Opinion Maples in Massachusetts

My wife and I have come to South Hadley,a tiny town in Massachusetts,where our daughter has secured admission in Mount Holyoke College to pursue her graduate studies in liberal arts. She was a growing child until recently. Now she’s an adult. We’ve seen many joyful colours in her changing life,many more we’ll see as the pace of change quickens. Life’s journey is marked by such milestones. But when is the last mile? We never know. As we take long walks in the thick forest both inside and outside the college,Frost verbalises my inner reflections: “The woods are lovely,dark and deep. But I have promises to keep,and miles to go before I sleep.”

What I’ve seen in this all-women’s college so far fills me with other reflections,too— about the state of higher education in India. Firstly,our universities and other centres of higher learning must take their own histories and heritage,both tangible and intangible,seriously. Mount Holyoke was established in 1837,and all its amazingly well-maintained buildings still have the old-world ambience. The past speaks to us in every nook and corner of its large campus. This is true about all the great American universities and colleges. In India,we are so callous about preserving and honouring the heritage of our educational (and also other) institutions that it’s painful to think about what we are losing.

Secondly,the curricula and teaching methods in our universities are so rigid and inflexible that our students are really deprived of the diversity,depth and interconnectedness of knowledge that higher education ought to nurture. If tens of thousands of students from all over the world flock to American universities and colleges,it’s largely because of the freedom they experience to explore a wide range of subjects,something very essential and useful at the undergraduate level. Our higher education system is also quite rigid in the area of extracurricular activities. Students’ mind and character is shaped nearly as much by what they do outside the classroom as inside—on the playgrounds,in community service activities,in self-organised cultural and artistic events,in vacation-time internships,etc. We have not adequately supported and mainstreamed this important part of learning in our education system.

Thirdly,it is thrilling to see the international character of most American campuses. It’s almost as if the whole world is represented in the student communities and faculty at these places. Every time I go to an Indian college or a university,including the reputed ones,I ask myself in anguish: “Why do we have so few foreign students? Why doesn’t the government give our good institutions the freedom to attract students,and also teachers,from abroad? In our small,shrinking and inter-dependent world,shouldn’t our educational institutions foster an internationalist outlook among our students?” India’s prestigious universities and colleges can certainly compete with American and other foreign institutions in this regard,if only they are freed from the mindless restrictions placed on them by the central and state governments.

This brings me to the last point. India can never create world-class educational institutions unless the heads of these institutions are given full functional autonomy. The presidents and deans of American universities,public as well as privately funded,have both the responsibility and the authority to run them in pursuit of higher standards of excellence. In India,our vice-chancellors and principals,even the best among them,routinely experience the humiliation of acting as subordinates to visionless bureaucrats and ministers. India’s failure to encourage and empower great leaders in education is by far one of its most worrisome points of strategic weakness.

It’s not at all my claim that America’s higher education system is the model that India should imitate. Our problems and needs are different in many crucial ways. We have to find our own solutions. We also have our own strengths,which we must recognise and revive. But if education is about learning from others’ best practices,we surely have a good deal to learn from America’s famed universities and colleges. Including the way they have preserved their forests and heritage buildings.

sudheenkulkarni@gmail.com