A cauldron of awareness

THE public image of students at the University level is perhaps no compliment to their intellectual striving or to their social awareness, leave alone sensitivity. Are they a pampered brood longing for a confrontation with the custodians of law and order? Terribly obsessive about their rights and least keen to acknowledge their social responsibilities? Parents and teachers seem indifferent to their aspirations, treating them more as stereotypes than as individuals with their own feelings and sensibilities. Is there also a growing sense of alienation between students and teachers on the one hand, and parents on the other? It is at best an untested hypothesis that excepting the creamy layer of students who throng the IITs, IIMs and the professional colleges of renown, vast sections of youth who happen to herd themselves into myriad educational institutions including the new commercial ventures called self-financing colleges, have no sense of direction nor reliable guidance on how they can also shape themselves as useful and responsible citizens.

At a recent seminar at the Madras University organised by the Satyamurti Centre for Democratic Studies, a small cross-section of students articulated a clear grasp of the social dynamics of the educational system. This was a seminar with a difference. Instead of elderly "resource persons" hyping about their own "epic careers" and unburdening themselves of exhortations, students shared their perceptions on a wide range of social issues in a candid and critical mood of self-introspection.

Responding to a disturbing news report about a few students of a Chennai college storming their way into a bus terminus protesting against the audacity of a conductor in rejecting an irregular bus pass of a student, quite a few participants at the seminar seemed to disapprove of the student mob involved, but not without rationalising the uncivilised behaviour of the students involved in the episode. "What else do you expect from people who are not students at all in the serious sense of the term?" "They are, more often than not, registered for courses in which they are least interested.... It is parental pressure which leads to this spectre of dumping students in colleges where nobody cares for them. It is no wonder that such students are ever ready to jump into some melee or the other... After all, they do have an ego, some macho drive. Is it a surprise then that here and there students display aberrations of behaviour? What should be even more surprising is that neither the police nor the community cares to intervene effectively when student mobs go berserk."

One student went on to say that raucous, rowdy behaviour of students was an inescapable part of a social process where parents themselves at times, are corrupt, greedy persons. There was even a reference to a parent who was supposed to have conceded to his son that a certain degree of aggressive behaviour was useful, because society otherwise takes you for granted!

The influence of politics and the normal behavioural pattern of politicians also came in for critical reflection. As one student put it, students from fairly affluent families seemed to cultivate an authoritarian attitude from early childhood since the parents appear to favour such a formation.

There are quite a few students who got into a debate among themselves on how the social process itself has conditioned the attitude of students. Parents, by and large, do not have any meaningful involvement in the education of their children except their tendency to drive the students towards engineering, medicine, IIT or what is now emerging as the most glamorous career, IT. Students who join self-financing colleges, are only aware that their parents are coughing up a big sum by way of capitation fee, but they are not sure that the colleges provide any credible educational opportunity or basic infrastructural facilities. Is it a coincidence that most of the self-financing colleges have been promoted by politicians?

The agonising suffocation suffered by students in self-financing colleges came out clearly. "The politician-promoters of self- financing colleges are thoroughly familiar with criminal behaviour. It is no wonder that they treat students as potential criminals, with rules of conduct inside the college being based on conformity and least guided by the concept of creativity." As one student put it, the University seems to be totally ineffective as far as the working of the self-financing colleges is concerned.

Parents came in for a lot of criticism at the seminar but not all students who spoke revealed a rebellious streak. One sensible comment about parents was this: "They are not to blame. After all they allow their ambitions for us to override their knowledge of diverse educational courses and career options." One woman student had this to say: "My parents were not happy when I chose to do English literature in college. They would fancy that literature is not an avenue for a paying career. I think differently. I am confident that writing can offer me a rewarding and satisfying career. My parents will understand in due course."

The culture of the Liberal Arts and Science Colleges also figured in the discussions. Students have a lot of free time. The curriculum is not demanding. Nobody is willing to guide the student as to how he or she can use leisure-time creatively and productively. This refrain came up frequently at the seminar with a couple of students asking the heartrending question: "Who ever is willing to listen to us or to guide us?"

On the broad theme of the seminar, "Students and National Development", there was a poignant agreement about the artificiality of the connection. "My future is not in my hands. Why do I worry about the community? Let's not grieve too much over the erosion in ethical standards. We are living in Kaliyuga where crime pervades every society. The ruling principle is make your own compromise and adjustment with the prevailing culture!"

The systemic contradictions in the process of higher education seem to have a profound conditioning effect on the students. They keep talking about how their course preferences are sabotaged by the interplay of supply and demand, aggravated by the system of communal reservation of seats in colleges. Their courses are not demanding nor is the college culture very conducive to the flowering of talents of individual students. There are hardly any forums for the students to come together and to give vent to their ideas, aspirations and grievances. The teachers do not seem to care. Some of them are not even intellectually well-equipped. Their concern all the time is with their syllabus and with the preparation of students for stereo-typed examinations. Even this function is not being performed in many colleges. As one student put it, "With all their attractive salary packages, college teachers are not unduly worried over the colossal wastage shown by the majority of students failing in public examinations."

Colleges and student elections - the only major event taking place in most colleges - came in for a spirited discussion. Almost all political parties in Tamil Nadu seem to be nurturing student-cadres in various campuses. The elections for offices in the student union are often minipolitical battles, ostentatiously financed and with caste passions also getting aroused. Some students say that these elections must be banned and only outstanding students nominated by the college authorities to the student council. This is not, however, a solution favoured by all. One student in fact raised the question why students who otherwise seem to build up solidarity, cannot keep party politics away from the campus. The most interesting comment was that student unions do not provide a genuine forum for college students for cultivating their general interests and talents.

The seminar was not intended to be a catch-all opportunity for gathering student perceptions on the various facets of the social situation. It was mainly designed as a listening post for student counsellors and social activists. The opportunity seems to have been well-seized by all the participants of the seminar. At the end of the day what emerged was the felt need for earnest listening to students on the part of teachers, parents and educational administrators. The case for institutionalising student counselling centres in colleges and also by NGOs, sounds compelling.

S. SWAMINATHAN

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