Essays on Issues

A nation should require all of its students to study the same national
curriculum until they enter college.
Every child is unique in both abilities and interests. Therefore the knowledge
provided to them should also differ accordingly. Installing a common curriculum puts
certain boundaries on what and how the children are taught. If the curriculum
dictates minimum time is to be spent on sports, it would have a negative impact on
the children who excel in the same and we may lose a future sportsman who would
do the nation proud. Albert Einstein once said that all children have different
abilities and are unique in their own sense but if you expect a fish to climb a tree as
well as the monkey then it will consider itself a failure throughout its life. His quote
sums up everything which is wrong with introducing a common national curriculum.
Not only students but teachers will also suffer if a common national curriculum is
introduced because it undermines their abilities to teach. Different students require
different ways to grasp maximum knowledge. The most able ones would be able to
do with minimum of instructions from the teachers but the weaker students require
some extra help from the teachers. The ability of the students to adapt and learn
from textbooks is also different. Therefore if a common textbook is prescribed to
everyone then it will lead to discrepancy in the amount of knowledge grasped by
the students. While some students who are comfortable with the prescribed
textbook would have no problem in understanding its content others who are more
comfortable in using some other textbook would be forced to study from the
prescribed textbook and will be unable to gain as much they could have. Also the
involvement of the government in form of a national curriculum is not a sign of a
true democratic country as it stifles the freedom to give proper education to
everyone.
The government may also twist the curriculum according to its own convenience
which affects the quality of the education provided. For example, the Shiv Sena
National party forced the Mumbai University to change an English textbook of
poems because its content did not match with their ideals.
A common national curriculum may have its advantages but the disadvantages
outweigh the former in long term.
The best way for a society to prepare its young people for leadership in
government, industry, or other fields is by instilling in them a sense of
cooperation, not competition.
A sense of competition among young people leads to comparison which leads to
anger if they find themselves to be not good enough and arrogance if they find their
skills to be the superior ones. Anger and arrogance are vices and therefore by
instilling a sense of competition in todays youth, we lead them to the path of self

destruction. A sense of cooperation on the other hand leads to a reasonable

thinking which makes us truly understand the difference between right and wrong
by understanding the plight of others. Cooperation develops better relationships
between individuals and helps in bringing peace.
History has shown time and again that the competition to be the best has ultimately
led to the annihilation of just not the person who desired to compete but the others
too. Hitler was so hell bent on proving his Aryan race the superior one that he forgot
basic humanity in his arrogance and caused the destruction of so many people.
Leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Junior on the other hand
fought their battle for freedom with a sense of cooperation. They did not aspire or
compete with others to prove themselves or their battle as the superior, but they
strived to win the cooperation of the people to give them what was rightfully theirs
freedom to live without discrimination. They fought for the greater good by taking
the path of non violence and seeking cooperation of the people who were doing
them injustice. In the holy book Bhagwad Gita, Lord Shri Krishna has given the path
of non violence the higher ground than violence and non violence can only exist
where there is a willingness to cooperate with others.
When we cooperate, we start understanding others and this leads to a
compassionate nature. If a person is compassionate and understands the plight of
others, he or she can never follow the wrong path. On the other hand, competition
makes us think only about our own selves which ultimately makes us selfish and
makes us do anything to fulfill our desires. This want ultimately forces us to take the
wrong path and therefore I believe the best way for a society to prepare its young
people for leadership in government, industry, or other fields are by instilling in
them a sense of cooperation, not competition.

As people rely more and more on technology to solve problems, the ability
of humans to think for themselves will surely deteriorate.
The advancement of technology has improved human lives considerably by taking
care of even the mundane things. Therefore a question arises if our dependence on
technology is deteriorating our ability to think for ourselves? Will it is true that in
some ways our over dependence on technology may have a negative influence but
if we see the wider picture, technology is helping us more than it is doing any harm.
For example, the overuse of calculators for even the simplest of calculations makes
us dependent on the same but it is also true that calculators are helping mankind by
solving complex problems in a matter of minutes. Shakuntala Devi was known to
defeat the worlds fastest computer in solving a calculus problem. She solved the
problem in half a minute while the computer took a full one minute.
Time management is an important quality for progress and the use of technology
ensures that we manage our time by helping us in our day to day lives. For

example, the use of washing machines helps us in washing our clothes more quickly
and efficiently as compared to hand washing. This does not necessarily mean that
we are going to forget how to wash clothes without the washing machines. This
saves us precious time which we can devote to other things. This applies to many
other aspects of our lives, where our dependence on technology is only helping us.
The importance of growing technology should not be ignored in any way by citing
that it reduces human thinking. For example, When Alexander Graham Bell invented
the telephone, the then president of United States commented that the invention
was a clever one but who would want to use one in the future? We can all see how
wrong he was and how with the development of telephone, our lives have changed
over the years. Mobile phones have become an integral part of our lives and we
cant imagine our lives without them.
Inventors and scientists were not welcomed in the ancient times because of the
belief that their inventions and discoveries will be harmful for mankind but history
has proven, this ancient belief was gravely wrong. Man has invented the technology
and it was his thinking which has helped in its progression. Therefore technology
can never take place of human thinking nor can it deteriorate the same to an
unacceptable limit.
The best way to teach is to praise positive actions and ignore negative
ones
Positivity is an important trait in teaching. Encouragement is important to motivate
and inspire

Educational institutions have a responsibility to dissuade

students from pursuing fields of study in which they are unlikely
to succeed.
Educational institutions have the most important responsibility in a
students life. They are in a large part responsible for grooming them for
their future life and showing them the correct way. Giving them advice to
follow the right fields does not mean dissuading them from following the
field they want to pursue further. It may be possible that their chosen field
might not give them the desired result they want and they may even fail
in the same but isnt failure important for their future success?
History is full of examples where students have succeeded even though
their respective educational institution had given up on them. Perhaps the
most famous of them is Thomas Alva Edison who was thrown out of the
school and labeled the least likely to succeed in any academic field. He
later went on to be called one of the greatest inventors in the world and is
still revered by scientists all over the world. His school did try to dissuade
him from following academics because they thought he was unlikely to

succeed in the same but he managed to prove them wrong. The fear of
failure should not be the reason for dissuading anyone from following
their dreams because failure is a part of the learning process. It is the first
step to the ladder of success. The student may fail but if he carries the
interest and passion in his chosen field, he is less likely to be bitter about
it and more likely to try again because he has the interest in his chosen
field.
Educational institutions may advice students and guide students on what
consequences their chosen field could have on them. They have the
moral responsibility of even informing them if they are unlikely to succeed
in their chosen field but they dont have the right to influence their
decision based on whether they would be able to succeed or not. The
interest of the student in their chosen field should outweigh success or
failure because if the student does not like his chosen field, then what is
the use of studying the same. Even if he even manages to succeed in his
respective field, he would be still unsatisfied because his interest lies in
some other field.
Therefore, Educational Institutions play an important role in any students
life and giving them advice on their respective chosen fields is their
responsibility but in no way their advice should be based on the students
ability to succeed or fail.

To understand the most important characteristics of a society, one must study its
major cities.
A Society