The tuition fever

"Today education has become business." This is one of the most common quotes that I keep consistently hearing from most of the parents. They are bowled over by the amount that gets spent on their children's education. They don't even have an option of not doing it. If they don't spend, the children don't get the required education. Peer pressure has made students demand more out of their parents and, unfortunately, parents are made to yield for the same. While we accept that the normal school education is essential from an authorized body, what about those tutorials which re-teach the same lessons? How are students fighting the tuition fever? Let's discuss more on this.

I have been to tuitions for my under-graduation. Until my tenth grade I used to find that tuition was just waste of time. Post my under-graduation I felt the same as well. But it had become quite crucial for me during the under-graduation time. As I observe the present generation juggling between too many classes it just makes me wonder if they are opting the right decisions. What is tuition? It's a place similar to a class atmosphere where one goes to learn his subjects. Who goes to tutorials? Students who are unable to cope up with the classroom education provided at school/college go to tuitions. This was the earlier definition. Today, students go to tutorials because there are no good and capable teachers available in school/college because the good ones have opened tutorials rather than working for a meagre monthly salary in institutions. With more and more tutorials opening people's mindsets also have got tuned towards tuitions, both that of parents and students (needless to say). Education is not about marks until you enter your competitive exams. It's about understanding the world around. Textbooks have been comprehensively prepared to make sure that students are able understand in the simplest manner. All it takes is good amount of patience and hard work to invest time on reading them. Since students are unable to input these two voluntarily a force is required to enforce the same. That is where tuitions have come into picture and the students have caught the tuition fever.

Today's generation plays with smartphones in its primary standards. In fact, there is no tuition to teach how to use a smartphone. Still kids are able to do it because of the curiosity. It means that kids are able to understand the automated guiding machines like phones, comprehend the instructions and use them. The same needs to be applied to text books. This requires commitment towards studies by the student. He must be ready to read until he understands and practise until he remembers. If the student is able to do this then there is no requirement of tuitions. Time investment coupled with serious commitment is the perfect medication for the tuitions fever which is affecting not the just the child but the parents too.

When I went back to school

It's been more than a decade that I have passed out of school now. Courtesy my work, I get a chance every day to go back to schools and relive those childhood memories. No doubt that the syllabi have changed, teachers are aged, schools have got additional protection grills but the children and their joy are the same. Thanks to schools which don't allow these young kids to get electronic gadgets to schools. That gives them ample opportunity to behave as living human beings with their counterparts. I enjoy observing kids below 4th grade. With all the information floating on internet and other media channels, kids are growing up and are more mature to understand the worldly affairs at a much earlier age nowadays. Such kids start behaving more or less like elders which is not so enjoyable to watch.

I recall those moments when kids enjoy speed. They want to be the fastest like superman. The moment they are out of class they run at Usain Bolt's speed to the restroom. I don't know what happens so magical over there. The moment they have to come back to their classroom the speed decreases exponentially. It looks like as if these kids are trying to compete with tortoise or a snail to win 'Who is the slowest?' competition. Somehow, struggling to allow one foot go before the other, they reach the classroom but something unexpected happens when they are just two feet away from the classroom door. All the speed lost seems to come back with the best pace and they start panting at the door as if they have just completed a 100 metres sprint. The teacher is so amazed to see such kids who showcase that they don't want to miss even a second of class. Unfortunately, the teacher doesn't know the episode before panting. May she never know it! It is surprising to notice how kids pick up such interesting talents. One more remarkable angle of a child is that s/he doesn't care who you are, what's your background, what's your colour, why have you come to the school or any other aspect of your presence in front of him/her. The moment you smile the child smiles back at you. The moment you ask a question the kid is ready with instant answers. All that the kids want in life at that age is to be happy and do things that come to their mind without thinking about any pros or cons. They are unaware about any time tables or schedules. All that they know is, eat when you are hungry, play when you have friends around and sleep when you are tired. They are devoid of all tensions of this world. That void is filled up with loads of happiness and joy on their faces. The same transcends on our faces when we are in front of them. Hence everyone cherishes those moments when they are with kids and conversing with them.

