Why does it Lick the joints?
I am used to asking questions. I had asked my professor of cardiology Dr.U. Brahmaji Rao the above question when he was teaching us about rheumatic fever and its manifestations. he simply looked at me like i was crazy,ignored the question and went on with his usual canned lecture. This professor used to treat Myocardial infarction with bedrest still a Phase 1 therapy in an age of phase 2 therapies elsewhere.
(Since Herrick’s description of the clinical picture of acute myocardial infarction exactly one century ago (1912), there have been three phases of therapy: Phase 1 (1912–1961, bed rest and ‘expectant’ treatment); Phase 2 (1961–1974, the coronary care unit); and Phase 3 (1975–present, myocardial reperfusion). We are now on the cusp of Phase 4, which comprises efforts to reduce myocardial perfusion injury as well as regenerative medicine.)
Discouraging questioning in Indian Education
Asking questions takes you to novelty and novelty has risks.
Ask questions and face risk.
I am thrilled by the fantastic reply by this retired teacher Sudhanshu-K-Mishra. You can click on the link and read his other observations.
https://www.quora.com/profile/Sudhanshu-K-Mishra
I am used to asking questions. I had asked my professor of cardiology Dr.U. Brahmaji Rao the above question when he was teaching us about rheumatic fever and its manifestations. he simply looked at me like i was crazy,ignored the question and went on with his usual canned lecture. This professor used to treat Myocardial infarction with bedrest still a Phase 1 therapy in an age of phase 2 therapies elsewhere.
(Since Herrick’s description of the clinical picture of acute myocardial infarction exactly one century ago (1912), there have been three phases of therapy: Phase 1 (1912–1961, bed rest and ‘expectant’ treatment); Phase 2 (1961–1974, the coronary care unit); and Phase 3 (1975–present, myocardial reperfusion). We are now on the cusp of Phase 4, which comprises efforts to reduce myocardial perfusion injury as well as regenerative medicine.)
Discouraging questioning in Indian Education
Asking questions takes you to novelty and novelty has risks.
Ask questions and face risk.
I am thrilled by the fantastic reply by this retired teacher Sudhanshu-K-Mishra. You can click on the link and read his other observations.
https://www.quora.com/profile/Sudhanshu-K-Mishra
In the ancient educational system, teaching of the ‘master’ often began as a response to the question raised by the ‘pupil’ or raised among themselves (the Rishis) conferencing together. Read the Upanishads and testify it.
In due course, schools were established and the day scholars came to those schools for education. The teachers were supposed to teach during a specific period and the students were supposed to attend classes during that period. Examinations were conducted as a routine matter and the certificate became the gateway to employment. The overall education or development of the student was nobody’s concern; nobody was responsible for the performance of the student; things became impersonal.
- If a teacher has to teach a herd of, say, 50 students and his contact time is 60 minutes (and the teacher’s responsibility is to complete the course also in a fixed duration), can he/she allow the questions raised by ‘differently’ initiated students to be discussed in the class? No. He/she will never be able to teach or complete the course. This situation has disallowed the teacher to entertain the questions in the classroom.
2. Free questions have a tendency to go wide, go deep or go wild very fast. Even if the questions are on the right track, pursuing them would easily take the teacher and the pupil ‘out of the syllabus’ or out of the domain of permissible inquiry very fast.
Take an example. If copper and hot sulfuric acid react, they produce cupric sulfate (a salt with a formula CuSO4(H2O)x, where x could be (0, 5), often x being 5 or the salt being cupric sulfate pentahydrate), which in its solid form is bright blue and its crystals have a particular type of geometry. It is a fungicide and herbicide, having toxic effect on human beings if ingested, leading to vomit etc.
Now suppose one is a chemistry teacher in a school. It can be very much in syllabus to teach about the reaction of copper with sulfuric acid and formation of cupric sulfate. Next, suppose, the student asked him/her as to why the cupric sulfate is blue, can an average teacher (even the moderately above average teacher) answer this question? And why is it so that its crystals assume a particular type of geometry? Why does it not take a color and geometry of some other salt, say ferric sulfate or sodium chloride or potassium nitrate for that matter? (If interested, please read: http://rspa.royalsocietypublishi...).
So, the questions of the second order (why cupric sulfate has a particular color and a particular crystal shape) are not so easy to answer (within the reach of the student as well as the teacher). And then there could be questions of the tertiary order. One example is enough to demonstrate that cupric sulfate may take one to MSc level physics and chemistry and sometimes beyond (why is cupric sulfate a fungicide? Why a man ingesting cupric sulfate would take to vomiting?).
So, it is easy saying but difficult doing to allow the students to ask questions in the class room. And are all students equally interested in the answer to the questions asked by their peers? Perhaps not.
I am not against inquisitiveness. But one should not be swayed away by ideals only. One has to think of real as well.
