SCHOOLING IS ABSOLUTELY UNNECESSARY

Above is a short clip from the movie “Three Idiots” that should be watched.

Don't get it twisted, school is a beautiful thing. What I want to point out today is something that should be a concern to students of our time. We were handed our assignments and told it was free 5 marks as long as you submitted it when it was called for. To my uttermost surprise I started hearing screams of “Yes! Yes! Ah! Free five marks, thank you Jesus” and this really shows how we indeed learn. Schooling has become a battle of getting grades and gathering trophies, and of recent heaping professional certifications with the aim of landing a good job and embarking on a well-paid career. The student’s mind is focused on reaching a particular percentage rather than actually learning and this makes the schooling process more like a Gas turbine – so much pressure to get an output. There’s no point killing yourself and becoming like “silencer” of 3 Idiots, if your time and energy is spent accumulating wonderful grades and meanwhile, grades are just an account of points earned through activities that are influenced by artificial deadlines, writing an exam you probably crammed over night for etc. and then when it comes to applying what you supposedly got an A for, it looks like you didn't go to school. I rather prefer going to school with the aim of being educated because when I pass I know it’s a measure of how I understood what was taught and if I fail it’s also a measure of how I understood what was taught Instead of just being taught how to get good grades. Education should be about being relevant in the modern world, nothing more nothing less. If I have a PhD in mass communication and when I speak, people have to wear bullet proofs on their ears because of what’s coming out, I feel my PhD would just be a mockery. If I only learn/cram what is taught in the classroom, I would make a very good scholar-someone who knows the technique in answering Examination questions, who knows where the teacher is most likely going to ask questions from- but I might not make a very good input to the society. Rancho in 3 Idiots said “Follow excellence and success would follow you pants down”. Study to become a better individual, study to become enlightened, and finally study to be of relevance to your society.

 So, schooling- which is my definition of just accumulating grades in a school- is absolutely unnecessary but education is highly relevant.