Fortress Mentality in Education: The Need for Technological Windows

Deepak Patri Founder CEO, PunditBox.com

Patri K. Venuvinod Emeritus Professor

City University of Hong Kong

A paper presented to a group leaders of higher education from Hyderabad at a specially arranged meeting at the Head Office of Chaitanya Bharathi

Institute of Technology on December 18, 2011

The following were among the participants: Dr. P. Narasimha Reddy, Director, Srinidhi Institute of Science and TechnologyCh.Venkateswara Rao, Member Secretary, Chief Administrator, Vignana Jyothi SocietyDr. B. Chennakesava Rao, Principal, Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of TechnologyDr. N.V. Koteswara Rao, Prof. & Head, Electronics & Communications Engineering, Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of TechnologyProf. R. Sreenivas Sarma, Head, Civil Engineering, Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of TechnologyDr. Suresh Pabboju, Prof. & Head, Information Technology, Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of TechnologyProf. P.S. Raju, Director, Gokaraju Rangaraju Institute of Engineering and TechnologyDr. K.S. Rao, Director, Anurag Group of InstitutionsDr. Veeranna Bommakanti, Director, Aurora's Scientific, Technological and Research AcademyDr. N. Sambasiva Rao, Principal, Vardhaman College of Engineering

“I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed.

I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off

my feet by any.”

Survival of the fittest: What determines fitness?

Metcalf’s LawFitness of a gene pool is directly proportional to genetic diversity

within the pool

The Emotional Basis of P-S Relationships

The key to successful knowledge transmission is a Strong Emotional Relationship between P & S

A successful P & S relationship is one that lasts beyond the classroom

In ancient times

Pundits taught students in face-to-face sessions. Pundits were supposed to be all-knowing.Students were expected to be sincere, obedient, reverent and totally committed.

Simple but authoritative

TodaySince the industrial revolution:An explosion in humanity’s knowledge stock and its diversity. The notion of omniscient punditry is replaced by one of specialized punditry.Today, pundits drawn from a diverse set of specialized departments teach students organized into classes. An ever stronger bureaucracy now determines all organizational aspects of the P-S relationship. The result is a severe erosion of P-S autonomy.

Complex and top-heavy but organized

Meanwhile, owing to the absence of an alternative, all teaching continues to be face-to-face. This means that the pundit and the students to be at the same place at the same time. This space-time constraint forces classrooms, the departments, the bureaucracy, and the entire institution itself to be walled in. This leads to a pervasive fortress mentality.

The Rise of Fortress Mentality

The Consequences of Fortress Mentality

The institution starts behaving as if no pundits and students exist outside its walls, so few new ideas enter the fortress from the outside. In time, the environment inside becomes progressively ever darker and staler. Slowly but steadily, the institution loses whatever competitive advantage it may have had. More often than not, the only redeeming feature is that the students are partly exposed to the outside world. But their voice is usually stifled by the myopic bureaucracy.

Our vision for tomorrow

Technological windows allow rejuvenating wind to pass into and from the institution and to diversify the gene pool.

Complex but organic

Quick benefits

• Solve teacher-scarcity problem– Good technology ensures equally effective teaching– Could actually improve in some contexts

• Regular interaction with global pundits will dramatically change local values and attitudes– Trigger new ideas and ventures – Improves international competitiveness

• The developed world is aging, developing India is not – India can exploit the growing supply-demand imbalance of P – Win-win for both

Whether you want a breeze or a tornado is up to you

But we believe that The larger and the more numerous the

windows, the faster will be the institution's progress towards international

competitiveness.

Graduates from internationally competitive institutions

• Tend to be more open, individualistic, and change-seeking

• Are less preoccupied with academic scores received and professional competences acquired

• Dabble in unconventional, creative, innovative, and entrepreneurial ventures

• Such people are more likely to meet Gandhi's exhortation

"Be the change you wish to see in the

world!"

In Gandhi's time

There were few alternatives to face-to-face teaching. This meant that the teacher and the student had to be at the same place, at the same time. Fortress mentality was a direct consequence of this constraint.

Today

We are able to tap an impressive array of cost-effective technologies capable of supporting remote interactions among individuals and groups. Further, the quality of such interactions is rapidly approaching the quality of face-to-face interactions.

The picture for ‘today’ is neat and tidy whereas that for ‘tomorrow’ is cluttered

and complex

• But it is organic , exciting, and It is forward-looking . • So it will appeal more to students than to the upper

echelons in schools. • Students are the legitimate springboards for change,

but students world over need to be informed and mobilized

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NetworkingEnabling

Technologies

TransactionManagement

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Please visit tecinnovent.com for many informative publications, presentations and videos authored by Venuvinod and his associates.

• You will also find there Venuvinod’s new trilogy: Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship

• Part I: My World, My Nation, Part II: My Firm; Part III: My Startup

• Three editions are available: eBooks, paperbacks, hardcovers