I’ve been busy. And so I’ve been away for long. I return in haste for some warm up before the big day. Here is one of the practice speeches I made for the Elocution competition at the Montfort Literary and Cultural Festival. Bear in mind before reading this page that we’re allotted only an hour’s time to prepare a speech on the given topic. The topic for this speech was ‘Computer Based Education’. I’d like to hear from you on what you think of it:-
I am reminded of the stirring adage that has ripped its way through the ages, “The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.”
Good day to you. I stand here before you trying to probe the role of the astute, miniscule microchip in man’s greatest endeavour. Don’t let the size fool you. Diminutive though it might seem, it has carved a niche for itself in today’s educational sphere. It has given an entirely new dimension to the educational spectrum. It has become a tool so powerful in the pursuit of educational excellence that it has sent educational administrators into a tizzy as to whether it would be worth replacing the ‘loads’ of books in our schoolbag with a mere 17 inch computer. I wouldn’t blame them for contemplating so either, for computers have helped produce software professionals, remarkable scholars and pioneers in every possible field of Science you can think of. The reason for this is deep rooted. A computer scores way above a text book as far as a student is concerned. It serves as a vast, boundless resource of knowledge unlike an ordinary text book, provides innovative, inventive and interactive education to inquisitive students to whom this would come as a whiff of fresh air, and most fundamentally, it is a ‘fun’ exercise. The principal emotion every child yearns to experience is fun. And when teaching can be done the ‘fun’ way, it is the finest possible form of education that can be imparted to a young student.
Nevertheless, like all revolutionary inventions and discoveries, this has a bad side to it as well. There do exist individuals around us who’ve taken ‘Computer Based Education’ way too seriously, even going to the extent of adopting a policy of self education with the aid of a computer almost nullifying the significance of a human teacher, which makes me seriously ask—Can a computer ever replace a teacher? Can the hand which meticulously makes a four-year-old put pen on paper ever pave way for a lifeless LCD screen? Can the warm words and wise lessons imparted passionately with love and care by a teacher towards a student, be replaced by a silicon disc? These are some of the questions that are in need of answers; answers which are effective enough to ensure that this wonderful tool we’ve engineered around us does not place us on the wrong track, but rather powers us on the right one—the pursuit to educational excellence.
It is my emphatic view that a teacher can never possibly be permanently replaced by a computer. Nor can a computer ever be permanently replaced by a teacher. Like the wafting pani poori on the streetside eatery and the wholesome meal at a proper restaurant, both elements must coexist to create a proper educational system. While computers can make us banks of massive knowledge, it is the human essence of the teachers alone which will succeed in ingraining ethical values into us. Teachers shall teach us to love, care, honour and respect. Teachers shall make us wise enough to distinguish between good and bad. We are in need today of fine individuals who aren’t merely cognizant of everything around the world but also good human beings. And for that to happen, the computer isn’t the solitary force required.
Don’t take me wrong. I’m not trying to suggest we can’t eliminate the 35% illiteracy rate which prevails in our country with the aid of the microchip.
We very well can, provided our ‘wisdom’ is in the right place.
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