, not every one of them the responsibility of the UGC, would be as follows.
Revise the API
The problem of predatory journals emerged after the UGC introduced a quantitative scoring system leading to an Academic Performance Indicator (API) in which publishing is a part. The activities approved for toting up a teacher’s API are many, extending beyond teaching and research. This has led to a form of academic entrepreneurship that has very likely demoralised the less entrepreneurial, who are often the more academic and therefore more deserving of being in the university to start with. For this reason, the contents of the API must be revised to include only teaching and research, thus also saving scarce administrative resources. Teaching input can be partly measured by the number of courses taught, but research assessment should avoid the quantitative metric. Instead it should be judged by committees that have reputed and recognisably independent subject experts on it. This is not foolproof but, in the context of the email discussion now on among India’s academics, superior to a discredited list of approved journals.
Next, compulsory attendance, which goes against the spirit of learning, must be replaced by credit for classroom participation. Third, introduce student evaluation of courses to be made public. It needs emphasis that this is meant to be an ‘evaluation’ and not some ‘feedback’ to be contemplated upon by the lecturer at leisure. However, it is important to see the process in perspective. Course evaluation is meant to instil in students both a sense of confidence that their view is being solicited and a sense of responsibility in wielding authority early on. It can effectively check truancy among faculty but there should be vigilance against its misuse. Fourth, the UGC should remove all experience-related considerations to career advancement. The present system leaves the able to stagnate during their best years and the undeserving to believe that time served grants entitlement to promotion. There must be a drastic reduction in the number of hours faculty have to teach. While this may not be much in the research institutes and the Central universities, in India’s colleges the teaching load is not merely taxing to the point of lowering productivity but leaves teachers no time to address the burgeoning literature in their disciplines. Finally, once courses are evaluated by students, the classroom should revert to being the instructor’s castle. A pincer movement of corporate interest and political pressure combined with regulatory overdrive have cramped the autonomy of the teacher. The state of higher education in India today partly reflects this.
WORDS/ VOCABULARY
1) Elite
Meaning: A select group that is superior in terms of ability or qualities to the rest of a group or society.
Example: “The elite of Britain’s armed forces”
Synonyms: Best, Pick
Antonyms: Dregs
2) Aflutter
Meaning: In a state of tremulous excitement.
Example: “He has the physique that could send a thousand female hearts aflutter”
3) Appetite
Meaning: A strong desire or liking for something.
Example: “Her appetite for life”
Synonyms: Craving, Longing
Antonyms: Aversion
4) Anthropological
Meaning: Relating to the study of humankind.
Example: “An anthropological expedition to Borneo”
5) Struck off
Meaning: To remove a doctor, lawyer, etc. from an official list so that they are no longer allowed to work in that job, usually because they have done something dishonest or illegal.
Example: “Be struck off Company directors can be struck off if they are caught employing illegal workers”
6) Swampy
Meaning: Characteristic of or resembling a swamp.
Example: “A swampy area”
Synonyms: Marshy, Boggy
Antonyms: Firm, Dry
7) Surmount
Meaning: Overcome (a difficulty or obstacle).
Example: “All manner of cultural differences were surmounted”
Synonyms: Overcome, Conquer
Antonyms: Be beaten by
8) Abetment
Meaning: The act of helping or encouraging someone to do something wrong or illegal.
Example: “Such acts will be treated as abetment to fraud”
9) Churn out
Meaning: To produce something automatically, without much thought, and in large amounts.
Example: “Hollywood studios have been churning out some very bad movies over the past several years”
10) Vitality
Meaning: The state of being strong and active; energy.
Example: “Changes that will give renewed vitality to our democracy”
Synonyms: Liveliness, Life
11) Laureate
Meaning: A person who is honoured with an award for outstanding creative or intellectual achievement.
Example: “A Nobel laureate”
12) Intended
Meaning: Planned or meant.
Example: “The intended victim escaped”
Synonyms: Deliberate, Calculated
Antonyms: Accidental
13) Sheer
Meaning: Used to emphasize how very great, important, or powerful a quality or feeling is; nothing except.
Example: “It was sheer coincidence that we met”
14) Resentment
Meaning: Bitter indignation at having been treated unfairly.