Definitely I am not saying that there are no other ways of being happy. There might be a million other ways but I love this way for sure. I am sure that a lot of you also forget all your sadness and gather the entire happiness of the world in a child's smile. Each one of us should make it a point to keep aside a few hours in a week or a month just to visit schools and observe those young minds playing the simplest game, but yet enjoying the entertainment that no playbox can provide at the most economic costs. It's a wonderful feeling to wish them good-bye as they take their tiny tots with little school bags on their backs eagerly looking forward to meet their parents after a 6 hour long separation. On the way back home switches on the school radio when the kids narrate all that happened in the school with their parents. It's a fascination to witness how the same situation that happened in school is explained with different voice modulation and perspective angles by different kids. Even better to note is the speciality of these kids who forget all the bad things that happened right that night itself and only carry forward the happy moments of the day.

Placements in colleges: now a history

All the folks in your graduation or post-graduation, please get ready to read this news in the media very soon. A lot of students have pinned their hopes on colleges for their lives ahead. All your hopes might come crashing down once this news becomes a reality soon. Prevention is better than cure. Instead of relying on the past record of history it would be quite helpful if students start relying on their own strengths and skills. Some of you might be wondering as to why this would happen very soon. Let me explain…

Few decades ago, there was nothing called as placements in colleges. Schools and colleges were meant to be places for pure education. They were just limited to teachers and students and a few other technical staff who would manage and run the entire show. Parents expected that their children would come out as the brightest students from the respective institutions and chose them based on the quality of teaching alone. Few years back, when the concept of placements was introduced into colleges, when few companies started recruiting people even before their graduation was complete it was a bonus for those students who performed really well up to the penultimate year in colleges. Since companies also could save time on interviewing a bunch of candidates just to select few, and hence save time, they collaborated with colleges to do the job of filtering the applicants. Even the few colleges chosen by companies, got the reputation amongst public for developing their students so well that they would be recognised by corporates even before convocation. So, it was a win-win situation for all. Unfortunately, as time passed this bonus no more remained a bonus; everyone wanted to make this bonus a part of the curriculum itself which started to ruin things in all directions for everyone. Applying facial make-up products at times can help you look better but applying them day and night shall only ruin your skin. The same started to happen in our education system.

Colleges were meant to concentrate to bring in good teachers, get good lab facilities, and conduct programs for overall development of students. Instead their focus shifted to getting companies to their campus to conduct placements for students. Naturally, the focus on earlier aspects reduced, and hence, the quality of education took a back seat. Companies also had to select students, no matter whether they were employable or not, only to maintain their good relations with the colleges due to past records and future hopes. On the contrary, students who chose colleges based on quality of education earlier, now started to blame the lack of quality, but still joined the same only with the hope for placements. Now, the students, who needed to concentrate on studying well and scoring good marks in tests, projects and exams, instead postponed their seriousness to the final year exclusively for placement tests and interviews. Obviously the subject knowledge went down in them. Hence the students’ quality also started decreasing cumulatively. Companies, who had tied up earlier with colleges depending on quality of education provided by the college and the quality of students graduating from the college, started losing hope on getting the best students from the college. Hence they stopped coming to colleges and students hopes went crashing down. Everyone was only losing in all directions. Colleges and companies started blaming students for lack of seriousness in studies and lack of skills while students started blaming colleges for lack of proper infrastructure and under-quality teaching. It only became a more vicious loop day by day as years passed by.

This has to end somewhere and equilibrium has to set in at some time in the very near future. As people say, ‘History repeats itself’, people will start realising soon the mistakes of their predecessors and start adopting the conventions of their predecessors following the rule of ‘Old is Gold’. Colleges shall soon shift their focus on giving the right quality in education than running around convincing companies to hire their students. Companies shall become choosier before entering any college, or might wait until the right candidates apply directly. Students have no other option but to change because college rules and company laws are in the hands of few wise people who might implement the changes overnight but, a student’s life is only in the hands of him/her. You need to make a wise choice for your life. You can no more depend on the college campus placements for deciding your future. Choose a college for the right quality of education, learn your subjects well, give your best in studies to score the best marks, use the time in college to develop yourself in multiple dimensions, and especially, take the help of teachers, not to adjust your attendance, but to clarify your doubts and answer your questions. Invest your time in developing yourself than your resume. It shall get built on its own and it shall speak to the company heads on your behalf in the interviews.