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Inquisitiveness, asking questions and learning: prospects and constraints
This is a sort of autobiographical note on the title subject. The purpose is to share with others, especially the young generation, the experiences of an old man who has been a teacher by profession.
My father chose not to send me to the village school and teach me at home. He taught me Sanskrit. He permitted me to ask any question that came to my mind. He never got irritated and answered all my questions convincingly. Only latter on I realized that many of the answers given by him were incorrect, mutually contradictory, not supported by the literature and so on. But all these things occurred to me only after being critical (when I crossed my teenage). I must appreciate that my father inculcated in me the habit of asking questions as well as seeking for the answers to those questions.
My father wanted me to appear in the matriculation exam privately, but due to some constraints, I was admitted to class 10 in my village school and I had to appear in the matriculation exam as a regular student. Having passed matriculation, I was admitted to a college for further studies.
There are positive and negative aspects of the training that I received. I remained a questioning boy and a real problem to my teachers in the college. I always thought that the teacher (in the class) is teaching me (not a class where there are many others, more than 70, like me) and I have a right to interfere and ask him the questions right there in the classroom. It was never appreciated by my teachers since I was a disturbing element. My teachers also considered me too arrogant although asking questions was very much in my nature and it was natural, not due to any arrogance.
It affected my interpersonal relations with my peers, too. After the classes were over, I carried my questions in my mind and wanted to discuss them with my class-fellows. But none of them was interested in my questions and I was not interested in their ‘matters of discourse’. My class-fellows nevertheless tolerated my ‘foolishness’ and ‘bookishness’ simply because they liked my innocence.
Discouraged by my teachers and perhaps overlooked by my peers, I went ahead and tried to satisfy my inquisitiveness by reading more books and widen my scope of inquiry. I started growing into the fields and the territories that were conventionally not mine (since I was a student of Economics in my BA and MA). I started reading books on philosophy, sociology, psychology, history and anthropology because some of my questions led me to enter into those disciplines. I became more interested in those disciplines and also in statistics and mathematics than economics per say. My access to Sanskrit also further widened my scope to philosophy. While my peers were busy in preparing for the examinations, I was busy in reading the works in institutional economics (which was never in my syllabus) and trying to understand its relationship with the philosophy of the pragmatists and the psychology of James and trying to dig out the possible connections between institutionalist economics and the psychology of Jung. This indulgence was disastrous for my performance in MA examination and since MA results are at the doorsteps of one’s career, my overindulgence affected my career adversely.
I remained unemployed for many years. After failing in an interview to obtain lectureship, I asked the Head of the department as to why I was not selected. He clarified that although he was clearly convinced that I knew economics better than the one selected in the interview and that I was to prove a better teacher, I had only a second class while the one selected by him had a first class. One has not only to be objective, one must also appear to be objective. Perhaps he meant to say that one need not be objective but must appear to be so. It reminded me of Machiavelli in The Prince. Perhaps I had read The Prince only to face such an experience.
My fate took me to IIT, Kharagpur – the Department of Architecture and Regional Planning – for doing my Master of Regional Planning course. I did that and a PhD, too. Ultimately, I became lecturer in Architecture and Planning, leaving economics. But, by that time I had developed a love for Computer programming. I eyed at the usefulness of programming to do econometrics and optimization, but my colleagues seldom appreciated it.
I left IIT, Kharagpur to join the Department of Economics in North Eastern Hill University and tried to connect programming to econometrics, etc. Those days, software(s) were not available; computers ran on floppy disks. Hard drives came later on. My colleagues were simply laughing at my indulgence. My views on economics as well were different from theirs. I remained an odd man out.
In seeking the answers to the odd (non-conventional) questions, computer (and one’s ability to program it) may be helpful. It was so. But the issue remains. Why to ask odd questions? Why don’t you work on the issues that others also work on? If you don’t you are a loner.
I will give you an example. I wrote a paper in which I used a method of global optimization. I received a comment that such methods are only a hype and cannot be relied upon. This issue was raised by a well-known American Computational Economist. I disagreed. He sent to me a problem to optimize (it happened to be Keane’s bump function with 10 decision variables and 2 constraints, beyond the domain of the variables). I optimized the problem to his satisfaction not only for dimension 10, but also for much larger dimensions. He was convinced, fortunately and the paper was published. I have several experiences like this.
Once an expert (?) commented on my candidature that I was working in the field that was not a core of economics, so I might not be promoted. But what did he mean by core? Perhaps he meant that I was not chewing the chewed and striding not on the beaten tracks.
Asking questions takes you to novelty and novelty has risks. Ask questions and face risk.
