Scrapping board exams?

Kapil Sibal is all for it apparently.

But there is this guy here, who makes extremely good points:

(A)Before commenting on the matter, I would request that MHRD posts at its website the Yash Pal Committee report along with Knowledge Commission report of sam Pitroda. I hope that the report, possibly dating to 1996 of the group set up with Dhirubhai Ambani and others are still available

(B)Mr. Sibal should explain in writing in detail (and post on MHRD web site) reason behind abolishing Class X Board examinations. How will students passing out from class X get admitted to Class XI and where? The mechanics of the process as many Class X students are simply unfit to continue to Class XI and the schools be flooded with unfit students? - How does Mr. Sibal plan to tackle that. Further how does Mr. Sibal plan to handle the fall out when these "Class X passed unfit for class XI students" who got admitted to Class XI fail in Class XII Board exam leading to massive social upsurge Or does he plan to do away with class XII board examination also and institute something like SAT which is to be taken for college admission.

(C) It has been rightly said in this comments column that Government schools need to be strenghthened with state of art infra-structure and most of all really well trained teachers as most of the population live in villages where private schools have not yet penetrated. How does Mr. Sibal plan to do that?

(D) Internal assessment in schools is a sham as the results of Board exams show. Even a student who has failed gets more than 80% at least in internal assessment. This is due to factors like (a) pressure on schools to push students out so that new students can be accommodated, (b) pressure on teachers to award good or excellent grades to even undeserving ones (c) lack of really trained teachers d) lack of sufficient number of trained teachers in schools. How does Mr. Sibal want to face that?

(E) I beg Mr. Sibal to open a whiteboard at MHRD website where people can interact with him and he can post his views There are sane people outside MHRD.

I have previously written about the problems with the Indian education system and about the reservations issue. Even though I am in favour of evaluating performance of a student by testing his understanding of the subject rather than his memorizing capabilities; the theoretical beauty of the idea is not even close to the practical truth.

Those of us who have passed thru the system will know how biased and unfair the internal evaluation system is in India and how the assigned marks are representative of your ass-licking abilities rather than your subject knowledge. The system needs a complete change; however it is easier said than done. Increasing accountability for teachers and improving their quality would mean improving the pay-scale for the teachers, making it an attractive proposition for young graduates who currently view it as the last option in the job search. Of course, as a country we have no money....

At least thinking about the system and the need to change it has begun to enter the head of our hard-headed politicians. Maybe 30 years down the lane we will change the system...

My stance on the 'gay' issue

I am not sure if I have written about this before, but coming from a country where the constitution still considers same-sex copulation as 'unnatural' (IPC sec. 377) I think it is imperative that we voice our opinions on this issue.

Recently the IPC 377 has attracted loads of publicity, thanks to popular writers and actors speaking about it. In this blog post, an actress details quite well an argument for abolishment of the act. However, there are intelligent human beings who comment as follows:
'Gayism is like a bad habbit and we all need to promote options to fix it'.

I have had numerous conversations with friends and others over this issue and read a whole lot of comments from people across India on such blog posts. Here is what I think is wrong with the people who have a problem with 'Gayness'. These people do not seem to understand that man was born free and it is his basic right to do as he pleases. The general arguement against this is where to draw a line? Should we legally allow for incest as well?

Without agreeing or disagreeing, here is my opinion: If two individuals are consenting ADULTS, then they should be allowed to do whatsoever they want, so long as it does not affect the rest of the population. By this, coopulating in the middle of the road would be prohibited, since it happens to affect people viewing it. However, copulation within the four walls of your house has no reason to be questioned by anybody. All those who think that they are doing the others a favour by 'pointing out the deviant behaviour'; should consider how one defines deviant behaviour? By the majority view? By the median view? There are a lot of issues that have a clear answer for this question - Should we punish a murderer? The answer is yes, since the majority view is objective here; especially since killing someone else destroys the that persons right to life. However, in the case of IPC 377, the answer is not so clear, since the question is subjective.

My only argument (forgetting historical precedents) is that if one agrees that each and every human being has a fundamental right to freedom, then one has to allow for that human to behave as he wants in his bed, else we are failing to ensure that the right is being upheld. I was very surprised that California rejected the law allowing for same-sex marriage; for I consider US to be an open country. GIven that that has happened, it is no surprise that a sexually repressed and overly orthodox country like India has problems repelling IPC 377.

