A Moorhouse illustration in Minoo Masani’s book Our Growing Human Family has a bemused Greek philosopher contemplating a railway engine driver standing by his steam engine. The drawing poses a question: Is the engine driver superior to the philosopher because he can drive the engine while the philosopher cannot? This opens the door to a host of questions about skills and knowledge.
A great paradox one sees everyday is that every generation is better skilled than the previous one, but seems less capable. The generation just joining the work force have had opportunities to learn and access to information unparalleled in history. Yet, viewing the end result of the education system one is tempted to ask with Eliot, “ Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?”
What could be the reason? Today at every stage of education, the ability to pass a test or exam seems to be the ultimate assessment. This is not new. Nothing illustrates the rise and fall of the ‘test’ better than the famous Tripos examinations in the University of Cambridge. It started as an examination in mathematics but was later adapted to other disciplines as well. The examination, which was notoriously difficult, became the preoccupation of every student of mathematics who studied there from the late nineteenth century to the early part of the twentieth.
It initially gained popularity because success in the Tripos, guaranteed one’s career in one of the better colleges in Cambridge. Success in the Tripos became the most coveted of academic honours anywhere in the world. What is interesting is that few who topped the Tripos went on to make a mark in the field of mathematics. The Cambridge legend Hardy, ‘discoverer’ of Ramanujan, it is said, even contemplated abandoning mathematics as a career because he failed to place first in the Tripos. Evidently as a ‘talent spotter’ the Tripos was a failure. This was because it assessed the student’s ability to solve problems in a given period of time — not his knowledge of mathematics. What is worth noting is that the Tripos spawned another phenomenon — coaching classes.
It is chilling to see the parallel to the common entrance tests that dominate the lives of students today. As with the Tripos for a large number of students, in our country today, passing the entrance tests seem to be an end in itself. After that, one’s career is assured as it were.
The Tripos lost its lustre over a period of time when it was realised that it did not help the cause of mathematics and the other fields in which it was used. Today we read of surveys that mention the inability of school children to carry out simple tasks. We come across university graduates who cannot form an error-free sentence. We have to conclude that the method of assessment has to change. It does seem that the entire education system is turning out intelligent, hardworking people who, somehow, do not measure up in the ‘real world’. This is unfair to everyone involved. We are training the lion to sit on a stool and perform other tricks in the circus ring. Success is rewarded with an easy life. That’s hardly the way to prepare him to become king of the jungle.