pallikkutam: january

MAGAZINE ON EDUCATIONVOLUME 1 ISSUE 8 JANUARY 2014

Managing EditorDr. Varghese Panthalookaran CMI

EditorJames PaulAssociate EditorDr. Prasanth Palackappilly CMI

ColumnsK L MohanavarmaDr. K.N. RaghavanA.G. MenonSajit MalliyoorSebastian Menacherry

Marketing ManagerVarghese Kachappilly CMI

ArtSajo Joseph

Contact:Rajagiri Media, Rajagiri Valley P.O,Kakkanad, Kochi-39.Phone : 0484 2428249, 39 Extn : 232Mob: +91 9497711010Mail : [email protected]

FROM EDITORS DESK

Merits and demerits of onlinelearningThe availability of massive open and online learning resources has beenrapidly changing the global academic landscape, making education andlearning more relevant and accessible to society. But while the MassiveOpen Online Courses (MOOCs) are an interesting tool to aid highereducation, it can never be a substitute for classroom learning or conventionaluniversity education, especially in India, where issues of the quality oflearning and level of skills acquired through open university and distanceeducation were already being questioned

Academicians and eminent faculties from various global centres of highereducation, who debated over the future prospects of MOOCs at therecently-concluded three-day international workshop on transnationaleducation in Thiruvananthapuram, seemed to agree that MOOCs will haveto go a long way beyond mere delivery of high-value content mayintroduce new pedagogic models, teaching practices, delivery mechanismsand primarily bring in an international framework of quality andaccreditation before taking over higher education.

MOOCs are the biggest upcoming trend in the current education scenario.Simkins Scott, Director, Academy for Teaching and Learning, North CarolinaA & T University, U.S., said that a lot of discussion was going on in the U.S.about the future of MOOCs.

What is the purpose of college education; whether MOOCs can bring in theoverall transformation in a student the way a university education does;whether education can be marginalised are questions that are being hotlydebated. But MOOCs could take over if the faculty in universities continueto regurgitate content and resist pedagogic changes. When high qualitycontent is being made freely accessible round the clock, the value added inclassrooms would have to go much beyond mere content, Dr. Scott said.

In future, MOOCs could offer a formal degree or credit to a student whomay already have considerable knowledge and skills in the subject; or itcould become just another open, free educational resource, which is part of auniversity course so that the students may at least have occasionalinteraction with the academia in classrooms, he felt.

Muralee Thummarukudy, Chief of Disaster Risk Reduction, UNEnvironment Programme, Geneva, felt that the time for MOOCs had indeedcome in Kerala, particularly because students were increasingly seeking toearn credentials from globally acclaimed universities and also because of thecurrent job markets which called for skills and knowledge of internationalaccreditation.

He noted that MOOCs could provide the answer to one of the most vexingproblems faced by may academic institutions in Kerala the shortage ofwell-qualified and knowledgeable faculty to teach niche subjects likeGeographic Drawing for engineering courses.

But while MOOCs have opened up possibilities for the creation, deliveryand reception of content far beyond the confines of academicestablishmentsa terrifying prospect for academic institutions qualitycontrol is an issue that it will have to come to terms with.

CONTENTS11 COVER STORY

Can HMT regain its past glory?HMT was once an industry which did Kerala proud. Itsdecline is an obvious example of lack of vision andprudence at the political and bureaucratic levels.

The teenage girl whois back to life after akidnap

02 Pallikkutam | January 2014

STORIES OF LIFE15

Rose was abducted by somemen in a taxi car and was let offin the far end of the city.

EXPERT COUNSEL

Dr. K.N. Raghavan

Keepsociety andrule of lawabove self

17

HHEALTHHEALTHWATCHH WATCH

Six guidelines forlifelong healthyeating

49

Ccp-fn s]bvXag-bpsS kwKoXw....

AXn-Po-h\w22

kwKoXw sImv A-Xsbadn-I-S AXn-Po-h-\-ns IY-bmWv A^vk bpk^v FkwKoX kwhn-[m-b-I\v ]d-bm-\p--Xv.

Jose K. C

PEDAGOGY

Studentslearnedhelplessnessin writing

25

Sajit Malliyoor

Love at theexpense ofcharacter

27 PERSONAL

Dr. Jos Cletus Plackal

HEALTH WATCH

Weight-loss winners tend toeat in the morning.

