Underpaid teachers - a global phenomenon?

Article moved to Guru Raj blog

Recently, we were pointed to an article in the Hindu Teachers... glorified, yet short-changed where, the story of a few generations of people taking up teaching in different countries & finding it hard to make ends meet, is given. In fact the article ends with the statement "I had always thought that underpaid, under-appreciated schoolteachers were particular to our country. But it definitely is a global issue."

No small sample should be taken as the "general" case. Just like the situation where not every IIM graduate earns 12 Crore rupees a year (as they tout the top salary in all and sundry magazines every year), there is no generalization that all teachers are living a life of difficulty and stress.

One may ask about the various professors in tens of universities who are well paid / well-off. Yes, some people are well-off, but I would also like to point out that many of them are actually doing two jobs - they get grants for doing research work, other than teaching. Hence, strictly speaking, if one were a teacher, in a full time capacity, one would find either a decent living or many times find it difficult to make ends meet.

So, how does that affect India and its education system. Unless some financial stress is reduced, the motivation to build thinkers, leaders, business-men, etc., is deflected towards "covering the portions and going home". Unfortunately, we also see the other end of the spectrum. Professors in plump university jobs who are simply pocketing half-to-one lakh rupees per month, who do not really imbibe knowledge or innovation or curiosity into their students. They are actually, overpaid for the job they do (many of them probably have the knowledge and probably deserve good money - but not when they don't do the job). Having said this, the sad state of affairs in Indian schools is that most teachers are under-paid.

Teaching comes from "within" as a passion. And if this passion is not there, then the pay probably does not matter. For those without the passion, if they are paid less their attention is less & if they are paid more, then they love to squander their attention. So, it leads to the next level (and possibly infinite regress), that teachers need to be trained to build the future thinkers, leaders & business-men. This needs a drive at the Teachers training level curriculum and agenda. The passion must be drilled into them in those years, especially for those who are looking to just get a job. Change the mind-set and for that, those teachers' colleges have to set the higher goal.

Back to the original title of story - teaching invariably means an underpaid job, unless you innovate and get into research in parallel & get someone to pay more for your other contributions. On the other hand, seeing someone's face suddenly brighten when they have understood a concept which was eluding them, is very very satisfying, at least for me.

VRVD

Education standards in India

Article moved to Guru Raj blog

Recently I was pointed to an article in Economic times which talks about the above subject. Here the root of the problem is thought to be that the Teachers need to inspire students with out of the box thinking. I beg to differ with respect to suggested changes to the education system. I have given some views earlier in this blog too - on the parents' role in education for children.

The root cause that has to change is that of parents' understanding of what is required for their children in long term perspective, rather than a short term view of a lucrative job. Parents' understanding that they need to build some leaders for tomorrow rather than a bread-winner for their old age - that is required for the education system to change.

The reasoning goes like this - whatever be the system we invent, due to sheer population, one ends up with means of testing the children against some questions. This needs to be simple to check (simply because of lack to time to check everyone's performance), unambiguous (to avoid issues of favoritism and subjective marks) and covering all subjects. Now, whichever solution one may come up with, the immediate knee-jerk reaction of the students & parents (and due to parental pressure for results, schools and teachers) is to "master the system", rather than master a subject (or subjects). They want to get the top marks at any cost, including rote learning, coaching classes, etc.

Unless the thinking of parents (and through them their children) changes to "life-oriented" learning instead of "job-oriented" learning, any education system is bound to fail with the pressures of population, lack of time, etc., because the testing system ends up being a "simple-objective" oriented one.

Parents in urban India are busy with their jobs and all other house-hold chores. They have very little time to teach their children and "schools, teachers and education system" are blamed. One can change schools, change teachers, change education system - but difficult to change their children or their own attitude towards learning/ life.

Now let us come to another aspect of learning - when does one get set on their course in terms of their attitude to learning, discipline, creativity, curiosity, inspiration, etc? It is only partly in school and partly by teachers. The parents can and have to set these strongly in their wards before the age of 5. The children have been watching, listening, copying, repeating, flattering the parents from the earliest possible age. If at this time there is less discipline, inculcation of wrong attitudes, role models have wrong habits, etc., they are easily imbibed by the children. If the parents are not able to answer the children their interest towards curiosity and learning reduces - parents should have "learning" attitude (that they will quickly learn even if from internet and answer them). The schools & teachers are now left to "undo" all the learning upto the age of 5, if they have not been set on the right path. With the population, there is little special attention possible to correct these things & likely has little effect (because the role models continue on their wrong paths).

Now, unless the Parents demand that the system change for better and they want to be part of the education, any system is going to be just "a hurdle to a job", rather than a stepping stone for success. Will this happen easily? No. So many parents complain that X or Y question was "out of portion"! Out of portion, if not allowed, there is no creativity. If one does not know to think out of the box, based on his learning (out of box is fought by the statement out of portion), then teachers or education system will not be able to do anything. The parents want to stoke the children's ego that they are the greatest on earth, while the teachers do not know "how to ask questions".

