Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak recently made certain comments about India and the Indian educational system. He said that the concentration was solely on studying and working hard to get a good job; leaving little space for creativity. Many commentators agreed with the ‘Woz’ and many disagreed.
Wozniak spoke of Infosys and said that he didn’t see big advances coming out of Indian companies. “I don’t know the culture of India well enough,” he said; clearly he does not, so maybe he should not have been making pronouncements upon it?
Industrialist Anand Manindra decided to take on the comments; calling them a ‘sweeping stereotype’ that will only spur us on. He invited the Woz over to check out the situation in times to come.
Wozniak may have little understanding of India, the compulsions and exigencies that exist here, but the emphasis on rote learning, ‘cramming’ is certainly one of the problems of our education system.
We’ve all had that teacher who says just give me the answer in the book. Should you try to question what the teacher says or offer an alternative viewpoint, this is unlikely to have gone down well.
The Indian education system is often accused of being too rigid and straitjacketed, giving little opportunity or encouragement to those who have different abilities or unconventional talents. But then this is true for most education systems; they don’t exactly lend themselves to customization.
But then, Wozniac may have forgotten a couple of details like Sundar Pichai and Satya Nadella; the CEOs of Google and Microsoft respectively. One would assume that these guys didn’t get to where they are without creativity – and they are products of the Indian system.
Wozniak may have a really good opinion of his own abilities but he seems to forget how many American processes are outsourced to Indians and Indian companies. Sure creativity is important, but without single minded diligence and the people to actually do the work, the best ideas are redundant.
Some of the hardest working, highest achieving students in the USA happen to be Indians. As for Americans outsourcing jobs to Indians; we all know about that don't we!
Given the paucity of resources, Indians can be very creative indeed. Its just that Indian creativity is known as Jugaad Mr. Wozniak.
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