Thinking beyond the text…………

Sir C.V. Raman, being a visionary scientist said “science doesn’t flourish in laboratories” you must go to
nature to study physics; for that matter, you must love the universe to explore it. As Emerson rightly
mentioned in his essay “Self Reliance”; ‘is there any master who could have taught Benjamin Franklin or
Shakespeare’. Aren’t these quotes relevant to our engineering students who are being spoon fed by the
conservative corporate educational organizations.

Engineer, wangle, nurture their minds or mend their ways of studying are the words and sentences
sometimes prick our conscience and kept forcing us to encourage the students to think beyond rather
than just following or being stereotypic in educating the young minds. Have you ever thought of thinking
beyond the text? Of course, you are studying in a corporate college or an institution which pledges to
make you a genius like Einstein or Edison in its advertisements. These so called organizations are very
much concerned about the students that they spoon feed the existing knowledge and theories in such a
way that there is nothing beyond these texts. The system of education has paved the way for these
organizations to claim the results of the students as their achievement and proclaim that they have
nurtured the young minds to be a genius. On the other hand, they are not aware of the fact that they
have spoiled young minds by restricting their ability of imagination. Thinking beyond the boundaries of
any existing knowledge is the beginning of the invention irrespective of its possibilities. The creative
process that occurs in the mind of a scientist when he invents something is what needs to be the
fundamental knowledge to be imparted in the young minds. This creative process in the mind of the
scientist can be divided into four categories. The first and foremost ability is observation of the world
with the existing knowledge, the second thing is to speculate or let the mind think or fly in the realm of
the fascinating imaginary world; the third is to try hard to juxtapose the unusual combinations or
paradoxical ideas in the process and the fourth is to give completeness or form to the eventual
discovery of the truth. You can never expect or come across these four skills in our curriculum. These
organizations vie over each other by claiming the greatness of the syllabuses that they are following, but
we cannot put all the blame on these organizations; there are some special circumstances or situations
in India should also be taken into consideration for this kind of system of education. Not even 5% of the
students in India is opting for research is really a cause for concern, and is what government should look
into and take proper measures to improve research and development institutes. The first priority for an
Indian student will be a lucrative job even after completing his PhD; for that matter, they do PhD for the
job, not for intention of inventing something or finding an original solution or looking at an issue from a
different perspective.

The village boy who is deprived of many facilities may get a chance to think or develop his imagination
and start questioning the existing theories, and might become a great scientist rather than a boy who
studied in convent s in the city may not get to imagine but to be spoon fed which made him to lose his
imaginative ability. As it is well known, most of the scientists in India studied in rural schools and
become scientists with the sole ability of imagination. Developing imaginative ability is the sole factor
that made them greatest scientists. As our own Abdul kalam keep saying “dream, dream and dream”
and the Einstein rightly quoted “ whatever the knowledge I get from the books is limited, but my
imagination encircles the whole world” this quote can be an eye-opener for our spoon feeding
education system in the corporate colleges who run after ranks or marks. Better to be one of the idiots
as it is portrayed in the ‘three idiots movie’

An ability to imagine is as important as reading any text book and comprehending it. We should
emphasize thinking as part of the study. Teaching science has been compartmentalized within the four
walls. Why can’t we adapt thinking in our teaching methods? Can’t we make thinking as part of our
classroom hour? What could help a student think beyond existing theories? Can’t we eke out one hour
for thinking in our timetable? Why don’t we develop thinking activities? These are the questions need
to be answered and to be taken into consideration while designing the curriculum.

Let the young minds fly in the realm of imagination. Let them imagine, speculate, think and explore the
universe to come up with myriad possibilities in which one of them could be an original idea or truth.
Let’s motivate the students to go in quest of truth. Let’s make the students think beyond….. Let’s teach
them the attitude of non-conformity. Let’s teach them creativity. Let’s design the curriculum in which
we should incorporate certain activities that develop their lateral thinking skills. Let’s develop activities
of juxtaposing the unusual and paradoxical ideas.

Never feel complacent by just understanding the existing theories or the laws and write them in exams
and score well. Stop for the sake of your stagnant mind, start thinking beyond these texts, may be the
only panacea for all the habits or clichés that confined us from thinking beyond…….
Thanking you

Sincerely

S. Nagavardhana Reddy
Assistant Professor in English

CMRIT Engineering College

CMR Group of institutions

Medchal, HYDERABAD.

Email: vardhannag@gmail.com

Cell: 9959628205