Taleb makes a distinction between "liberal arts" education and "technical" education - which is found wanting in most parts of the world among kids, particularly in India
On India, Taleb says
"What’s the problem with India? India has a lot of educated people who are sociologists. It’s nice, it’s the thing for dinner with the VP of WorldBank.Whereas if you want to know electricity, how to make batteries or something like that, that’s more useful"
Another quote -
"teach people young, very young, spend three or four hours doing something. How did people learn medicine in the old days? It was a generational thing.Your father was a doctor, and you walked around with your father"
He also observes how "theoretical" liberal arts education is sometimes overrated -
"Roman engineers did not use Greek geometry"
"We only started using Greek geometry late.... Engineers (in the old days) built cathedrals without clear geometry. It was actually more robust"
Now comes the India connection. There was a politician in India who actually advocated something very similar to what Taleb is talking about back in 1953. He was C Rajagopalachari - the first head of state (Governor general) of Independent India
Rajaji was born in 1878 and lived for 94 years. He started out as a lawyer, then a freedom fighter. Was India's first governor general, held the Home ministry. Was CM of Tamil Nadu, and later founded the Swatantra party- arguably Independent India's only conservative party in 50s
It was in 1953 as the Chief Minister in his home state of Madras (now TN) that Rajaji advocated his radical overhaul of school education. This was the "Modified Scheme of Elementary Education". More on it here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modified_Scheme_of_Elementary_education_1953
The scheme proposed the introduction of two shifts or sessions in elementary schools. In one session regular teaching would be done and during the second session, the students would be sent home to learn the occupations of their parents.
It advocated reduction of School hours from five hours per day to three. The school would function in two sessions. Each session was to be of three hours duration. The first session was the regular classroom teaching - what is often called "liberal education".
The second session was the one in which the students would be out of school learning through living and training in self-reliance
The students would engage in the crafts of their parents and if they chose not to engage in their parents' craft, provisions would be made for them to engage in other vocations
The Proposal was met with widespread resistance both within Rajaji's own @INCIndia party but also the "Dravidian" opposition parties which were beginning to make their presence felt at the time
The plan was derogatorily dubbed "The Hereditary Education Policy" by the Dravidian parties. "Kula Kalvi Thittam" in Tamil. Rajaji was accused of a diabolical attempt to perpetuate the caste system by promoting affiliation to parental trades
Agitations were held across the state. Pressure mounted on Rajaji to resign. He resigned the same year. And his successor Congressman Kamaraj dropped the policy altogether very promptly.
This was a classic example of how a policy of educational reform that could have had far reaching impact on education in Southern India was scuttled before being put to practice, under populist pressures
Rajaji's home state of Tamil Nadu continues to fare very abysmally in learning outcomes 70 years after independence
While the governments boast of the high "literacy" rates, outcomes in TN are worse than many northern states. As per a "National Achievement Survey" that surveys learning outcomes - In class 8, 17.5% score above 50% in Math and 19.6% score above 50% in Science, in Tamil Nadu
The high school enrollments are a mere red-herring, and only serve as a decade long holiday for kids in their formative years, during which they end up learning no skills, and a smattering knowledge of subjects, which are of limited utility
It is sobering to remember Rajaji's prescience as we ponder over Taleb and Caplan's indicting remarks on modern elementary education - particularly in an Indian context.
It is also unfortunate how populism and the penchant for "modernity" has resulted in the establishment of sub-par educational systems - all in the name of uprooting the traditional, and much misunderstood, Varna Vyavastha @nkgrock
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