Practical people do not ask questions. They do not venture upon new ideas. So, they always succeed. They live in herds. It will minimise the chance of you being hurt by the predators. It increases survival. Don’t explore. Exploit that which was explored by others. The explorer faces the risk but may not survive to exploit. The chances of the ‘exploiter’ to survive are higher than the ‘explorers’.
Schumpeter told us that growth (development) lies in innovation. True, but are those who reap the fruits of innovation necessarily those who innovated? What about the distribution of the pie among the ‘innovators’, the ‘beneficiaries of the innovation’ and the ‘imitators’ - considered as the three classes?
I am, again, asking a question. A bad habit indeed that dies hard. I hope it will die with me!
143 Views · View Upvoters · Answer requested by Arun Babber
That’s because our Indian education system continuously judges you on how much you remember rather than how much you can apply and experience.( this is still true in many other countries including USA in some aspects)
And because you are not experiencing anything, your mind eventually gets tuned to just keep receiving the information without questioning the very existence of that information.
Another reason I feel is the way our education system is designed. Teachers are more focussed on finishing the syllabus that they just don’t have time to even allow children to ask questions.
The third reason is that we aren’t allowing a child to take their own unique path to learning. In a class of 30 or 40 students, a simple observation that we have been ignoring is how every child is unique. The way each child receives information, processes it and understands it is very different from the other child. But what we do is push every child to follow the same path. If a teacher plays a multimedia video in the classroom, he/she pushes all children in the class to see the same video at the same speed and at the same volume. And the teacher expects that all children would have understood the concept equally. But that rarely happens.
When we are not even allowing each mind to blossom in its own way, we can’t expect children to express themselves completely and ask questions.
Is there a way out? Yes, there is. We need to make learning more personalised, adaptive and enjoyable. We need to empower each child to choose their own pace and style of learning. We need to create a learning ecosystem, which encourages a child to ask questions in a completely non-judgemental environment. Digital learning powered by mobile and tablets is indeed a way forward and can make this happen.
With teachers being transformed into facilitators and guru, they can use digital technologies to pay individual attention to each child in their class and as I said before, let them take their one unique path to learning.
72 Views · Answer requested by Arun Babber
Dear Arun,
It is not that the education system does not allow or encourage you to ask questions. The method differs from place to place. The real question that must be asked is, “Is our education system sufficient and if that is not sufficient, if the existing education system is not sufficient then what else can be done?”
Arun, we are talking of self-education, the need to first and foremost, know the knower. We are saying that before you say that the pendulum corresponds to 2Л√L/G, you must ask who is watching the pendulum. The fellow watching the pendulum is as important as a pendulum, if not more. Right? So, we want to know ourselves, how do we proceed?
What is this thing called ‘ourselves’ and how do we know it? It’s very simple. The rest are objects that we look at and hence they are at a distance from us. But when you are saying, “We want to know ourselves” it’s the easiest because we are always available to ourselves. We are subject of our own object.
Can we watch how we spend 24 hours of the day?
Can we ask ourselves, “When I have to come to a college, how do I feel?”
Can I notice which chair do I occupy when I enter the classroom and why do I occupy that chair?
Can I be aware, how my mind is wandering at this point of time?
Can I just notice how afraid I become on hearing about few things?
Can I notice the fact of my loneliness that if I was left in solitude for one hour I cannot tolerate it, I must talk to somebody, or play a game, or log on to Facebook?
That is what our daily life is all about, right? When we are talking about self-awareness, this self is our actions and our thoughts. Knowing this, one comes upon the Truth. That’s all that you have to watch. Your actions and your thoughts and that includes a complete network of your relationships as well because you always act in relationship to something and you are always thinking about something. So, that’s a relationship.
Can I see that whether I am comfortable sitting quietly for two hours or do I have to fidget in my chair and I start feeling uncomfortable and I swivel? That is self awareness. Can I see, how I look at other people and how I am dependent upon their inputs? In the morning I go to the college or go to my workplace, somebody says, “Wow, looking fabulous gorgeous today.” And I just swell up. And if somebody says, “What is it, where did you get this from?” And I drop down. Dead!
Can I see how my neighbor has power over me, that if he just disturbs me a little all my attention is gone. This is called being conscious of one’s thoughts and actions. And the same thing takes a bigger dimensions.
What does the thought of unemployment do to me?
Am I studying just to get employed?
What is my real relationship with my parents, my friends, my brothers?
Is it one of love or is it one of give and take?
How do I choose my clothes?
Why do I like going to few places?
Why do I need so much of entertainment?
Is not entertainment a sign of boredom?
This is being aware of oneself.
Do I get hurt easily?
Do I get inflated easily?
What dominates my mind?
What is going on here all the time, all the time that buzz, that continuous buzz? Fear, confusion, worries, dependencies, sex, money, opinions. This is self awareness.
Do I really know what I am doing?
Do I really know what I am saying?
And, is life worth living if I do not know myself?
