Higher Education Is Now Another Name for Superficial Education

By Hrichita Paul

It's astonishing how superficial Higher Education has become. To see people pursue

education just because they think they have to do it or for career prospects, is honestly

saddening. There's barely anyone who is fueled by passion. Everyone is fixated with the

product.

Teachers don't care about teaching and Students don't care about learning. Higher Education

has transformed to a money-grubbing capitalist market, and students are merely clients. It's

not about education anymore, not about the passion for learning, and not about fostering

ideas. It has become mechanical — a process with no soul where the output is all that

matters.

Academia is a nightmare when you experience it in real life, don't be fooled by the aesthetics people associate it with. Academia has lost its soul and it's our fault. We want people who are not driven by selfish motives to run these institutions, and we want students who don't care about grades or getting a degree but are actually fueled by the passion to learn.

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The other day when I was out with my friends they started discussing how they were not able

to answer a question that came on the test. So, I looked it up and told them the answer, and all

of them were like “I don't wanna know it now–the test is already over–not gonna get the

marks on that question back.”

Tests were not supposed to be about how much you can score, they are to test your

knowledge. When you don't have knowledge about a certain topic that came in the test, your

work is not to whine and complain but to learn it afterwards. However, nowadays everyone

has twisted the purpose of a test. Starting from guardians to teachers to students themselves

compare their progress with the grades they get. It's the attitude you hold towards learning

that decides your progress, not the grades on a piece of paper.

Inside this superficial system, students have also become unclever. When a student is clever

enough, they would want to know the answers to the questions they could not write, and

eager to learn from their mistakes. That's how you do better in the next test. However, many

of the students I've come across seem not to understand this fundamental rule about learning.

It's high time we change our attitude towards learning.

I hope what I’ve come across is not true for all Educational Institutes since all of this is based

on my personal experience and what I have come across in a University that prioritises

syllabi-centred learning instead of quality learning that goes beyond. Knowledge is limitless, and educational systems making a carefully packaged product of limited information with

focus on grades in the name of a degree is not it!

Teachers don't come to class and ask what did you learn, they ask “what are you gonna do in

your tests.” That’s a wrong approach, and students have been influenced by that wrong

approach.

You are not supposed to force yourself to study or do it just because everyone will shame you

if you don't. You only do it if your heart says it. Otherwise higher education is not worth a

dime.

About Hrichita Paul:

Hrichita Paul, 20 (she/her) is a masters student and a literature graduate from Assam, India. She has previously published poetry, and horror fiction. She is fond of cross-genre writing, dark academia, literary fiction, and anything gothic!