For the record, I am straight and to the best of my knowledge, so are my friends. This does not mean that I cannot have an opinion on an issue that affects us as a people.

Anush

Read this one...

This post brings back so many memories - those were the simple days! Very well written too...

Anush

Spain - Sights: Montserrat

I decided that I had been lazy enough through the two weeks and it was high time to get my ass of my cozy bed. So, on Sunday the 31^st of May, I awoke grudgingly at 6.30 in the morning and rushed through my duties to reach the metro at Vallcarca (closest metro to my house) at 7.30. I figured out how to go to Espanya from where I was to catch the train to Montserrat. Even though the timetable said that the metro runs only from 900 am on sundays, there was a train as soon as I got down to the platform (thank god – the timetable gave me a bit of a scare, it would have ruined my schedule!). A 20 min ride to Espanya and a 22.50 euros bought me a return ticket to Montserrat. I left Espanya on the 8.36 train and an uneventful hour later, I reached Montserrat Aeri stop, from where I took the cable car up to Montserrat.

Montserrat means 'Serrated Mountain' and is located in the Northwest of Barcelona (Barcelona is at the eastern extreme of Spain). Montserrat is essential a bendictine monastery that is situated on the mountains. It houses a Basilica and some small chapels, and provides for a large number of hiking/rock climbing opportunities. I had Rick Steve's excellent guidebook guiding me through the trip so I never had any problems orienting myself or timing everything right. If you do plan to visit any place in Europe, get Rick Steve's guide – its pretty well written and quite comprehensive. Anyway, I knew that the major attraction – the Black Virgin (Mother Mary) would close at 10.30 and hence I rushed to the Basilica. I went around a pretty big church, which was standard as far as chirstian churches are concerned. Some of the art was nice, but it was not to the level of the ones in italy. In any case, the monastery at Montserrat has had a huge number of demolitions and re-builds. The monastery was originally founded in 1025, but was destroyed by napolean in the 1800's. Before Napolean though, the black virgin statue was discovered magically by shepherds and was brought to the basilica and installed there. The statue was hidden away during Napoelan's era. Around 1850 the monastery made a come-back, but was again forced into dissolution during Franco's reign. Apparently though, the monastery was a voice of dissent during Franco's rule printing anti-franco literature in the banned Catalan. The next resurgence was post-Franco. The black virgin survived it all.

After the Basilica, I took the side entrance and joined the long queue to see the virgin. The statue in itself is nothing out of the ordinary – except for its blackness (no, this is not to promote African American brotherhood, but is due to some sort of chemical reaction over time). Mother mary holds out an orb which one is supposed to touch as a symbolic gesture that one has accepted Jesus as their god and saviour. Yes, I did touch the orb, and no, I am still the faithless Hindu that I was! After the major attraction was out of the way I had a nice breakfast and then went on my way to Sant Joan. This is a small chapel furhter up the mountain. I took what's called the 'Funicular' train upto a certain point and then walked up from there. The chapel was closed (and seems to be always so), so I hiked up further, till the path became such that only hikers could walk through it. I got some nice pix though!

Then began the 50-min trek down (I could have taken the Funicular back, but this was much more fun). Essentially a nice walk through nature (even though I was sweating like a pig – as usual!). Again, some nice photo opportunities. I reached the main square of the monastery and after a couple of juices to get me hydrated began another trek – this time down toward Sant. Cova. This is another small chapel built in the 'caves' (Cova) where the black virgin was originally found. A replica exists there today. It was surprisingly pleasant walk, with the walkway littered with beautiful carvings from some known-some unknown artists. A short stop at the chapel later, I walked back up to the main square. It was 200 pm and I knew I had done a good job sticking with the schedule. A relaxed lunch with Gastpaxo (this is a kind of cold-soup, fast becoming my favourite – more about it later...) and coffee ( I have become European in this – no meal seems to be complete without the end espresso!) took the whole of the hour and at around 3.15 I found myself at the entrance to the Montserrat museum.

