[srishiva]

Man is a social being ..... Yeah, I think Schools are essential for complete development of a human.

Now, I visited a coaching center to enquire on the weekend for class 9. They coach starting from class 6 or 7 for CET or JEE etc. I enquired about the syllabus and they follow it as is from CBSE. For a fraction of cost (except languages) they teach the same syllabus. The fees in schools is exorbitant for what they do and I asked them why should we send children to school also

[avisidhu]

Originally Posted by alpha1

...........
To tell you the truth, the reason why companies go to IITs and IIMs for placement is not really because of the "training" imparted there, but simply because these institutes have already done a first level of screening (= entry into the institute).
Most companies look towards making their lives easier, and selecting a candidate out of a sea of applicants is a tough task just to shortlist.

College degree (including MBA) is mostly that only. A means to qualify the cut-off criteria set by the employer who doesn't want to delve too deep into each and every application at the initial stage.

Absolutely. And this screening aspect is most accurate for MBA colleges. However again the same concept as school applies here. Not only did you go past the pole to gain admission to an IIT/IIM, you then spent formative years in the company of some very bright peers and made behavior/attitude/skill adjustments to fit in.

And now when you'll be thrown in the corporate jungle, your ability to navigate your way upward over medium/long term (and thus contribute more) 'might' be inherently better. Very arguable I know, but I'd wager this should be a statistically significant factor. Of course it is almost impossible to measure, since you never know what kind of a person you would have turned out in an alternate setting. On the surface you may be exactly same, but your ability to respond to crisis/challenge might be very different. And I believe the same holds true for good schools.

Of course we also need to realize a sobering fact; a huge majority of us here have obtained pretty much world class school education, however flawed it may have been. The actual problem lies in the lower 90%, whom we have absolutely failed in imparting neither practical nor intellectual skills of any kind.

[AMG Power]

This teacher gives the students a world class scolding (accompanied with a not-so-world-class background score):

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DFvIZhYWnfI

[realactivex]

Interesting topic. Over the years, humanity has been nudged ro believe that memory=intelligence.
Schools excel in memory based learning (imho)
My children do not go to any school, and they learn their ways of the world at home and in the neighbourhood.
Few points, not in any order

1. Social skills: these days apartment complexes have a more diverse populace than any school can ever provide. Social skills are not age group specific, but should reflect diverse age groups more representative of the society. My kids are comfortable with new horns as well and they are with senior citizens.
2. Can they join mainstream: As an experiment,my elder child joined school last year in the 7th grade(she has quit school now after flying great last academic year). She never had any problem merging with the school way of life.
3. Academics: we are trying to prepare children for success in the future. We don't even know what the future looks like, what the skills will be at that time. We are just trying to model the future based on our past and present. That assumption carries a fair amount of risk.

[ashokrajagopal]

Originally Posted by realactivex

[list=1][*]Social skills: these days apartment complexes have a more diverse populace than any school can ever provide.

Seriously? Can you please explain how that is ever possible ? Apartments are priced in a certain band. Some schools are priced similarly, but many schools are priced so that a wider population can afford. I assume you are talking about apartment complexes that have large undivided property area and amenities, which allow for people to spent time socially. It is safe to say that takes out a good chunk of the world outside in this country. Is there anybody who cannot afford a car living in such an apartment complex?

[TheHelix0202]

Originally Posted by aargee

Boss!! You're being too generous!! It should be close to 90% Children are still studying about micro computer while Quantum computers are on the rise. Micro computers from the age of 1st standard until 7th grade!!

Actually we're still learning about those in 11th and 12th grade too. One would at least expect to learn more advanced concepts in highschool, but CBSE be like, "Meh".

[aargee]

Forget exams, Covid has taught us now to as - are the regular schools are necessary? We're paying lakhs for a normal regular local school that is thriving on the fame of international school in DL, atleast has a better standard in entire locality.

During the lock down, children are near to completing their syllabus for the academic year just by 2-3 hours of casual go through everyday. Only expense being internet, books are free from NCERT.

Money is secondary, time saving is huge; we made a crude estimate that school is effectively utilizing only about 37.5% of our children's time for education, rest being spent on substitute teachers, (no real) PT, travel, breaks, errands & not to mention the sports day (which is of no interest to the children)

Very seriously, we're considering for homeschooling with only benefactor that children missing the fun of school life

[drsingh]

Schools are clubs with network effects. That provide opportunities that are otherwise difficult to get ,if you are out of the school system.

For actual competitive academic training for a competition, entrance exams like engineering, medicine, upsc, banking, government jobs , IT and networking jobs, we already have empirical evidence that systems of coaching, training outside the schools are more effective.

You are paying to be part of a club. And credentials. Both these things are not going away. There are hundreds of geniuses outside the system that were not able to get opportunity in academia and these tournament type entrance exams. Which are basically tests of exclusion. We do not have enough opportunity for the number of students pursuing technical fields etc. All Entrance exams in India are tests of exclusion. They do not look for outlier talent to do that particular job. There look for ways to exclude most applicants from a secure position.

[Red Liner]

Schools have always been redundant. I hope they vanish altogether along with the tuition/entrance exam mafia centers!

I recently helped a class 11 girl with economics. I was appalled by the way the cbse text book was written. That author had no business coming anywhere near a book much less writing one. Even i had difficulty understanding the way the sentences were framed. So quite obviously no kid is going to understand that gibberish. Thus enters the "teacher" who tries to make some semblance out of it. But how much can you do in an hour amongst 40 or 50 AdD kids? Then prances in the tuition teacher who makes things even worse by forcing kids to go by rote. Follow on with exams which test rote and memory power. Add parents to the mix who think their kids will die unemployed if they dont get through their next class test.

Along with "money" and the current economic system, i am a firm believer that this school system has to die too for us to survive as a species.

Said parent of 11 grade kid tried to force me to "teach" with no focus on understanding concepts. I wanted to play no further part in devastating that little girl's confidence and state of mind.