Thanks for your post, Qichao. I would respectfully disagree. I believe that learning should be pleasant and easy. We should do as much as we can to help students learn and make it easy for them. It is the assessments and standardized tests that bring the unpleasantness in education. This is a bigger problem in China (and India) due to the population. It is easier to do multiple choice questions in a class of 100 students than giving assignments that need critical thinking and feedback from the instructor.
Author: Anurag Mantha
Comment on Meet you at the Crossroad by Anurag Mantha
I think it will get harder for someone to specialize in a particular field as the years go by, as the expectations of what you are expected to know as an expert will increase. I like you have realized the value of humanities in science and engineering. We need more well rounded thinkers to solve the interdisciplinary problems that our society faces today.
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Comment on In but Not Of the (Academic) World by Anurag Mantha
Thanks for the post, Nicole. I was thinking about this the other night. I am in a similar situation where I have to sit with students and run what-if scenarios on their grades to see where they will stand, and canvas gradebook doesn’t make that an easy task. Since when do you need to grade multiple choice questions? Isn’t that what OCRs are for? I don’t think the instructors in my previous classes with multiple choice questions even knew what we did in the exam.
I wish you luck as you embark on teaching a class. I am sure the students are lucky to have you as an instructor.
Comment on Idiot with the Drill by Anurag Mantha
I completely agree that the tools at our disposal may be useless if we don’t know how to use them. Even the best teaching tools in the world may be useless if the teacher uses teaching to tick a box.
Comment on Boundary Issues by Anurag Mantha
Thank you for sharing your story, Jason. I, like you, closely observe how my professors teach their classes. I try to learn from all of them, especially taking note of things I would not want to do. Just like Sarah writes, I definitely want to be a teacher who is talked about in the library, rather than at the bar. I would like to get to know my students, but it won’t be to make friends, it will be to gauge where they stand and what I can do to help them learn.
Comment on On India and Pakistan… by Anurag Mantha
In India, there is a huge diversity and people are divided based on language, caste, religion and the area they live in. Politicians are the last group who work toward unifying the people. They have much to lose, if that happens. Instead, they work to divide the people and promise populist measures to get votes and stay in power. It is the same with every major political party. BJP appeals to the Hindus, BSP appeals to the dalits, SP appeals to the yadavs, AIMIM appeals to the muslims, AIADMK and DMK appeal to the dravidians, TDP appeas to the Telugu speaking people, TRS appeals to the people from Telangana and so on.
Pakistan has diversity too and there are some huge cultural differences between the various major ethnic groups. Punjabis are a majority, then there are the Pashtun, then Sindhi and finally the Baloch. All of them are completely different from each other and the Pakistan states/provinces are divided on those lines. Baloch and Pashtun have been moving for independence from Pakistan for some time, now, as the country is ruled by the Punjabi majority.
Comment on On India and Pakistan… by Anurag Mantha
I agree with you on the power struggles. It is however important to note that there is a big cultural divide between the officer and the soldier classes in the military. It is a core group (a ring) of top military brass who are responsible for the problems. The ordinary soldier has nothing to do with it, they just follow orders.
