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Faraz Omar I once asked a group of youths if they knew Google. All of them did. I’m
sure I would get a similar answer if I were to ask every single youth living in
the Internet world today. I then asked
them, if they knew how Google worked and what the simple logic was behind the
search engine’s capacity of getting relevant results to our searches. None
of them did. I then wondered how many would answer if I were to ask every
single youth in our country. Almost every complex system is based on a simple
fundamental or logic. Renowned scientists like Newton unlocked mysteries of science and
discovered its fundamentals by simply questioning ‘why?’ or should I say, by
simply pondering over ‘how it worked’.
Our youth today are spending hours and hours everyday in vain talk,
malls, playstations and Hollywood gossips. It
would be wrong to generalize everyone to that category though most of them
might fit well into it. Those who do study and spend quality time for their
school or college work are unfortunate to be exposed to an educational system
that focuses on passing exams rather than educating students. And results are what
the market demands of a good school. At a little higher level, the philosophy
of education is ‘getting a good job’. What do I study to get a good job
afterwards? Career is important but choosing a field of study, only because it
is believed one can get a good job with it and having no idea what the actual
field is all about, will result in graduated students who have the degrees but
not the potential. We will get the
quantity but not the quality. The best example to quote as evidence is the
situation in my home country, India.
Despite hundreds of thousands of engineers graduating every year, there is a desperate
need of skilled talent in the booming India. All industries including the
popular IT industry face this gloom. The cause is not shortage of engineers, as
a walk-in interview for 10 vacancies in a good software company can attract
tens of thousands of fresh engineers seeking placement. So where does the
failure lie in? What are we missing?
Our schools are not bringing out the student’s talents from within.
Schools are more focused on thrusting information. They need to focus on
achieving ‘thinking students’; students who learn and arrive at conclusions,
rather than being fed with them. The word education comes from the root words
in Latin e-ducere meaning "to lead out" or “to bring out.” To bring
out something that is potentially present inside us.
“Knowledge is built upon what we already know. This is why it is easiest
to learn something new when we can associate it with something familiar.”
[Quote from ‘Manufacturing
Knowledge by Donalee Markus]
When I noted some of the exceptionally bright students, they were either
assisted by conscious parents and teachers or inspired by the lives of past
role models. Imagine if media (which plays an equally important role in shaping
the minds of the future), schools and colleges were sources of inspiration and
sources of bringing out thinking students then I believe they would be more
achievers of goals than seekers of goals.
Coming back to our question on ‘how Google works’, I leave it for the
inquisitive minds to dig it out or should I say ‘google’ it out. I guarantee
that it’s pretty interesting. iNarrators.com
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