Down with rote learning

As a student of Mumbai University, I have experienced at first-hand the effect of rote learning on budding engineers. Rote learning makes a complete mockery of the education system. Coaching classes, which are big business, say mug up and you will be successful.

Successful?? At what? Cramming? So now your entire existence on earth will be defined by how many marks you got in so and so exam. Just imagine, you might have taken up so much of the earth's limited resources to produce a bunch of marksheets. You must have shattered the dreams of so many less-privileged, yet more talented people, just to produce a bunch of marksheets. And at the end of your life, all you might have done for the planet is produce a couple of crammers, driven it closer to destruction and yes, the marksheets.

I have seen people sacrifice first-class technical ability in order to become people with first-class on their marksheets. Frankly, it's just a huge waste of talent. And then we wonder why India isn't No. 1 in technology despite the wealth of tech graduates?

Frankly, what does a marksheet say about you? Your entire existence is summed up in a number. Is that even logical?

I mean, I understand the need for analysing aptitude quantitatively, but can we cut rote learning out from the loop? Maybe we can use projects with some well-defined metrics to enable grading and more thought-provoking questions in exams instead of "short notes".

And I think we need to let up on our lecturers. They are so overburdened with the syllabus and correcting answer papers, that they don't have the time to see the big, wide world beyond. And frankly, there are quite a few who do a good job of encouraging thinking along with tips for exams.

I also feel really bad for companies who come for placements. Here they have several hundred students to choose from, and no real way of separating the wheat from the chaff. So, they settle on cutoffs, which is no way to judge ability.

So, I guess the only way out is for the University to be clear about what it wants from students, and start thinking a little beyond rote learning. But, I don't see this happening any time soon and even if it happens, it will be a surprise in the final exam paper which is really the wrong way to go about it.