Education ShOUlDn’t enhance hierarchies
In response to Swati Pal’s ‘The right lesson: College admissions, attitudes and the need for change’ published on June 14:
The article has explicated in an exceptionally brilliant way the annual ritual of shedding tears, blood and sweat even after lifting the mountain! ‘Disgrace’, ‘shame’, ‘pity’... can’t get better words than these to dehumanise a mortal who is unfortunately caught under the predetermined framework of hierarchies. The stereotypical outlook is enough to perpetuate and carry forward this never-ending process to demarcate students without bothering about their potentialities and capabilities.
The article has addressed all the issues students are negotiating and struggling with. Society indeed needs to understand the subtleties of such issues associated with their ward. Accumulating stress is just not a better option to see your ward excel in life. Education is a tool to break the boundaries not to enhance the hierarchies. | Asma Zarrin
Defining mainstream for muslims in india
In response to Brig Darshan Khullar (Retd)’s ‘A suggested solution’ published on June 21:
India in fact has failed to modernise its Muslims and get them into mainstream... physically fitter and armed with the best weapons. We definitely need more Muslims in the police.” The only mainstream momins recognise is the Muslim mainstream. There has never been and can be no other for them. And when they are a physically fitter and best-armed majority, they will turn on you. Any mainstream exception to this anywhere in the worldIJ | Bharati
Change the mentality towards education
In response to Swati Pal’s ‘The right lesson: College admissions, attitudes and the need for change’ published on June 14:
Completely agree with each and every point made here. I myself have come across people who, even if their child has scored really well, are upset and disappointed with their child’s performance because he/she scored less marks as compared to some others. This demoralises the child too, and the child develops the same reductive mentality as his/her parents and peers, which, as written in the essay, in turn creates that derisive attitude towards the college/institution that the child gets admitted to.
The article very correctly points out that stereotypical attitude towards anything has very harmful consequences for the future, here talking about the future of education. One should judge one’s achievements, or their child’s, not on the basis of comparison with others, but on the basis of how much the child has done according to his/her capability.
Instead of forcing certain careers and streams upon their children, they should embrace the fields which their child is interested in, and work towards ensuring that their child does well in them. The problems in higher education are to a large extent due to what has been said in the essay about the attitude of the educationists while choosing a college and course.
The wrong evaluation of API scores is also one of the reasons behind the deterioration in quality teaching at graduation and post-graduation levels. There is, as the essay correctly points out, a great scope and need for immediate changes in the system and the human mentality, when it comes to education. | Bhavya Mittal
Should one be happy or seek contentmentIJ
In response to Ajit Kumar Bishnoi’s ‘No conditions on happiness’ published on June 7:
Not to make our happiness conditional on anything”. Does the dharma make a difference between ‘happiness’ and ‘contentment’IJ If it does, then should the endeavour be to achieve contentment rather than seek happinessIJ | Bharati
An epic book on indo-pak border
In response to Rajesh Singh’s ‘listen to the borders’, a book review published on May 31:
Amazingly well-written book (Where Borders Bleed). It is an epic. In my opinion, it is one of those rare books that come once in a lifetime. | S Singh
Don’t interfere in shia-sunni conflict
In response to Surendra Kumar Gupta’s ‘The long, violent history of Shia-Sunni conflict’ published on May 31:
It has happened before and it is happening again — Sunnis and Shiites are engaged in Islamic civil war and the world must let Muslim countries sort it out without outside interference.
Obviously Sunnis with an overwhelming majority will ultimately prevail. Only aspect for the world to notice is that Shiites are much more forward looking and attuned to the 21st century compared to Sunnis, who are far more Islamic fundamentalist. Iran allows women to drive and work unlike Saudi Arabia, for example. | Suresh Sheth