Learning in the Dark

I met a social worker who has been working with under-privileged, abused, abandoned children for decades. When asked about how he manages to keep up his spirits in this overwhelming fight, he said he can’t. He finds it increasingly difficult to go on. Because in trying to solve one problem he finds twenty more-each with it’s own spiraling mess. He started with hope. Now he has lost the hope, but he still fights on, because he does not think giving up is an option.

I feel the same way about our education system.

It’s just getting more and more politicized. The oldest and the best institutions of our country-the ones who produced national leaders and international scientists, economists and graduates who work across the largest and the most influential corporations across the globe, are crumbling under increasing political interference. Most positions of control are filled through influence. Most admissions are through quotas and connections.

It’s getting more and more commercialized. The newer campuses are high-end townships; glittery and glamorous, exclusive and designed to impress. Education comes with a steep price tag.

And then there are the students forced to make choices that would affect their entire life at the age of at fifteen (in some schools they have to do it at thirteen). There is the flawed ‘board of education’ system with about 30 education ‘boards’ in the country-with archaic curricula, bureaucratic management, and of course political agendas.

Then come we the parents, armed with internet on tap, and the ambition to do our best for our children. (Can’t blame us, we were trained to keep doing our best since we were three-year-olds).

There is the problem of millions of children never getting and education.

And then there are millions who have not changed their mindset despite being educated.

Yes, I have lost hope. But I will go on questioning till I find some solution to some part of it, because giving up is not an option.