Rethinking Education 3

Its slight deviation in the continuity but I feel about it so strongly that I want to share this point immediately. I was in a meeting two days back and we were discussing to promote research. It was not the first of its nature, I have been attending meetings at different fora, including HEC, addressing this issue.The discussion was no different from previous meetings. It was all about providing incentives to do research. There was only one incentive, the money. Suddenly a feeling flashed to my mind and I expressed it in the meeting.It was that,
" we are around 25 professors discussing this issue and it is all about how much money one could earn if one enhances his qualification or do a research.The question is that could there be any other reason to seek knowledge or generate knowledge".
If there is no other reason then be rest assured we are on a slippery slope, as psychologists call it, and down there is a ditch of disgrace and miseries in the form of utter dissatisfaction. The things will be out of hand and we will have no time to repent even. But who cares in this storm of greed!
I was thinking that probably few centuries down the line when virtues will again rule, some historian will comment that there was a time when education was a commodity and people used to seek "knowledge", deliver "knowledge' and create "knowledge" only to earn money. Can such a thing be called knowledge. Late Sumantra Goshal, a professor at London Business School calls it "pretense of knowledge.
From Islamic perspective "Ilm" has to be "Nafay". But nafay is a virtue and it has no place in today's world of self-interest, competition and efficiency that is measured in numbers not in it's "manfiat" (benefit) to human beings. We are all in a race on a slippery slope. May Allah help us and guide us to the right path. HEC needs to think about it seriously. Professors should raise their voice rather than appreciating it. Students must raise their voice on social media. 

Rethinking Education 2

In my previous post I raised couple of questions to set the stage for discussion. The very first question is about the definition of education. I googled to find out the answer. I found the following.

ed·u·ca·tion /ˌ ejəˈkāSHən/

Noun

The process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, esp. at a school or university: "a new system of public education".

The theory and practice of teaching.

Synonyms

training - schooling - instruction - upbringing - nurture

Wilipedia.

Education in its general sense is a form of learning in which the knowledge, skills, and habits of a group of people are transferred from one generation to the next through teaching, training, or research. Education frequently takes place under the guidance of others, but may also be autodidactic.^[1] Any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts may be considered educational.

Etymologically, the word "education" is derived from the Latin ēducātiō ("A breeding, a bringing up, a rearing") from ēdūcō ("I educate, I train") which is related to the homonym ēdūcō ("I lead forth, I take out; I raise up, I erect") from ē- ("from, out of") and dūcō ("I lead, I conduct").^[2]

Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time. By an extension, the term "the etymology of [a word]" means the origin of the particular word.

Oxford Dictionary

noun

[mass noun]

The process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university: a course of education

 the theory and practice of teaching: colleges of education

 [count noun] a body of knowledge acquired while being educated: his education is encyclopedic and eclectic

 information about or training in a particular subject: health education

(an education) an enlightening experience: Petrus is a good workman—it is an education to watch him

The key element of these definitions is that it’s a delivery process from one entity to another entity. The entity could be a person, a generation and/or an institution. This has conceptual and practical implications. At conceptual level it is important to know “what” is being delivered and at practical level it is “how” that is to be understood.

The fact of the matter is that if human beings develop wrong theories or ideas about nature, it is not going to affect the laws of nature and it’s working. For thousands of years it was believed that earth is flat and stationary and, also, that sun revolves around the earth. Despite of human belief it did not happen and off course will never happen that way. In case of natural sciences the research means the discoveries of laws of nature not inventing or developing these laws.  

In case of behavioural sciences it is completely the other way round. Your beliefs and ideas structure your personal, social and organizational “laws of behavior”. It is more of framing, inventing and developing laws rather than discovering them. Social science theories can influence reality in profound ways by influencing how we think about ourselves and how we act.

“The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood (Keynes, 1936: 383).”

The ideas and theories in social and behavioral sciences can become self-fulfilling.

Robert Merton defines a self-fulfilling prophecy as a prediction that “is, in the beginning, a false definition of a situation evoking a behavior which makes the originally false conception come true” (Merton, 1948: 195).

