Close All Schools

Following is an Article in Times of India written by Sauvik Chakraverti.

Individuals require less knowledge in order to survive in today’s complex world than they did in the far simpler past. Village life requires knowing how to grow your food, look after and milk your cows and build your own house. In a modern city, one can easily get by just knowing how to play the guitar well. A musician in the urban ‘division of labour’ can then happily rely on the specialised knowledge of others. His car is built by engineers, kept in good repair by mechanics and driven by a skilled chauffeur. His house is built by an architect and aesthetically furnished by an interior decorator. Farmers grow his food and this is cooked by a trained chef. In all these (and all other) areas, our musician is blissfully ignorant. Economists call this phenomenon ‘rational ignorance’: It shows how, as the economy diversifies, less real knowledge is required on the part of each participant. This has enormous implications on the sort of education system required in a modern ‘knowledge economy’.

The existing school system provides generalised knowledge of dubious quality. Even after 12 years of schooling, a student does not possess any knowledge that could be useful in the market. Further, higher education is required. This generalised, broad education is difficult for students to assimilate: Many commit suicide. The only career open for those with this generalised education is the bureaucracy, who are the proverbial ‘jack of all trades’. This horrible school system should be closed down. All Indian children should be publicly informed that survival in the modern world requires fragmented bits of specialised knowledge, and that the search for such knowledge is simplicity itself. Apart from basic language skills, preferably in English, and knowing how to use a calculator, all that a young person needs is knowledge in one single field. He must, therefore, find a calling, and seek knowledge relevant to that calling alone. He can find this by apprenticeship. He can acquire it from a guru. Or from a specialised school. This will give the aspiring student hope. The search for knowledge will not seem such a long, uphill task as it is today. So close every school down, and let the knowledge economy explode.

-- Keep the knowledge Intact
- - Kalingaa...