Eight Reasons Why the Traditional Education System Is Broken

‘Education is the manifestation of perfection already existing in man” Swami Vivekananda.

Swami Vivekananda rightly said that good education is necessary for a person to stand on his feet, build his self-confidence and earn his living. However, the traditional education system has failed in achieving this objective. Teacher, students, and parents are the key elements of the traditional education system. However, all of them have been unable to play a proper role in the traditional education system. There are several reasons for the same.

1. Less learning Outcome:

The significant reason for the failure of the traditional education system is less learning outcome sets. Most of the students never focus on what they should learn, what is the benefit of reading a particular subject. Why has the course been introduced? They never focus on the basic principles of starting a chapter by asking questions about what I will learn after reading this chapter. Why should I study a particular chapter?  How is a piece of knowledge going to benefit them in their life?  Students go through the chapter only for examination purposes. Their focus is on passing the examination. They never pay any attention to the subject of study. They may be good in one subject but never focus on all subjects equally. They are not able to grasp the essence of the subject. The student’s primary concern is to pass the exam and go to the next class. They may be in the fifth standard, but they won’t be able to read a book of the second standard. The students in the ninth standard may not be able to relate concepts of what they studied in the class eighth.

2. Less Involvement of Teacher and Student:

The other significant reason is the student-teacher ratio has increased. The ideal student-teacher ratio should be 20:1. However, there are a large number of students, less number of the teacher.  In the class of 60 students, the teacher could not give one minute of their attention per student if the class is of 60 minutes. The teacher has to complete its course in fixed time.  The teacher efficiency is on completing the course on time, taking more tests and students scoring high in their subjects. If the teacher is not able to satisfy any of these criteria, then their performance is not considered up to mark.

However, learning is a complex process. A student may be going through a lot of psychological pressures or physical abuses. Classmates may abuse him for asking silly questions in the class.  There may be racist comments. An introvert may be excluded from a group. His family condition is not good enough to support his study. There are several reasons which might make the student not pay attention in the class. The teacher will carry on teaching even if he/she understands that students are not paying attention in class. He couldn’t give particular attention to him as he will not be able to complete his syllabus on time. So there develops a gap between teacher and student.

3. Learning level is not the same:

Students studying in a class are from various backgrounds. Their parent’s educational background will be different.  Few students’ parents are highly qualified. They are third generation learners while a few students will be the first generation going for study. So the quality of involvement of parents in education by third generation learner is more than quality of involvement by the first-generation learner.  The first-generation learner will find most subject material as Latin and Greek whereas third generation learners will get support from their parents under challenging topics. Even the economic condition for first-generation learner may not be as good as the third generation learner.  They may be slow learners. They will be difficulty in grasping the concept in one shot. Even if they are fast learners, their home environment might not be favorable for study. They may have to do household work in their home whereas our traditional education system doesn’t focus on addressing this problem.

4. Lack of skill-based education:

The traditional education system focuses more on theoretical knowledge rather than skill-based education. The industry talks about innovation, creativity and out of box thinking. However, the traditional education system doesn’t encourage any of them. In a democratic country, we have the opportunity to change the government, but our education system is not designed to improve even after several years. There is research material on teaching-learning methods. But the schools fear to bring a drastic change in the syllabus. Every student is going through the same course. Educational institutions are not able to design syllabus as per the current industry demand.  The school doesn’t have sufficient resources to focus on skill-based education. The educational institutions consider the laboratory cost as a burden as the equipment is costly. So, students are not allowed to use it. The teaching is not imparted as per the trending scenario of the future rather than more focus on the thing that has become outdated.

5. Non-availability of quality teachers:

The quality of the teacher in the traditional educational system is not excellent.  Teaching is considered as the last option by people. Even teachers getting professionally certified for teaching are not able to impart quality education. Teaching has been commercialized. The ultimate goal of teaching has become to earn more money or getting cushy jobs. The most fundamental things that students can grasp their information are never a concern for teachers.

The teacher may be the best student in his subject. He may have won the gold medal in his area of expertise. But if he cannot generate interest of student towards that subject by his teaching ability and experiences, then he is not a good teacher. Our traditional education system consists of less experienced teachers.

The teachers who are below average in their academic career but having a professional degree of teaching have become a teacher. The teacher is having gold medals in their subject but is not able to explain concepts in simple ways. Even the profession of teaching requires dedication, efforts, and passion.

6. Students do not understand the importance of education:

The traditional education system is not designed to explain the importance of education. The traditional education system doesn’t tell students the impact of the education imparted to them. The focus is on completing the syllabus, getting good grades and moving on to the next class. The maximum number you get the best student you are. The numbers game in exam papers (more marks meaning smarter) most of the time gives false expression of results.  To quantify our results we take the help of number.  But the number can be manipulated to give false claims to our statements. If the parameters are not defined appropriately, they will never present an accurate picture. They should be revised every year. For example, earlier our target was to have a high enrolment of a student in the education system. But today our focus should be on the impact of education on the society, in the life of individuals, in the national economy.  The time has already been lost on focusing on the reach of education. The time has come to focus on the more significant impact of education. Our traditional education system has failed to meet these objectives. Our educational courses should be aligned with the current industry demands.

7. More emphasis on rote learning than practical utility:

The traditional education system is designed to cater to clerical jobs during the colonial period.  There is no conception of creative thinking, visualization, out of box thinking, rational thinking. The student is forced to learn a subject. If they write something wrong, they were not rewarded marks. The student, who doesn’t write what is taught in the class, is considered weak. Those students were discouraged, insulted in the classroom. The student who asks a question in the class is made fun of by the teachers and students. The basis behind all this is that you must follow what has been said by your seniors. You will get a salary and do whatever has been told from the top management. So, the spark of creativity, smart thinking and innovation is already extinguished in the student before he joins any organization. The spirit of the student is crushed by the teacher and fellow students in their traditional education system.

8. Digital Revolution disrupted the workforce:

The most significant factor which makes the traditional education system outdated is the digital revolution. Digital revolution has changed the way things are done in the industry. It has made the whole world a remote village. You are not bound to learn only from schools. You have different sources to learn. You can surround yourself with like-minded people. You can visit various blogs, watched videos and learn from the infinite number of sources. You can even raise silly doubts. The digital revolution has empowered the students. Your learning is not confined to prescribed sources, the teacher or the four walls of the classroom.

Conclusion:

The traditional education system was the core of the nation progress. Now the time has come to focus on enhancing the lives of the people through education. The time has come to take remedial measures to transform the traditional education system into a newer and more flexible version which is robust and agile.