Which is the best school / college…

After summer break, the schools have just started in India and hence I thought I would write this blog.

The confusion many parents have is which is the best school or college (will refer as EI-Educational Institution going forward) in town.  How do you ascertain which is the best EI?  Is there any rating system available?  If yes, how reliable is that rating system and the ratings?

My wife and I always have argument on this.  She is so much into putting children into best EI and when I ask her the above questions, she very gently rubbishes me and tells me that I’m always against academic studies!  

Can we say the EI’s from which state firsts in 10^th and 12^th grade students come are the best EI?

Can we say the EI that produced successful businessmen are the best EI?

Can we say the EI in which famous actors like Kamal Hassan, Rajnikanth and others studied are the best EI?

How much role does an EI play in a person’s successful career?  Does the success of an individual solely depend on the EI?

I finished my 10^th grade and 12^th grade from a school in Chennai, which many Chennai citizens may not even know.  After studying in such school and finishing my graduation from Madras University (through correspondence), I believe I’m successful today in my profession.  If I can’t call myself successful, at least I can say I’m happy with what I’ve achieved professionally.

The schools I studied and the university from which I graduated did not teach me anything about newspaper industry, IT field, managing cine production company or logistics and supply chain.  I’ve been in these fields and definitely had more success in my current endeavor of being the brains behind running a huge logistics network (includes complete supply chain) for a big company supporting military troops.

Have earned a lot of Kudos for the successful completion of many tasks in many trying and otherwise challenging environments…  This blog is definitely not to boast my own achievements (or blow my own trumpet). My point is that the schools I’ve studied and the colleges/universities I’ve attended did not teach me the real life scenarios and challenges I would encounter. 

So, if schools and colleges are not going to teach you everything you would encounter in professional life once you choose your career, why look for “best school / best college”?  Why not study in an EI which gives you admission?

Recently, I was speaking to a friend of mine who was looking for his son’s medical college admission.  He told me the name of a reputed medical college in Chennai and said that it is very good college.  When I asked him how he formed that opinion, he told me “they charge ______ Rupees as capitation fee… If people are paying that much money to get admission in that college, it should be good”.

Is the amount of capitation fee charged by college, universities a scale for their rating?  If so, Madras University should be the worst since they did not take a penny from me as capitation fee when I joined B.Com. Graduation course… Did I choose the worst university for graduation? :)

Parents are willing to pay good amount of money as Capitation fee to get their children admitted in EI, which they think, is good.  Why pay capitation fee and then higher course fee (most of the EI’s that demand high capitation fee also charge high course fee) and then leave your children in the wide-open world to learn the hardships through experience and then excel in their profession?  If the world is going to teach our children all the experience and mold them into successful professionals, why worry about the EI they should join (or the parents wish them to join)?

I don’t intend to deviate from the topic of this post but what is Capitation Fee?? In my opinion, this is a beautifully coined word for BRIBE… If anybody disagrees with my opinion that Capitation Fee is bribe, I am more than willing and interested to hear their justification.

If we agree that capitation fee is corruption, who started it?  Who kept on increasing that amount?  Not just the EI’s… It’s we as parents who kept on increasing it by demanding admissions for our children in such EI’s.  I’ve heard parents say “I don’t mind paying little extra capitation fee to get admission in so and so college”…. So, we started this and now educational institutions are demanding…

There are lot of successful people who had very basic or no academic education in their life (examples I can immediately think of are MGR, Kamarajar, etc.).  I don’t want people misunderstanding me that I’m against education.  My point is education alone is not enough.

A lot of us will know people who have studied in corporation/municipal schools and have become successful professionals.  Unfortunately, there will also be failures from top-notch colleges / universities.  These successes and failures do not reflect the quality of the EI but the quality of the individual who studied there.

In my opinion, we should rate the teachers of the EI rather than the EI in itself.  My daughter went to a play school in Chennai before she joined her regular school.  When we finalized her admission in the school and asked her if she is excited to go to new school, this was the reply from the 3 year old: “I will go to new school only if _______ teacher from _____ school comes with me to the new school”.

I think this should be the most unbiased evaluation of a teacher since it came from a 3 year old.  Probably the kid admired and liked the approach and attitude of that particular teacher and got so attached to her.  Many of my relatives know that till date my daughter tells that she wants to become a teacher when she grows up and everyday after school she plays “teacher teacher” for at least 30 minutes… :)

So, like life being a gamble with lot of unknowns, I believe the EI we get our kids into is also a gamble.  Probably there are good teachers in that EI who will guide our children in the right path and make them stronger to face the real life after their educational career.

Probably a lot of parents (including my wife) have better understanding and scale to define which is the best university, college or school.  As usual, probably it’s me who is so confused and keep writing such lengthy blogs…

Is there anybody out there who will clear my confusions???