FIELDS OF STUDY

“Educational institutions have a responsibility to dissuade students from pursuing fields of study in which they are unlikely to succeed.”

No one is born on earth with predefined set of special talents. We gradually learn whatever are interested in and with the long process of learning we gain perfection. I do not think that the educational institutions have any right to decide, if some student will be successful or not. It is like trying to predict future. Hence I disagree with the topic that it is a responsibility of an education institution to dissuade a student from pursuing fields in which they are unlikely to succeed.

An educational institute has no valid way to detect the success of a student in any field. It will be impossible to keep track on each individual student in the institute and maintain records on whether the field is fit for them or not.

Let us take an example of slow learners say, ‘dyslexic’ student. Once a school finds out that a child is dyslexic, it will be inappropriate if the school dissuade the child from perusing the studies. On the contrary the school should employ special technics to help the dyslexic child learn.

The role of an educational institute is to impart knowledge and educate to the students in the area of their interest. We did not learn walking straight away when we were young. Likewise we never master any skills straight away. Success comes with an iterative process of failing and learning from one’s own mistakes. Sometimes we win and sometimes we lose, but our defeat should not be taken as some way to anticipate our future failure.

Both victory and defeat imparts an impression on our mind and it should be left upon the student whether he/she wants to peruse the field of study or not. The role of education institute is to train the students in their selected field and teach them the key skills required to succeed in the discipline. Also if the institution finds that the student is showing no improvement then instead of dissuading the student the institute needs to give them an extra coaching to succeed.

However there might be a case of lack of “interest” in particular field of study. Such cases generally arise when the student is under parental or peer pressure to pursue the field of study. In such cases the educational institute must council the student to pursue the field of interest. (It may require the student and parents mutual counselling to find out the area of interest.)

Conclusion; the educational institute must encourage students to pursue the area of study that interests them; also they should motivate and guide the students to work harder if he/she is not doing well.

Every rock has beautiful sculpt inside it, all it needs is an artisan to cut it in right shape and bring out its beauty. Likewise every student has the same potential all he/she needs is a good teacher to bring out the perfection.

  

SCANDALS!

“Scandals are useful because they focus our attention on problems in ways that no speaker or reformer ever could”.

The topic is somewhat related to the idiom “crying over spilled milk”. Nothing can be done once the scandal has already occurred. The loss that it was intended to do i.e. physical, financial, and emotional, etc. is already done. Hence, I do not agree that scandals are ‘useful’ however; they do take attention to the crime or misconduct. But, never the less, it is mostly associated with corruption and forgery, they are already well known problems.

Scandal according to its dictionary meaning is a ‘disgraceful event’. It is quite obvious that a disgraceful event cannot be ‘useful’ in any why. On the contrary it represents the voids in society. It also gives a picture of the flaws that our society is facing and highlights’ the domains in which the awareness is lacking.

Many scandals say 2G scam, CWG, and other minor act of corruption that occur every day around us. The only way to deal with them is by proper education and knowledge of one’s rights and duties. And these i.e. knowledge of rights and duty are the thing that comes with learning. We cannot just rely on scandals to occur, to teach and enlighten us with problems.

Let us take the example of teenage pregnancy. A scandal in such case probably is not “useful”, merely to bring into notice that “we need to educate teens about sex education”. It should be well known fact and well aware problem and must be consider before any example of so called scandal occurs. A prior education can save the teenage parents from the unrequired problems and child from poor standard of bringing up.

There are many better ways of creating awareness such as proper knowledge of law, duties and rights of the people via proper communication media such as TV and Radio. Documentaries and films should be related to the problems to create awareness. As the field of mass communication and media is growing, the awareness must be spread in order to stop the scandals, instead of waiting for the scandals to occur and focus attention on them.

So it’s not scandals that brings attention to a problem but the knowledge and awareness that, scandals should not happen. 

Lastly “precautions are always better then cure”.