3 idiots, Taare Zameen Par and ground reality

Must be one of the last lot to have watched 3 Idiots - a week ago. Later - caught a discussion on one of the TV channels (Zoom ?)- with Aamir Khan - where he was talking about the "common theme" to 3is and his TZP. Commendable efforts, very fresh approach to film making where relevant subjectshave been chosen, and provoke a lot of thought, wonderful entertainment, and of course - moolah for the producers too. These films stay with you for a long time.

But on a more "earthy" note - practical difficulties of finding working alternatives to the system continue to confront us. My kids (son 9 yrs, daughter 6 yrs) - go to a school that me and my wife agreed (one of the few ocassions when we did agree on something..... :-) ) as it emphasised on all round personality development, excellent infrastructure, seeme more amenable to questioning kids, less homework, etc....but on the ground we see confused teachers, even more confused parents and big gaps in vision and execution.

The fact remains that while spotting limitations in the existing time-tested systems is easy - we still are far from having found a workable alternative system that can claim to be at least as effective, if not more - in the Indian context.

And if this is the reality of schools, how about engineering colleges / other professional education institutions ? Flawed as they may be, the system much critically examined in 3 idiots- is the "assembly line" that has made India's IT revolution happen. Not to mention the moon mission (which reportedly had not a single IIT grad working on it, all staff from second rung engineering colleges of India!), and several other silent revolutions on the ground.

Hope some real alternatives emerge over the years...a little lucky that my kids have some time till then......