As with the frequent changes made in our education system in view of bombarding us and our future generations with more knowledge, to equip us better to take this Knowledge Based Economy on, we are generally put under the impression that generations are getting smarter after generations because we learn more, and thus will know more.
Yes, syllabi are pushed much forward for students to be equipped with deeper knowledge and (hopefully) understanding regarding different fields of study. It's a common phenomenon to hear tutors telling JC students that such and such topic is of uni year 1 or year 2 topic. What people learnt in their university years, we learnt that BEFORE we stepped into uni even. So generations after generations, they'll know more about DNA and how to run PCR. Fine with me.
So, what? What about kids who know all about double helices but have barely any knowledge about everyday life?
This is my story. I am an A'Level graduate with an education level that's at least double than that of my grandma's. Yet what happened proved me nothing more than a mere idiot, and this really annoys me.
I was told to get a can of white paint and herbs yesterday. My grandma wanted to make some herbal soup (good for our hair, she claimed) and so she named the name of that herbal soup. There wasn't any problem about getting the white paint of course. Then I went into that herb shop and instinctively asked for the herb - main ingredient for that kind of soup, and ONLY that herb. I mean, that was what my granny said, of course that'll be what I buy. I guess Bio has trained me to reproduce exactly - and only - what that's been input.
So when I got home feeling triumphant because I got two packets of the same herb instead of one, so that my granny doesn't need to make another trip when she wants to make the same soup again. But when I showed her the two bags of herbs, my grandma started laughing because apparently I got her too much of the same herb and none of the accompanying herbs for the same soup!
I stood there, speechless. A part of me was reprimanding of my sheer stupidity and the lack of common sense that consequently resulted in a waste of money (although its only four ringgit in total), while the other part retorted because it wasn't really my fault and the fact that I had zero idea what other herbs to go with it. My grandma laughed at my naiveness, and said it wasn't my fault at all, that it's her mistake for not telling me everything.
I can say I am much more a literate than my granny is. But knowing so much more about DNA doesn't help in getting a bowl of herbal soup ready. Being able to understand and edit HTMLs that otherwise appear like combinations of alphabets to my granny doesn't make me a better cook (or cook nicer and more edible food for that matter). Getting these extra years of education does bring me closer to facing the new KBE, but at the same time, distances me more from traditional ways of living which often prove interesting and wise.
I'm sure most of us have something to say against the approval of the usage of calculators in primary schools. You see, calculators that were once forbidden to every primary school kid, that were once seen as the luxury of the upper sec, is now one of the tools of teaching in primary schools. It was during primary school that we learnt the mathematical skills, understand the system of numbers. These skills are the skills that come in useful in our everyday life, and they are what we will need till we are very, very old. Imagine if we were not trained to do mathematical manipulations since young, how dependent are we now on the calculators? It's the same. Once the kids are allowed to punch the calculators to get the numbers, they will not have the skills that are so vital in their lives in future.
The case will be, future generations will see themselves with calculators when they go grocery shopping, because they can't calculate for themselves how much they have to pay and if they have enough money.
So what's the point if everyone knows about DNA or Gibbs energy or radioactivity or what have you because the syllabi have been pushed so much forward that everyone is a walking encyclopedia, if they can't even change common fractions to decimals?
As the globalisation and modernization snowball rolls in, many traditional ways of doing things have been slowly eroded from the society.
That's why I feel so much a dwarf when I look at my grandma (despite my height). In spite of low education level she has managed to succeed in her own ways - ways which I, despite having higher education level, could not.
Are we really so much smarter the generations before us? Not quite.
