If you are an Indian aged between 15 and 18, this is the season of maximum anxiety. It is the time when results of the biggest rat races in the country (a.k.a competitive exams) get declared. SSLC, PUC, CBSE, CET, JEE, AIEEE - the list is endless. The stress level run high, visits to Tirumala shoot up - "Did I make it?" "Did I?" "Did I?" sleepless nights galore.....
Bang !! Euphoria for some, dejection for many. The kids('Gods') who "did it" get mentioned in all the daily newspapers - it is an extremely proud moment for their parents and their respective schools.
Lets look at the press statements these kids give. "I want to do engineering", "I want to go to IIT", guess what ? it is the same mantra repeated over and over again.
Really, what DO these kids know about "engineering" or "IIT" ?
I'll tell you. I was there a decade ago. Here's what comprises the vocabulary of a bright Indian 16 year old.
1. Engineering = Science + Math. If I am 'good' in science and math, I HAVE to 'do engineering'...whatever that phrase means.
2. IIT = Social Prestige. If I am a bright kid, I am supposed to be in IIT. I will be the neighbour's envy, I'll be the parents' pride.
That is the (delusional) world they live in.
I don't blame the kids. It is the entire ecosystem. Parents, teachers, uncles, aunts, elder brothers/sisters - everyone has the chronic illness of 'Engineering Obsession'. Call it the Ultimate,Unquestionable Middle-Class Truism.( U.U.M.C.T )
Imagine! All those SSLC, CBSE toppers in every school - EVERY SINGLE ONE of them was BORN to be an engineer ! Don't blame me if I find THAT a little curious. There are at least 10,000 schools in this country. I thought the idea of a school is to recognize and nurture talent...for the love of God, how did ALL of them ASSUME that
Talent = Science + Math !?!?!
Lets dig a little deeper. What is the reason behind the U.U.M.C.T ?
It is because every member of the Indian middle class has a predisposition to move up the ladder of economic success. If you are reading this and belong to this great class, look at your forefathers and the family tree. In most cases, you would find a natural progression of increasing economic wealth with every generation.
In other words, Wealth Creation remains the single most important goal of the Indian middle class - it is that aspiration which fires the imagination of almost every member of the group. It is in the movies they see( mere paas bangla hai, gaadi hai..) , it is in the (blatant!) blessings they receive - Oodhi Mundhay Baa! 'Study well and Move ahead'..
And in today's context, an "engineering degree from IIT" is (arguably) the EASIEST WAY to launch an Indian middle-class kid into that Wealth creation mode. (Software engineer and/or MBA etc etc...you know the beaten track). Plain and Simple.
So, engineering is essentially a short-cut. And everyone wants to take it. Irrespective of what their real talents are. Hence the death-knell to Art, Literature, Pure Science and a host of other fields.
Certainly not a healthly progession for Indian society as a whole. India's bright kids do not want to pursue and innovate in fields such as Art and Literature, remember there is wealth there too, only it is HARDER than the engineering way.
Art and Literature are major constitutents of a country's culture. When there is no innovation, consumers have no choice but to IMPORT it from the West. It is free and well-made - ready-made , oh - and they don't have these troublesome distractions called IIT's !
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UPDATE [Thanks to Parul Bajaj for this video]
"..The education system...came into being to meet the needs of industrialism...The most useful subjects for work were at the top. You probably stayed benignly away from things at school when you were a kid, things you liked, on the grounds that you would never get a job doing that.."