One aspect of the article I have not addressed is the "language" of teaching - whether mother tongue based education would make a difference. Again, with job oriented approach from students and their parents, it is difficult to avoid English as medium of instruction. I will comment further on this after gathering my thoughts (if I can)...

Since every parent wants only their wards to do well in exams, get top marks, get their engineering or medical degree, or fly to foreign countries for higher studies, with least effort from parents side. as well as the blame to put on the school / teachers / education system, any change in these 3 is not likely to make a better mark on the next generation of students.

VRVD

VRVD Musikings

My musings on music and the kings of Carnatic classical music are presented in a separate blog. See and hope you enjoy at VRVD MUSIKINGS (http://vrvdmusikings.blogspot.com/).

Break out of Catch 22

We can classify people into two groups based on the specific Catch 22 cycle they are caught up in.  Some people work hard, follow the processes they know and get the job done the same way, all the time.  The other group of people work smart, keep learning, try new things, make things efficient and end up doing well & learning a lot at the same time.  Both these groups are following Catch 22 cycles.  One is a negative Catch 22 and other a positive Catch 22.

Two different Catch-22 cycles

First group: The people in the first group get the job done.  They may even get the job done in time, all the time.  The effort they spend, though, is not efficient or effective.  You find many people in this group working late hours.  They end up being tired & not able to add other activities outside of work to the schedule.  Definitely there is very little time or motivation to learn new things. The person does not want anything related to work in their sight, after the long hours.  The end result is that the person continues to use methods learnt months or even years ago.

Second group: The people in the second group spend time to learn new ways of doing things in efficient manner.  This ensures that the job gets done on time, or even ahead of time.  Mostly regular work hours are sufficient to complete their job.  They have energy to branch into new areas & ideas.  They learn from books, articles, the web or even from others’ experiences.  This gives them more ideas to try & execute their tasks quickly.

If you feel that you are in the first group & feel that you are not able to get out of the cycle, here are some ideas to change it.

1.  Before taking any task, take a little time to know the task well.  Understand all aspects of the task & the different view points.
2.  Plan your work well, based on the understanding of all the aspects of the task.
3.  If you are going to use a new software or tool, first spend time in understanding all the features of the software & tool.  Some of the features could make things easy for you.  Remember the saying “A job well begun is job well done.”
4.  Repeat tasks must be automated.  Let the computer do the job for you.  Write macros or similar processes to ensure your efficiency increases.
5.  Finally, learn from others ideas, tools, utilities & experiences.  Share your utilities, tools & ideas with others.

Another aspect to this change: (a) Change by self-motivation or (b) Change by external pressure.  It is better to make this jump on your own, instead of waiting for external factors to push you into the learning process.  At that time, the effort to change may be lots & lots more.  This provides even further de-motivation.  Jump now, from the first cycle into the more efficient, effective & fruitful second cycle.

Remember: The initial effort spent to learn, plan and execute, on a tangent, compared to the immediate task at hand, helps you to shoot out of the orbital path & reach for the stars.

(First published in a private magazine in October, 2000)

Change with Time

Conversation between father & son

Father: Don’t do this on Fridays.

Boy: Why should I not do it on Fridays.

Father: Don’t ask questions. This is how it should be done & always has been done.

We all would have heard this or a similar conversation time and again in our homes.  Read ahead and find out how the following experiment is similar to above conversation.

Primate Committee Thinking Experiment

NOTE: Don't try this with your own apes.

Start with a cage containing five apes.  In the cage, hang a banana on a string and put stairs under it.  Before long, an ape will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the Banana.  As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the apes with cold water.  After a while, another ape makes an attempt with the same result - all the apes are sprayed with cold water.  Turn off the cold water.

If, later, another ape tries to climb the stairs, the other apes will try to prevent it even though no water sprays them.

Now, remove one ape from the cage and replace it with a new one.  The New ape sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs.  To his horror, all of the other apes attack him.  After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.

Next, remove another of the original five apes and replace it with a New one.

The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked.  The previous Newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm.

Again, replace a third original ape with a new one.  The new one makes it to the stairs and is attacked as well.  Two of the four apes that beat him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs, or why they are participating in the beating of the newest ape.

After replacing the fourth and fifth original apes, all the apes which have been sprayed with cold water have been replaced.

Nevertheless, no ape ever again approaches the stairs.  Why not?

"Because that's the way it's always been around here."

Sound familiar?

Most of us would have come across this attitude in our life.  It would have happened in our home, work or in social environment.

Reasons

The reasons for such a negative attitude may vary. Here are a few of them:

1.    Some love to stay in the comfort of using known methods, even if it takes longer (like the above Primate excuse “That’s the way it’s always been around here.”)

