Evaluating somebody’s performance is a multi-dimensional task, but our credentialism-dominated system does not do so.
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Once, in an exam, I got the least marks in a question that I thought I answered the best. The topic was dear to me, and I had prepared two pages of notes after going through more than a hundred pages. One friend of mine came to me on the examination eve and asked for help as the topic was vast and not much time was left. I gave him my notes, assuring him of decent marks. The friend got more marks than I got!
In the same paper, I got the highest marks in a question that I had no idea about. I wrote rubbish with jargon, and the teacher wrote a remark along with full marks, “Very well explained.” I wondered for days about the marking and evaluation schemes of our education system. If marks are awarded on a random basis, what is the point of working hard? Of course, the evaluation is subjective, more so in social sciences. But I believe there must be a line between subjectivity and randomness.
Evaluating somebody’s performance is a multi-dimensional task, but our credentialism- dominated system does not do so. In the words of Stephen Hawking, “Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.” In today’s times, we need to differentiate the parameters to judge human and machines. Accuracy or efficiency is not the only criterion to judge a human. We judge machines based on such criteria.
Such questions have become more important than ever in the wake of artificial intelligence. Well, innovation is the only thing that can separate us from the technology. But our education system is not ready to deal with the AI onslaught. The system, which deems memory as merit and doing mundane tasks as skills, is bound to scare us citing layoffs. With AI becoming more capable day by day, we surely must catch up.
Technology is like a horse. If you race against it, you lose; if you ride it, you win. This is not to say that dependence on technology is something to be proud of. Technology is not a one-stop solution for all our problems. The purpose of technology is to enable us, not to disable us further. But the panic caused by AI is partially to be blamed upon the education system as well. Individuals must not be blamed for the systemic failures and vice versa.
Humans were never the strongest but still survived against the strongest predators because we innovated. Today, AI has raised several important questions. One of them is, how can our education system help us become the masters and not slaves of our times?
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Published – September 28, 2025 04:45 am IST
