முன்னாள் ஒத்திசைவு… प्रत्याह्वय… resonance; இன்னாள் ஒத்திசைவுத்வா!

Even after more than some 180 bloody  years, the Macaulay’s legacy happily and sordidly lives on in India – what with the mushrooming ‘English Medium’ schools all over our Indusland and ‘Cambridge / Oxford / Berkeley / MIT / etc affilicted Royal Concorde[1] Internotional Public Residential type ‘school’ entities, promising the clueless parents of ultimate deliverance of their hapless and rather sad & stymied children…

Yeah!  HotAir -welcomes – you – on – board – flight – 911 – to – touts’ universities -where else -but-in-USA – please – fasten – your – seatbelts, we-are-ready- to-take-off – what? -don’t – you – know – we – have – two – swimming – pools – and – provide – horse – riding – training – also – conduct – meditation yoga – classes – suit coat blazer ties caps shoes must – we ‘accent-neutralize’ your children’s – speech – so – they – sound – like -yankees – when – they – visit – the – localmalls – in – hordes – and – wear -polo – caps – with – their – bills – turned – sidewards – yeah – they – FightJEE too! So we all can then, happily die ever after! Yippee!!

Thomas Babington Macaulay is famous for his rather evangelically candid ‘Minute on Indian Education’ – laying the foundation for probably the first major instance of ‘state sponsored errorism,’ sorry.

In fact everytime I read this or read the (a)versions of his apologists, a lot of bile gets secreted in my stomach – anyway, the rant on this will be reserved for sometime later…

According to Trevelyan[2], the biographer of Macaulay, the latter exhibited “vehemence, over-confidence, the inability to recognize that there are two sides to a question or two people in a dialogue…”

It is no wonder that he went on to scribe the note, no doubt after some very heavy thoughtful lucubration and all that.

Some archived material about this illustrious son of the empire is here.

’nuff said.

The main object of this entry is to present significant photographic evidence to:

(1) showcase the fact that his lordship’s views are here to stay, whether I like or not, and

(2) to furnish a snapshot of a sample, stellar student. (Sorry, no monkey tricks here, actually the simian student product of Lord Macaulay kindly cooperated with me for his ‘portfolio’)

This school actually exists on the famously clogged Hosur Road (south Bangalore).

[macaulay school for the faithful]

And, this playful student hopefully continues to thrive and proliferate. (our pal is perched right on top of M as in Macaulay) 8-)

[ah, this student is definitely a climber… you can see his head bobbing up!]

And, this is a close-up – after which ‘his highness’ chose to go back, presumably to his classroom, wearing a tie in the sweltering heat and singing ‘pussy cat, pussy cat…,’ whatever.

[“enough of this photo session; let me go back to my classroom; my parents working for the software ‘services’ industry will be back any time now to pick me up…”]

And, yeah! Thereby hangs a tail! ;-)

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I await with bated breath, the grand arrival of MacEducationAalay – an Indic franchise model of education/schools, erm, temples of excellence, whatever… :-(

Amen.

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PS: Thanks, I know what I am talking about, silly. Because, I am also a child of the Macaulay’s education system. Sheesh!

PPS: I intend no offence at the simian creatures. They are oh cho chweet. Besides, aren’t they the harbingers of re-tail segment growth of our Indian Economy?

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Notes, my foot!

[1] Actually a school(!) by name RoyaleConcordeInternationalSchool EXISTS. I am not making this up.

[2] Trevelyan, Sir George Otto. 1876. The Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay. Oxford University Press, Oxford. (Reprinted, 1978) – (was) available in the IISc, Bangalore and Connemara-Madras libraries.

JournalEntry# originally written on August 05, 2006; updated on 29th September, 2015

roughcut ideas, opinions & notes on education

I maintain a (mostly) Tamil blog. However, there are a few, occasional ‘english‘ journal entries on ‘education’- like the following samples – posted during various moods, sometimes aha! sometimes morose, during the past 4 years or so; one may find them interesting to interpret me (if one wants to, that is!)

• doubteronomy and numbers 13/09/2015
• ‘education’ – this, i believe… 16/08/2014
• ave adolescens, morituri te salutamus! 08/08/2015
• kinder, über alles 16/03/2015
• structure and interpretation of children’s toys 10/11/2014
• education: a taxonomy towards understanding the beastess! (21/12/2013),
• what is education? (18/12/2013),
• the art of the possible (22/09/2013),
• the universe within… (01/11/2013) &
• *** star (& navel) gazing (26/08/2013)
• the magical child 25/09/2013
• murder by mnemonic :-( 18/06/2013
• our daughters, education, choices 15/04/2013
• “What are your life’s questions? What are your beliefs, philosophies? Please share what excites and disturbs you about your life and the world around you. “ 28/11/2014
• “What does education mean to you? Comment on a) The role of education in society b) The role of discipline, competition and motivation c) Ways in which children learn best” 22/11/2014
• the school of ‘helicopter parenting’ 09/04/2013
• a lesson in history… 04/04/2013
• the legend of matajuro 20/09/2013
• little boys will always be little boys… [oh yeah?] 09/08/2013
• wendell berry on children, stewardship… 25/07/2013
• James Clavell on Education 17/07/2013
• our daily bread (2005) – some reflections 12/07/2013
• ‘rote learning’ is bloody important! 06/07/2013
• rote memorization is important 05/07/2013
• spirituality, education & andre gregory 28/06/2013
• a very personal list of books on ‘Education’ 27/06/2013
• assessment tests for children considered harmful… 24/06/2013
• time ‘spent’ on education(!) 20/06/2013
• home & school – a complete partnership 13/09/2014
• ‘education’ – big picture vs details 11/09/2014
• we expect way too much from teachers… 19/08/2014
• popular astrology for children – 101 (hic) 18/06/2014
• student – teacher ratio! *argh!* 01/06/2014
• how to make my children care (say, for example, about their school) 26/06/2015