Course description

Throughout South Asia, testing and grades have very great importance. It seems that there are major exams every month – so often, in fact, that there is no time for students to learn enough for tests to be meaningful measurements of how much they know.and Einstein’s equations are passed on without our classes knowing how these changed our understanding of the world around us. The list goes on and on.

All this is made much worse, of course, by coaching centres. Their aim is not for students to learn, to understand, to question but to score points. Teachers typically do not take essays home to mark but grade them in class …. Something you might think is impossible if there are twenty, thirty or fifty pieces of homework to comment on! The emphasis in coaching centers and in far too many schools is on memorization – with or without understanding! In other words, students graduate without ever thinking for themselves but just regurgitating other people’s ideas.

But why do we still focus students’ learning on learning information by rote? After all, students have access to the Internet these days and so can look up statistics, dates and equations without needing to memorise them. Is it important for them to know the exact date when the Battle of Plassey was fought? Wouldn’t it be more useful to understand the effects on the Bengali garment industry of British rule?

To sum up, if exam questions are all about tiny details, rather than understanding the big picture, they encourage teachers and students to memorise information, not to analyse it. Sadly, this does not inspire students to think for themselves. It does not prepare them for the job market. It does not meet the needs of employers who want students with imagination and decision-making power. Ultimately, the country itself suffers because it means that young Bangladeshis cannot compete internationally against students from countries with education systems that challenge the young to think for themselves!

Images :

1. Test: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Class_test.jpg

Naba1224, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

2.Thinking:https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bones,_molars,_and_briefs_(1903)_(14592172929)pg

3.ThinkingbyRossetti:https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dante_Gabriel_Rossetti_-_Dante_in_Meditation_Holding_a_Pomegranate.jpg

What will i learn?