Many companies have stopped coming to colleges, many colleges have postponed their placement schedules, and many students are graduating out of colleges unemployed even with the best percentage. These are the signs to prove that the news in the title of today’s blog post is going to be in reality and in the media soon. Beware my dear students!

Something for something

'Give all that you can but expect none from the others' is the slogan that people advise the disturbed souls. For the universe to be balanced, they say that for every particle there is an anti-particle. So if one person is giving away something to the other, definitely there shall be an imbalance because the giver receives nothing as per the general perception. However, the world doesn't survive if there is such an imbalance. Hence we jump into the theory of, 'for every something that is given there is always something taken as well'.

 

Let's take a few examples and prove this hypothetical theory. If someone gives another person some amount of money then he receives back a promise that he shall repay the amount. May be the give and take doesn't happen in equivalent form of an object but definitely in equivalent forms of feelings. The guy receiving the money is happy and the guy lending the money is happy because he knows that he will get back his money with extra interest added to it. In a class, when a teacher is teaching, she is passing on her knowledge to the students in exchange for their attention. The teacher gets attention for her teaching while the students get education for their attention. In above two examples, if the receiver would be absent i.e., either the students or the loan receiver then there would be no scope for the lender or the teacher to exist to perform their roles just like how if all planets cease to exist, the sun would have no reason to burn. So there is always a trade of something for something in this universe.

 

If we accept the theory of this barter that there is always that's got for something that's lost or given away, a lot of problems and worries in our life can be reduced. If a thief steals away your money, it only means that he gave back the lesson of safety to you. If a friend cheated your trust, he only gave back an experience to trust a friend carefully in future. In every possible situation, your assets remain the same. Only that, with every occurring transaction the form of your assets keeps changing. When you know that you receive something for every something that you lend out, then why worry? You can just be happy always. You can throw in your comments here.

Feels nice to be remembered

It was around a couple of days back when I had been to the gym by 9pm or so that I saw a lady who reminded me of someone whom I had met before. By the time I gave few seconds to my brain to search its memory bank I recollected that the lady in the gym was none other than my beloved teacher who taught me during my kindergarten schooling. Immediately I rushed towards her and asked if my guess was really right. I was almost 100% sure that she would feel happy that I still remembered her but definitely she wouldn't be able to recollect my name because it had been a gap of more than 2 decades since I passed out of my kindergarten.

I went near her and uttered her name just for confirmation and to my surprise the reply wasn't a 'yes' or a 'yeah'. The reply was 'Mohan!!!!!' pointing at me. I was just astounded. How on earth could this teacher of mine remember my name so clearly after 2 decades????? I was just amazed by her memory. I just thanked her for remembering my name. Then throughout my workout I was only smiling that my teacher could remember my name even after 20 long years. I was just patting my back that I was so famous in school that no teacher could ever forget my name. It's very natural for students to forget the name of 50 and odd teachers' names that they witness during their lifetime of education. The teachers interact with hundreds of new students every year. When a student cannot remember just 50 teachers' names how can one expect a teacher to remember all the students' names. Might be no teacher remembers all his/her students' names but if he/she remembers your name even after 20 years then you might just be one of those lucky pets of his/her.

This small incident taught me so much about remembering people. Even after 3 days of the incident I am still happy that my nursery teacher remembered my name. Just imagine how much of happiness you can create for a person by just remembering him/her. You need not help or serve or give anything to the person to make him/her feel happy. Just remember their name until eternity and that itself shall serve as the best gift you could possibly ever present because it feels really nice to be remembered. Do let me know if you remember my blogs on is.mohanbn@gmail.com

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TEACHER

Teacher is a person who influences our life to a very great extent. I was more interested in our teachers' digression during the classes especially in engineering because I felt that it taught us more about life. A dirge shown in a movie at a teacher's funeral stirred all the students into tears. A teacher always tries to disabuse his students about the concepts during the process of teaching. Some of the discordant concepts are explained with such an ease by experienced teachers. The discerning capability of a student is bolstered by a teacher. Even if some of the teachers are unable to satisfy us, we should not discredit or disparage them at once. We should still respect them because they are our teachers. Some of the difficult discrepancies cannot be solved without a teacher's help. We need to pose our questions in discrete amounts rather than burdening the teacher with a pile of doubts. Some of the disingenuous students misuse the freedom given by the teacher during class hours and as a result they will face punishment as the teacher is disinterested about any particular student.

