Those who can, teach

A A

Nivedita Menon: Nov 20 2012, 02:24 IST

I find it patronising of Mehta to describe the “push factor” from the universities as “dogmatism, factional politics and dispiriting institutional complexity,” for the first two appear to be the fault of teachers themselves, and the last is anodyne and meaningless. The push factor is in fact the deadening and monstrous bureaucracy over which teachers have no control whatsoever. Most teachers, even today, would prefer to stay in teaching, with short breaks in research institutes for a little breathing space from the enormous numbers and challenges of bilingualism in their classrooms; from the continuous grading of hundreds of exam scripts, an exercise that can take a third of the working life of a teacher; from administrative drudgeries career researchers can have no conception of. For, despite everything, we know that teaching is what keeps us from becoming complacent, and it is what keeps us creative.

Research institutes are critical components in the academic field, but only if they see themselves as organically connected to universities and teaching. There must be a dynamic exchange of energies between teaching and research — perhaps even exchange programmes between research institutes and universities in which teachers get time off to do research while the faculty of research institutes get to teach. But this kind of organic connection is possible only if people in research institutes have the clearsightedness and humility to see themselves as a part — and only a part — of the larger energies constituting the intellectual field.

The writer is a professor

... contd.

Ads by Google

Single Page Format

Previous | 1 | 2 | 3 | Next

Prevention is only cure to injury issue The power struggleDelhi on duty The Rs 55,80,000 crore question

Previous Story The Rs 55,80,000 crore question Next Story Column : Reignite savings-investment cycle

Reader's Comments (6)| Post a Comment

student

pavan | 21-Nov-2012Reply | Forward

yes mam i agree with u how hard work teachers do ....two task at a same time....but we cant consider teacher as monolithic entity....because we know we have teachers like you ..always committed for students...check every single line of their answer sheet....but we have some teachers who dont see our term papers and give marks on the basis of name ...last institution etc....sometimes they come to classes hardly....if they come teach 10 year old stuff...but that does not mean only people in ivory-towers can do research.....we know u...teaching...research...phd students and plus ACTIVISM....lot of inspiration to be a teacher like you atleast......

student

ANAMIKA ASTHANA | 21-Nov-2012Reply | Forward

Having been a part of Prof. Menon's classroom activity, i entirely agree with the conviction she holds and i am sure there are some very good teachers who are doing much better a job than the vast multitudes who treat teaching nothing more than a melancholy. This holds true in some quarters of Delhi's academic institutions as well. However, beyond these parlance, situation is much grim. Students are literally chasing for their teachers to help them with their research works. This proves more problematic at graduation level because it tends to kill the joy of learning at a stage where students are actually opening up to comprehend the world around them in a much more comprehensive manner.

Student

bishnupriya | 21-Nov-2012Reply | Forward

As a student let me say, its great when we have good teachers, but by and large we have bad, disinterested teachers, who have no academic interests. Outside a handful of colleges in delhi or cal, the teaching of humanities and what passes for research is a joke. Most graduates leave with a degree and no education. Look around you, in this very newspaper are products of our university system, most don't even understand the political system they are reporting about.