Example: “His resentment at being demoted”
Synonyms: Bitterness, Indignation
Antonyms: Contentment, Happiness
15) Contention
Meaning: An assertion, especially one maintained in argument.
Example: “Freud’s contention that all dreams were wish fulfilment”
Synonyms: Argument, Calin
16) Drawn up
Meaning: To prepare something in writing, especially a plan or formal document.
Example: “First, draw up a business plan outlining what you’re going to do”
17) Backtracked
Meaning: Reverse one’s previous position or opinion.
Example: “The unions have had to backtrack on their demands”
18) Claim
Meaning: State or assert that something is the case, typically without providing evidence or proof.
Example: “The Prime Minister claimed that he was concerned about Third World debt”
Synonyms: Assert, Declare
19) Astonishingly
Meaning: Extremely surprisingly or impressively.
Example: “This recording is, if anything, even more astonishingly played”
20) Dubious
Meaning: Hesitating or doubting.
Example: “I was rather dubious about the whole idea”
Synonyms: Doubtful, Uncertain
Antonyms: Certain, Definite
21) Predatory
Meaning: Seeking to exploit others.
Example: “She always felt at the mercy of predatory men”
Synonyms: Exploitative, Wolfish
22) Solicit
Meaning: Ask for or try to obtain (something) from someone.
Example: “He called a meeting to solicit their views”
Synonyms: Request, Seek
23) Aggravated
Meaning: Make (a problem, injury, or offence) worse or more serious.
Example: “Military action would only aggravate the situation”
24) Inclusion
Meaning: The action or state of including or of being included within a group or structure.
Example: “They have been selected for inclusion in the scheme”
Synonyms: Incorporation, Addition
Antonyms: Exclusion, Omission
25) Diminishing
Meaning: Make or become less.
Example: “The new law is expected to diminish the government’s chances”
Synonyms: Decrease, Decline
Antonyms: Increase
26) Whitelist
Meaning: A list of people or things considered to be acceptable or trustworthy.
27) Naive
Meaning: (Of a person) natural and unaffected; innocent.
Example: “Andy had a sweet, naive look when he smiled”
Synonyms: Innocent, Artless
Antonyms: Sophisticated, Worldly
28) Manifestation
Meaning: The action or fact of showing something.
Example: “The manifestation of anxiety”
Synonyms: Display, Demonstration
29) Vandalising
Meaning: Deliberately destroy or damage (public or private property).
Example: “Stations have been vandalized beyond recognition”
30) Toting
Meaning: Carry, wield, or convey (something heavy or substantial).
Example: “Here are books well worth toting home”
31) Entrepreneurial
Meaning: Characterized by the taking of financial risks in the hope of profit; enterprising.
Example: “An entrepreneurial culture”
32) Scarce
Meaning: Occurring in small numbers or quantities; rare.
Example: “The freshwater shrimp becomes scarce in soft water”
Synonyms: Rare, Unusual
Antonyms: Common
33) Contemplated
Meaning: Look thoughtfully for a long time at.
Example: “He contemplated his image in the mirrors”
Synonyms: View, Regard
34) Truancy
Meaning: The action of staying away from school without good reason; absenteeism.
Example: “Fines to tackle truancy”
Synonyms: Absenteeism, Absence
Antonyms: Attendance
36) Burgeoning
Meaning: Begin to grow or increase rapidly; flourish.
Example: “Manufacturers are keen to cash in on the burgeoning demand”
Synonyms: Grow, Expand
Antonyms: Shrink
37) Revert
Meaning: Return to (a previous state, practice, topic, etc.).
Example: “He reverted to his native language”
38) Castle
Meaning: A large building, typically of the medieval period, fortified against attack with thick walls, battlements, towers, and often a moat.
Example: “Edinburgh Castle”
Synonyms: Fortress, Fort
39) Pincer
Meaning: A movement by two separate bodies of troops converging on the enemy.
Example: “Farmers are caught in a pincer movement between the National Rivers Authority and the banks”
40) Cramped
Meaning: Inhibit the development of.
Example: “Tighter rules will cramp economic growth”
Synonyms: Hinder, Impede
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