Study vs Read

Study and Read are interchangeably used words. One is a noun, whereas the other is a verb. I would like to relate the existence of these two words to today’s education system. But before that, knowing the brief definitions of both is mandatory.

Reading is the process of word recognition, comprehension, and fluency. You read books, papers, e-mails and messages.

Studying shouldn’t involve reading, because it is the practice of understanding and comprehending anything and everything. One could study literature, doctors study patient’s responses to medication, lab scientists’ study microbial growth and psychologists study people. Unlike reading, one does not require a tangible object to study.

Though both are important for learning, studying is considered being slightly beneficiary than reading.

Now coming to the kosher section, students in the current generation, especially school-going kids, prefer reading than studying. Before we blame the entire generation for being easy going, lacking concentration and addicted to social media, we shall consider few facts.

• Content of textbooks and study materials are majorly based upon student’s memory and not application of the concept. In the curriculum I studied, in the exercises for each chapter given, if there are 5 sections A to E, only E will be titled ‘Application based questions’ or there’s a new addition to it ‘Value based questions.’ The rest is direct questions picked from the in-text of the chapters, for which answers could range from 2 lines to a page.
• Since students are supposed to be taught from such content, during examinations, teachers set the question paper in the format of assessing the student’s memory and not the understanding of the concept.
• One needs quality amount of homework to keep his/her concepts in check, within a time. That’s how you enhance concepts learnt and manage your time as well. But students are subjected to time constraint and not time management, which builds up the study stress and students think of escaping from work.
• There is no co-relation between what one is taught and what one is expected of in the work environment in the future.

Change in the education system: grading, examination pattern is an unconscious thought in everyone’s mind, but we are not capable of influencing the diplomats involved in bringing change.

For instance, if parents are not bothered about the ranking in their child’s classroom, the child wouldn’t aim for scoring highest rather would aim at understanding a wide range of concepts. Eventually, the educational institutions reap no benefit from hanging huge hoardings of ranks secured by the children and would look at providing quality education and not quantitative numbers as scores.

The problem lies deep rooted in the society. If a child has scored outstanding marks, it is because of the child’s capability to study, keep concepts and produce it on the paper and not the educational institution for providing a seat.

Majority of the parents find the educational institutions responsible for the children’s’ performance and get them enrolled. It is the same set of parents that complain of education becoming a business. This argument vanishes when they look at numbers and figures that are used for advertising.

No child is born dumb or knows to self-criticise that education doesn’t suit him/her. It is the surroundings that shape the mind and instil such a thought process.

If low-scoring students are not compared with high-scoring students, we have prevented 50% of the mental stress caused. A student would only know that he/she has underperformed or not worth of something, when they are compared with others. I’d like readers to note the difference between looking at a child’s marks individually and looking at a child’s marks relative to the class performance.

Real education lies in the behaviour, and the wisdom gained. Memorising content and assessing a child’s potential solely on marks is inappropriate. Considering the rustic method of examination or assessment, it becomes the untold duty of the schools to teach the reality that grades aren’t as valuable as skills. We have progressed in matters of science and technology, but there are few subjects that hold us guilty. Indian education is one such subject.