The museum essential houses paintings from some local painters and some masters (Picasso, Carvaggio, Renoir, Monet). The works by lesser known artists were pretty so-so (except for one by Battista – I need to see more of his works). I hadn't seen much of Picasso's works before, but if he paints just like the examples at the Montserrat museum then chances are that I will not like him. Most of his stuff at the musem was so bad that I could replicate them using my left hand. If anyone reading this is a art connisuer and wants to chastise me for not understanding art, then I have a nice argument. A painting should not be understood (thats why I hate modern art), but should be felt. The moment I see the painting I should feel a connection with it. As time passes by I should begin to appreciate it more and more. Childish scribbles on pieces of paper put me off, and there is no way I am going to see any more of that!Google 'starry night' and 'starry night over the rhone' to see the kind of paintings I like...

Anyway, after the paintings, there were some sculptures and some Egyptian stuff. The coolest thing there was a mummy! I have never seen a mummy in real life before and this was pretty interesting for me. The teeth of that mummy was so well preserved – it was a bit scary!

The museum done, I took the cable car back and caught the 5.28 train back to Espanya. Oh, I also saw an audio-visual presentation – it was pretty crappy, the audio was just choir singing and the presentation was photos – no documentary, no history no nothing! I reached home, after a tiring, but exciting day at around 7.15...

The first bit of tourism here in Barcelona – it was fun. I got to use my camera and was very happy...Here's to some more of these trips!

I will hopefully write some more about my house,work, stay here etc. as time permits...lets see!

Anush

Question religion

Been sometime since I have written anything here... Have been wanting to write about something for a LONG time...then I read this article and got inspired!

I wanted to write about a course I am taking - which is essentially trying to understand and model the human visual system. I have come to the conclusion that the more one understands how the visual system works (or for that matter, how anything in the human body functions), one has to raise their hat's to Darwin. National Geographic did a special on Darwin recently, and I rediscovered my interest in evolution. For all those people who are ready to shun evolution totally, I would request you to sit and try to objectively understand the human (or any animal). I say objectively, since when confronted with an enormously complicated system one is generally wont to say 'such a beautiful thing can only be created by God'. This is the problem with people who do not accept Darwin's theory.

Since I have been looking only at the human visual system, lets talk about that. Everything - right from the optics of the eye to further processing in the LGN to the visual cortex seems to be developed in order that the creature perform the task that is essential to their survival accurately. For example, eagles and vultures have higher visual acuity as compared to humans - for obvious reasons. Each and every connection or complexity seems to be catered toward making sure that we can perform the task that we need to under the constraints of 'space' and 'processing'. Only an evolutionary theory can explain how we got to this...not the God created man and then rested story.

I am not an atheist. I believe in God. However, I believe that evolution as Darwin proposed actually occured. Sometime during the period when the Hindu religion was born, a spiritual awakening took place and that lead to the theories that we read today. I do believe that there is a power that binds all of us and is in someway responsible for our existence - I am surely not convinced that God just got up and put us in our form one Friday evening...

That's why the article that I mentioned above was of interest. He points out how 'sadhus' and babs poo-poo science while using it themselves everyday. The beauty of science and knowledge associated with it is evident from the fact that you are reading this and I am typing this on something which at its core is essentially sand. Imagine the years of hard work and ingenuity that has gone behind things that we take for granted and you will see the beauty of science.

I am totally against the bullshit that religious idealogies are not to be questioned, but to be accepted as true. If we did that with natural phenomena, we would still think that zeus was throwing lightning bolts at us! Religious ideas should always be questioned. Infact, one should always question anything and everything. If you are not convinced of the logic behind something then do not adopt it! There is a beautiful book by Lokmanya Tilak, called Bhagvat Gita Rahasya. Even though interpreted from a Karma Yoga perspective, the way Tilak analyzes the situation logically, while making sure he has included and critisized all existing viewpoints is brilliant. Even though deep in my heart I believe that what our scriptures say are true, I need to understand why logically, and he has made the task much much easier for me by asking all the questions that I would ask and then answering them - finally leading to what the Gita says...check the book out here: http://books.rediff.com/book/B.G.-Tilak/Srimadbhagavad-Gita-Rahasya-or-Karma-Yoga-Sastra-(Vols.2-Set)/ISBN:4313-100418/81799619


That's all folks!
Anush