 

A good teacher is one who dismisses our weakness and helps us to develop our disjointed thoughts into a constructive application. A teaher gives examples from disparate fields to make us understand a simple concept. I remember some of our teachers dissembling as some of the characters in a play while teaching about a drama lesson. Our teachers hold the responsibility of resolving the dissolution among some of the misled students and disseminate the ideals which will help us to improve in life. We need to heed to our teachers' advice when we are stuck in situations of dichotomy. Only when we shed our diffidence and explain clearly about our problem can the teacher help us. Rather than making diffuse talks about how bad our teachers are, we should stand in their shoes and think if we are able to do atleast 10% of what they do for us.

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ACADEMICS

When it comes to academics different people are of different opinions. Some feel it is the most important thing of any student's life. some feel it is very difficult to be the TOP in academics whereas some of them are of the opinion that it doesnt even matter. Lets not get into debates or discussions about the importance of academics

here because I dont know who you are until you give your feedback. Lets see academics as a part of our life. A winner choses to be a winner in all the fields. Everyone would be happy to do their best and get the best results in whichever field might it be. Hence here I would like to share with you few methods which helped me get amazing results in academics. I hope and in fact am sure that these methods would work for you as much as they worked for me :)

My name is Mohan.B.N. I did my schooling in MESKK, Under graduation in MES College of Arts, Commerce and Science and completed my Electronics and Communication Engineering from RV College of Engineering. I was a topper in my school right from 4th standard. I have been in the top 3 ranks always in all the tests and examinations except for some 6 times until I completed SSLC with 93.92%. I was awarded the MERIT student award consecutively for 2 years in 8th and 9th Std and secured 5th rank in NTSE examination at state level. Being he 4th topper for Karnataka in my 2nd PUC with 97% score (98.33% in PCM, 100 on 100 in Mathematics) and securing 29th rank in Engineering CET and 33rd rank in Medical CET were many of the memorable accomplishments. Passing out with YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR AWARD and 86.4% aggregate in engineering under VTU was yet another milestone. If you are thinking all these were difficult I would say it was not as difficult as you are thinking but it was one of the best funs of life.

Studies or academics require the same attitudes for being at the TOP as required to achieve success in any other field as sports or entertainment or art. HARDWORK, PERSISTENCE, AMBITION, CONSISTENCY, CONCENTRATION are the words that we regularly hear which are most essential to achieve the best results in this field.

I dont deny with any of the above advices because I, myself have been a stern follower of each of the above qualities. But one factor we need to observe is that the above words cant be measured. So many students get confused as to how much hardwork to do or how much more consistent to be. I promise you my dear friend, I wont put

you into confusion after you read this blog :)

I am going to talk about just 3 most important topics:-

1. EVERYDAY STUDIES

   

"Everything starts small" is a very famous quote we have heard and over-heard. Lets not forget "Everything BIG is built in small steps". Likewise in academics too, no one becomes a topper overnight. Successful studies never happened in past through last-night efforts just before the exam and will never ever happen in the future. Beware of those advisors who advise you to study just the day before the test or just the week before the exam. As we require daily food at regular intervals our brain also being a living entity needs daily regular consistent amount of food called knowledge. In general, as overdose of food on a single day can upset our stomach likewise overdose of studies in a single day can upset the mind as well. Hence I always believe in and advocate daily regular studies.

Whether you are a school student or an undergraduate or doing your graduation, make sure you have something new to study everyday. Let it be something that has been taught in your school or tuition or college on that particular day or if nothing new has been taught, study the next topic which will be taught the next day in your instituition. Because new things, new information, new people always build curiosity and interest in us. So starting off your daily studies with something new will motivate you to study without any boredom. Once you have completed this, then go for that part of studies which you have planned (in-detail discussion about PLANNING is discussed in the next topic) for that particular day. The third part of your daily studies is all about writing. Writing is equal to 3 times reading in my opinion because first time you think in

your mind what to write, second time you are physcially writing, third time you are telling in your mind what you are actually writing.