To understand the conceptual part one must thoroughly study the development of economic thought with a specific attention given to the impact of industrial revolution on it. It’s mainly the economic thought that is being passed on from one generation to next generation. These thoughts are not essentially delivered by educational institutions only. The informal channels of education, particularly the media, have played the major rule in this context. Those who study social sciences are directly affected by these ideas and others are affected indirectly. While opting for social sciences one deliberately opt for learning such ideas the others fall prey to these ideas unconsciously. For example, the notion of self-interest is basic to economics, management sciences and an essential ingredient of almost all social sciences. However, the notion has gone into the blood stream, especially in capitalist economies, to the extent that those who never studied economics also believe it. How did it happen? Remember your actions are controlled by you beliefs. Your beliefs about universe, human beings, global resources and human welfare structure your societies, markets, organisations and even you individual life and behavior. So we need to know what ideas are being passed on from one generation to the next in the past couple of centuries. What ideas we are passing to next generation through so called education? This is important to understand the contemporary world and the future we are designing for coming generations.

The second part is the practical approach that is the teaching methodology. Because it is delivery of knowledge, skill, ideas etc., deliverables need to be quantified in measureable units. Thus emphasis is on structured and standardized education system in terms of time, contents and even outcomes. The result is standardized text books, outlines, tests and grading. It is a common knowledge that academic performance measured by such standardized measures has little, if any, relevance with the performance in practical life. In my 37 years of academic life I have not seen a single gold or silver medalist excel in practical life. At best the end up in academic career again emphasizing the significance of 4 CGPA. The so called IQ tests again have little relevance with success, even defined in capitalistic sense, in life. Don Berg, Founder Attitutor Services, says

“ This conception of education contributes to harming students and teachers by driving policy makers to insist on accounting for the "units" of information that students demonstrate knowledge of on tests.”

We need to rethink both at conceptual and practical/methodological level.

       

Rethinking Education

On my Facebook I wrote
"I belong to that generation which in spite of using IT a lot, is still uncomfortable with using social media. I believe its the most effective way to influence the thought process and bring positive change ii society. I am trying hard to make it a habit to spare one to two hours a week for it. I have spent my life in different universities and thoroughly enjoyed my career. However, for the last couple of years, since the education has globally become and industry, it is disturbing me a lot. At times I wonder what is being done in the name of education and its implications on society. I have taken an initiative in the the name of "Rethinking Business Education". We held one workshop from the platform of FMS Riphah few months back and want to have a broader discussion. I will share my ideas on my blog and request the academia, industry and general public to participate in it. We may bring a positive change."
The response is very encouraging. It seems every one feels it, the only requirement is to have a forum for discussion. So, I am providing that opportunity. To set the stage for discussion I am raising the following questions.
How do we define education?
Could there be education without defining its objectives?
What is "Higher Education" and how should it be distinguished from secondary and primary education?
Should Higher Education be everyone's right?
What are the roots of present ,so called, education system?
Could there be standardized teaching methodology for all types of disciplines?
Is present system worth calling "Education System"?

..........and many many more questions.
Pl ponder on these questions and respond. Next time I will post some material regarding these questions.
Gradually we will move on to Management education. However, before we start discussing specific issues regarding management education, we need to look at a macro picture. Management schools are in effect "Corporate Management Schools". We keep on talking corporate culture that has become a fad now a days.  Even the politicians are asking to bring corporate culture in govt. institutions. I wonder if they, and most of the academician,s know what corporate culture is. I want this to be discussed.
Moving a step further, the corporate business  is a subset of a bigger culture "the capitalism". To understand the present education education system and particularly the management education, we need to understand and challenge the basic assumptions of the system.

ICMA Pakistan's 2nd Directors' Training Programme‏

I will be conducting the session on 16th & 17th of May 2013. The emphasize is on understanding financial statements by company directors for decision making. This is second session of the series started at Islamabad.

ICMA Pakistan's 2nd Directors' Training Programme‏

Training Session on Finance for Non Finance Company Directors
Organised by ICMA
at Sheraton Karachi
on 16th & 17th May 2013

Improving Lives

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