Campus agitations (and now campus violence) are a consequence of the breakdown of communications between the administration and the student body, not the cause. Especially after months of a lack of communication, patience can wear thin. When one hears the different sides of the story, it can seem like a contemporary re-enactment of Rashomon, and a slightly fantastic one at that.
In this article, Rajan Kurai Krishnan, a well-known social anthropologist and professor from Ambedkar University, Delhi, takes the examples of three very popular films in Tamil cinema and picks up a common thread in how they view science and scientists. As he mentions in the conclusion, there have been films with differing perspectives, but those were much smaller in impact and popularity, hence his reason for basing his arguments on these three.
Students need to and have to actively engage in [the] dynamic process of contestations, tensions, enquiry, discovery and re-discovery if they have to co-create knowledge and uphold the ‘desired’ values. Participation and protests are indeed an essential part of this process, and such education is critical for an evolving society that cherishes and aspires for democracy, equality, secularism, justice and freedom.
If you went to a public place where you were surrounded by people and randomly posed the question “What is science?” or asked “Is it important to learn science?” what do you think will be the answer? In this article R Ramanujam explores this question, dwelling on how a perception of science is built up by the way people are educated in science in school. School education shapes what people believe is science and what is meant by the scientific attitude in a manner that leaves a lot to be desired, he argues. He touches upon how education needs to be looked at to address this issue.
Students and youth have always been in the forefront of any viable movement, and they will always be. The sooner we accept it, the better.
The idea of academic freedom, although varying in different countries, pertains to a scholar’s liberty to express her/his ideas without the fear of ‘official interference’ or ‘personal disadvantage’. Such freedom, which is essentially freedom of speech, is necessary for the growth of an academic institute.
Should students take part in political protests? Some people think yes, others disagree. But why this difference of opinion and what might happen when students take part in such protests? Gauhar Raza examines the issue and feels that “When students come out on streets, their banking system of education gets disrupted and they are likely to acquire the ability to become catalysts for social change and, more importantly, question the balance of power.”
Science students in our country are spending increasing effort and time at private coaching institutes training for entrance examinations for higher studies. Instead of looking at this shift merely through a binary framework of formal science learning in schools and colleges versus training for entrance examinations, it is more fruitful to identify learning deficits which are shared across this divide. In this article, Sanjay Kumar identifies three such deficits in physics learning.
From being seen as the panacea to all ills, scientific advances are today being seen by many as an alien legacy or a partial cure at best. Though science is still respected by many, there is a tendency to discard much of what scientists say in fields like GM crops, and other technology, even while accepting the dire prognosis made by climate scientists. How did this choice come into being. T V Venkateswaran probes these questions in an article that explores the evolution of ideas pertaining to science and the people.
Today, knowledge has been colonized. You are being told you cannot make knowledge without paying a tax and securing a license. How is this different than being told you may not make salt without paying a tax and securing a permit?