2.    Some people focus on finishing the current task, rather than becoming efficient in the long run.  There is no exploration for quicker or easier methods.

3.    Someone Else’s Idea syndrome (SEI syndrome – pun unintentional).  Many people tend to not use a better method, simply because it was passed on to them from a peer / junior.  Their ego prevents them from using the better process.  (As an aside, did Americans come up with SEI because ISO was someone else’s – European – idea?).

4.    Some people love to exercise their muscles more than their brain & are adamant about it.

It is important to discourage such attitude among friends & colleagues.  We should encourage people to look out for chances of improvement.  Efficiency and effectiveness on the job must be constantly improved.

Action Plan

1.    Discourage people from using the “history” excuse.

2.    Don’t allow people to follow processes blindly.  Ask why a method was chosen & its merits.

3.    Encourage people to work smart, rather than work hard.

4.    Inculcate a good atmosphere to share ideas & encourage healthy competition.

5.    Give credit / reward for learning new methods.

6.    Give time for creativity & don’t add too much of pressure to deliver (pressure forces people to finish the job at hand rather than look for improvement).

7.    Push people to automate manual tasks.

After all, in this fast world, the quick learners and efficient people will shoot ahead fast.  Such people will also take the whole team / company along, given the right environment & impetus.

Make a difference

Do you feel that time has flown by and you do not recall how?  Are you saying to yourself “It seems just like yesterday I got my first job?” or “I feel that I finished college only a week ago?”  Where has all the time gone?  What have you done with it? When asked “How’s life?” many say “Chaltha hai.” or “Getting along.” or “OK.”  Life seems to have become mundane, from day to day and from week to week.

Experts, who have analysed the patterns in life, have explained that if we feel that time has flown, it is we who are to blame.  If we fall into a very simple routine, on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, then our brain compresses the information into a single occurrence.  There is no difference between 1 day to next, and it compacts days into 1 day and weeks into 1 week.  Voila, suddenly you feel time has flown by you, and your memory just holds a week’s information – everything else is just a repetition.

Change: Make a difference

What should we do?  It is in our hands to voluntarily change the patterns we follow on a daily basis.  Do something different everyday.  Put some effort to learn new things every so often.  Bring in interesting changes to plans everyday.  Stimulate the weekends with variety from one to next. Change the routines on a regular basis, without affecting your priorities and values.

You will find that when you start doing this, you keep good memories.  Do not stick to very strict routines from morning to night, on a day to day basis.  Have minor variations to the general routine – and be conscious of your actions and routines.  Then, every day will be different and will be recorded as such.  Every week’s learning, fun & joy will be remembered for weeks, and maybe years, to come. Spend time with children & younger people, as they teach us a lot of simple things that we forget as we grow older.

Another aspect is reflected, now-a-days, in many companies’ policies.  The reason that more and more companies are forcing people to avail their vacation days within each year is that it makes a difference in morale for us.  We break out of the standard course we set for ourselves.  Avail your vacations at an appropriate time and enjoy with some exhilarating or relaxing activities.

But . . .

The first question that many may ask is “In my organisation & planning classes they asked me to create a clear plan and stick to it, so that I can become more efficient.”

Yes, we should plan and then stick to the plan.  The modification should be in the plan itself, on a regular basis, so that the days and weeks do not become monotonous.  We can come early to work on some days.  We can leave a little early on those days and add some activities to the evenings.  Come to work or go home using varying routes on some days, consciously.  Those are the differences that will make the weeks colourful and your life memorable.

“But if we have to change routines and check-lists, then what happens to ISO and CMM.”  This is a very valid question indeed.

It is important to follow a method / routine in small sets of activities within a short period.  This will help us accomplish the task in an efficient & correct manner.  It is the bigger scheme of things that we should change.  We should juggle the tasks that we do everyday.  On some days, let us finish our tasks quicker and spend the spare time in helping others, or reading / learning things.

Here is another point of view.  If we fall into too strict a routine, we start believing our memory and methods.  Soon we do not consciously follow the routine / checklist.  That is precisely when mistakes creep in.  Hence, even in following routines and / or checklists, it is important to change things consciously, slightly, ever-so-often, so that it does not become dull and involuntary.

Past Experience with these thoughts

Many of my friends, after discussing the above ideas, have come back with positive comments on how small differences on a day-to-day basis make things more long-drawn and enjoyable.  They believe that time has been utilised well.

It seems like it has been years since I went to Ooty (went in April 2011), because every day is unique, either at work, home or external activities. Every activity is done consciously with a difference and it makes a difference.

Make a difference, in your days, weeks and career.

VRVD Tour Tips

Started a blog to cover some information on vacations, tour tips, etc.

See it on http://vrvdtourtips.blogspot.com/

Enjoy,
VRVD