My previous blog on '... 3 books', has brought up an interesting topic. About education ... Was it worth the trouble?
No..I didn't mean that education was not worth. On the contrary I meant, did I actually get my time's worth? I will spill out my side of the story and hope to strike similar chords in yours.
I spent 12 years in school before I passed 10th standard and in a decently good private school. Then I spent another couple of years in Intermediate (Pre-University /XII / Plus 2), and spent a bunch of money of tuitions. I did my graduation in Physics for about 3 years in a private college (aided by Government) and another 3 years for my post-graduation in Computer Applications in a government college. Thats a good (12+2+3+3) 20 years of education which comes to about 7300 days of effort and couple of lakhs in investment by my dad and others [Government aid means some-body's hard earned money forcibly looted in the form of tax and paid to me].
Did I do good enuf? I guess not. In fact, I am quite sure I didn't do well.
I put in 7300 days of effort to learn English, Telugu, Hindi, Sanskrit, Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Civics, Geography, Economics, History and Computers. What do I know at the end of it.
Subject | What I Know |
English | know enough to write this blog and read the daily newspaper. |
Telugu | stopped writing long ago. Can read the daily newspaper. |
Hindi | stoped reading and writing long ago. Can read the movie names on posters. |
Sansrkit | Never understood this language. Dont think ever will. [2 years wasted completely]. |
Maths | Know to count, multiply, add and divide, and some basic trigonometry, probability, algebra and geometry enough to solve GMAT aptitude tests. |
Physics | Newtons 3 laws and some basic principles. Cannot recall the value of any constant apart from g=9.8 ms^2. |
Chemistry | Periodic table. Acid+Base is Water+Salt. Amino acids are building blocks are proteins and cells. Vaguely remember Krebs Cycle and ATP. Thats it. Nothing more than that. |
Biology | Plant cells are different from Animal Cells and that biologist have a very complicated name for everything. A little about evolution. |
Civics | We have a constitution, a President and Prime-minister and some rules of the game. |
Geography | Identify World and India Maps and name all the states and some important places. |
History | Mughals invaded India, ruled for 200 years, British ruled for another 200, Free from 1947 onwards. A little about world history, i.e the names of various revolutions and world wars [cant remember a single date/year]. |
Economics | Book Keeping, reading a Balance Sheet and a little about GDP, inflation, and stock indices. |
Computers | Some programming languages and s/w engineering concepts. |
Phew! that sums up all my 7300 days of effort.
Couldn't I have done that faster, cheaper, smarter, easier? I bet I could have..
Or, is it everything appears easier after-the-fact?
[Will continue later..]
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