Then I am living just like a machine, a corpse rather.
Do I know why I am going to get married?
What is this thing called marriage and why does everybody get into it and why should I get into it?
What is this thing called family?
What is money?
What is career?
What is comparison?
What is progress?
What is this thing called progress that I am running after?
What is God?
And I keep on talking of God and sometimes worshiping him. What is this thing? Have I really bothered to inquire even if God fills so much of my mind?
What is country?
What is patriotism?
What is meant by celebrating a particular day? Do I really know? If I don’t know then why am I doing all this?
Why I am living this way? Who am I to live this way? A name that was given to me by my parents. A religion that was given to me by my family. A gender that was given to me by my chromosomes. A birth that was given to me by a chance. Who am I? A bundle of education qualifications? A bundle of beliefs? Who am I?
What is meant my living? Breathing, eating, walking, and sleeping – is that living? Partying, entertaining, getting entertained, adventure – is that life? What is life? And if I do not know what is life, am I really alive?
So, it’s easiest because you don’t have to watch any object.
You have to look at yourself, your thoughts, your actions. It is the easiest. And it is also very difficult because your mind has been trained only to look at other things and your eyes are such that they only look at the wall and this and that, they never look at yourself. The eye doesn’t turn itself within. The ear are such that they only receive voices from outside. They don’t turn within to hear what your own mind is saying.
The mind only keeps thinking about this and that machine and that system and all the events outside. But the mind never bothers to pause and ask “How am I operating? What are my processes?”
What is this thing called hope?
What is this thing called excitement?
Why do I get excited?
Why do I get worried?
How does worry come into the mind?
What is the relationship between gossip and worry?
What is the relationship between fear and confidence?
What is this thing called confidence?
So, it is difficult because of our training, but actually it is the easiest. It depends on you. If you are prepared to let go the baggage of the past then self-education will become very easy, very very easy. But if you remain stubborn and you say, “No, I already know. I have my beliefs and I won’t drop them,” then self-education becomes impossible and there is no learning whatsoever.
Right, Arun? It depends totally on you. It can be easiest and it can be most difficult.
725 Views · View Upvoters · Answer requested by Arun Babber
If someone is asking questions, then there definitely has to be someone answering. The Indian education system survives on teachers who are the crap of the society. If you can't become anything, you become a teacher.Look at their pays and perks, you'll realise what kind of people aspire to be teachers.
The real teachers are not found in schools and colleges, what we find there are mediocres or even better said losers. So losers are not going to be able to answer your questions.
The real teachers teach independently, they are leaders. They are masters in their craft and experts in understanding students. They have vast experiences in life and with people.
No wonder schools only produce sheep, the lions are refined in some dark streets. Not everyone finds those streets.
I was personally lucky to find one in my guru/master/teacher Colonel Jagdish Dagar. Though I don't like to take up his name often, as he wouldn't like it. But his charisma and my affection for him makes me talk sometimes.
If you ever get a chance to meet such a man, consider yourself blessed.
Those days when I thought I was the coolest dude around, I thought I could sliver through any kind of man who came in my way. The days when I felt I could have any woman I wanted and could convince any man that existed. In those days I met the real dude, he was some 60+ but his charisma was over the top. His presence made me feel like an ant hustling with noise when he was like an elephant riding in silence.
His words, some of them that I remember I will share them.
- You talk shit(gobar), because that's all that is inside your head. If there was beauty, flowers would sprout.
- Stop talking, start working. (Kaam karo kaam, baatein karna band karo).
- Everyone talks of the gita, but if one could only take one verse out of it and live by it, his life is going to be godlike, like a superstar. He said, For me I have taken up one line, ‘no matter what, life goes on’.
- Sometimes go out in the field, watch the trees, listen to the birds, take a dip in the river and inhale some deep breaths, you will come back to life.
- See what is there, don't cook up life as you want it to be. Stop wishing, start acting.
- If something or someone is stopping you from doing what you feel like doing, if you're scared of that person. Go back home, look into the mirror and give them the most ugly abuses you have ever known.
The real masters are out there, only the blessed ones reach towards them. Only those who are open to life reach them. The cowards keep living in dullness.
Cheers
Because in indian education system everyone need to go on same path others followed
So there is no need of questions
Everyone is following the same path
No one need to know new paths.
We have only two option A doctor or and Engineer
So that's the problem of indian education system.
We have answered (All)questions so we don't need to ask any new ones so we need to follow the same path others followed.
that is why in orissa(odisha) where the sun temple was built people just smoke ganja and relax
Everyone think all question is answered but only 0% of question is answered there are 100% remaining questions are unlimited.
Naah I don't think this really happens to our dear students.
Putting any question depends on the students, whether he/she may fear or not.
Forgotten this statement=> “No study no confusion, more study a lot of confusion.”
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