Education and learning

Have you, as a parent, ever stopped to ponder, what it is you are looking for in an education when you send your child off to school? There is no other aspect of our lives in which we have become more mechanical and laid back than education. A couple of decades ago, education, which went hand in hand with learning, was a very individual need. Education was based on family values, family and individual aspirations etc. I remember getting cent percent in Math in my board exams in the 11^th grade (at that time boards were in the 11^th as there was no 12^th grade). Based on my results I was encouraged to apply for a Commerce degree in any of the good colleges in my city as it would have been a comfortable walk-through. But, I chose to do a degree in History as that was where my leanings lay. At that time, my marks or percentages did not dictate what I did in life. Unfortunately, that is not the case today. The individual’s choice does not matter. And therein lies the problem. With education being so expensive, it is such a waste to spend so much time and money on doing something that one did not want to do in the first place. No longer is it what you want out of an education. But what education can get out of you? The confusion between the subject and the object is the reason why education is such a debated topic today. And to add insult to injury, the people involved, primarily the student and the parent has little or no say in the matter.