The writing part may consist of writing your homework, records, assignments, datasheets etc or just a handwriting improvement.

Make sure that you take atleast 5-10 minutes of between each of these 3 parts. Each of the 3 activities should atleast be done continuously for 30-45 mins depending upon the requirement. I dont specify any particular time of studies because some are comfortable to study as soon as they return from their school or college, some prefer to play and study after 7 pm while some prefer late night studies as it would be a lot more silent. The choice is yours. Starting your studies once you light the lamp in the evening after praying to God would be very asupicious as most of our elders suggest.

2. STUDY-PLAN

Has there been any building built without a plan? Has there been any business started without a business plan? The answer is big "NO" in both the cases. In the same way, only well-planned studies can yield the best results. Random studies will only lead to disaster. This plan can either be written down at the back of your diary or on a paper and stuck to your cupboard door or might be neatly placed in a photo frame and kept on your study table or might be there just on your mind. Once again the     choice is yours. But the main point I want to drill down here is that there must be a plan for your studies.

A basic study-plan must be able to remind you at any point of time the following 3 things;

1. What portion of studies need to be done?

2. How much of time has been alllocated to complete that portion of studies?

3. How many days before the exam/test are you studying that portion?

  

As described in the above EVERYDAY STUDIES section, once you complete studying of new information first the second part is to study the portions planned for that particular day. In general, planning is done keeping in mind an exam or a test as the target. Make sure your planning should be done much ahead before the test or exam. The number of days required to completely study the portions for a test or exam depends on your capacity. While doing EVERYDAY STUDIES initially itself you will have a fair idea about how much you can study per day. Based on this prepare your study plan. Keep atleast 2 days of buffer before the exam or test so that you dont have any last minute tensions if you havent completed any portion of the studies. If you have completed as per the plan, Congratulations!!! you get 2 days of revision time.

There are few final titbits about study-plan that I would like to share with you my dear friend. Make sure the you are reading your entire study-plan twice, once before starting your studies and after finishing your studies everyday. This will help you keep track of your daily studies and also will create a subconscious blueprint of the study-plan in your mind. Keeping a combination of two subjects in your daily study-plan will avoid the boring of studying the same subject and at the same will give you a good feeling of completed part of two subjects simultaneously. Mathematics should be a part of your everyday study-plan irrespective of the other two subjects and maths should never just be read. Always practise mathematics by writing.

   

3. FUN 'N' RELAX

  

Last but not the least life is all about enjoyment of every minutest of the work we do. So why make studies an exception. Lets enjoy studies. But HOW??? is a very big question on many minds. I still remember while I used to write the exams, many songs used to play in my head and by the time I realised I would have completed writing the entire answer. My marks dint go down because of this as I have stated my records above. Lets accept the fact that we will have to do our studies, we will have to    attend the exams and tests. There's no escape. Lets do it in the best way possible. Fun is the best way of learning anything. Whenever you sit to study just prepare your mind to enjoy what you will be studying. Try to picturise almost everything you study. It will stay in the brain longer. Talk to      the characters in whatever you are studying as if they are your friends. Associate a song tune to narrate a description. Explain to your mom or younger brother or even a dog whatever you have just studied. Invent funnier ways of your own while studying which will make even the most boring subject the most interesting one. Trust me, it    works.

After a good amount of time invested in studies, relax yourself. Deep breathing will be very helpful. You dont have to revise once again in your mind while relaxing. Relax    means just RELAX! Before any exam make sure you have atleast 8 hours of good sound sleep. As I have mentioned earlier, no point in last night studies and last night tension if you are aiming to be a TOPPER. Go out for a walk or if you are into bodybuilding, go to the gym and have a good workout. Exercising the body is as important as exercising the mind. Relax! Enjoy studies, enjoy LIFE.

My dear friend, I wish you all the very best for your studies. Just waiting to see you in the toppers list in the topmost rank. All the very best! Please pour in your feedback. I will try to provide better and easier methods as we move along further.

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