CONTENTS

03Pallikkutam | January 2014

29 37

39

51

RESEARCH

Dr. George Athappilly

The real change is thechange in the brain

BOOK REVIEW

Author : OrhanPamukTranslator:Maureen Freely

Snow

A newIndustrialRevolutionJerin Shaji Mathew

Ncn{X"teJ' AYhmhnPb"teJ'

jmPn amen]md

42 STUDENTS CLUB

ASn s]m-ap ]Xn-\-p-Imcn, temIImbnINcn{Xntev HmSnbdnb"Ncn{XteJ'bmbn amdn.

Common CoreNational Standardsbenchmarks forquality education

POLICY WATCH

Sebastian Menacherry

ASPECTS

Dr. Augustine Thottakara

Self Control-Generosity-Mercy

54

An interesting story aboutPrajapati fromBrhadaranyaka Upanisad

GUEST COLUMN

Nne{InkvakvNnIsI.F.taml\h

59

Invisibilitycloaks

INTERVIEW35

Interview witheminent physicistNathan Cohen

Distil the Mind offNegatives

STUDENTS CLUB

NEWSCusat yet to renew NAAC

accreditationThe Cochin University of Science andTechnology (Cusat) may lose out onfinancial assistance from the UniversityGrants Commission (UGC) as it has notrenewed its accreditation issued by theNational Assessment and AccreditationCouncil (NAAC).

As per clause 7.1 of its 2012 regulations,UGC has notified that financial assistancewill be given to institutions of highereducation which have undergoneassessment and accreditation process.Accordingly, in its meeting on November29 it was decided that all universities andinstitutions must apply for NAACaccreditation by June 2014, failure ofwhich would lead to discontinuation offinancial assistance by UGC from April2015.

Cusat lost its NAAC accreditation sixyears ago but is yet to renew it. According

3lakh NaukriApp downloads

in a monthTerming its new Android mobile App asa major development in the Indian jobportal sector, Naukri.com Tuesday claimedto have record more than 2.9 lakhdownloads of the App within a month ofits launch.

According to the company this mobile Appis available for free at the Google App storeand is currently ranked 134 with a rating of4.4 stars.

Vibhore Sharma, CTO-Naukri said, Morethan two lakh downloads was an importantmilestone for us. Now it clearlydemonstrates that this App has filled theneed of job seekers.When asked to highlight some of thereasons behind the record number of Appdownloads, Sharma said that a lot of

companies in the present era have aprohibition on recruitment sites in theiroffices. This App overcomes this problemby letting job seekers obtain access to jobsthrough their mobile phones.

23% of our job seekers visit Naukri.comfrom mobile phones. Job seekers responseto the android app has been overwhelming.With over 4 lakh detailed job descriptionviews , 43,000 searches and more than50,000 applies a day - Naukris AdroidApp has made significant inroads into themobile phones of job seekers, he said.Executive Vice President Naukri Vivek Jainsaid Product and Analytics of the companysaid this mobile Android is the mostextensively used platforms and therefore itwas a natural choice for the company tolaunch an App catering to Android devices.

Through this App we want to broaden ouruser base by engaging more with Androidusers Vivek said.

to university sources, the delay has beendue to the confusion about Cusat gettingIndian Institute of Engineering Science andTechnology (IIEST) status. Once, Cusatgets IIEST status we need not apply toNAAC. Also, another reason for the delay

is Cusats grave financial situation, said anofficial.

The accreditation process is based ondifferent criteria, including curricularaspects, teaching-learning and evaluation,research, consultancy and extension,infrastructure and learning resources,student support and progression,governance, leadership and managementand innovations and best practices.

With over 45% vacancies in facultypositions, the university could lose out onpoints on that ground, sources say.

25% EWS seats in KVsAll 1,100 Kendriya Vidyalayas willstart their admission process forClass I (entry level) from February 15.The Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan willshortly bring out the admission notifica-tion as well as guidelines.

Over one lakh students will be admittedin Class I across all KVs, includingaround 20,000 students in 80 KVs in thenational capital region. Delhi alone has60 Kendriya Vidyalayas.

As per Supreme Court guidelines, 25%seats will be reserved for the economi-

cally weaker section category. If thenumber of applications surpassescapacity, a lottery system will befollowed in each category.

There will not be any major changes inadmission guidelines from last year.Minor changes can be notified ifnecessary to bring more clarity withincategories. The admission process will beas per RTE Actguidelines with 25% seatsreserved for EWS and a neighbourhoodpolicy, commissioner of KVS AvinashDikshit said.


NEWSTop Indian, Aus varsities to offer new

scholarship programmeTop Indian universities including IITKanpur and IIT Madras have nowpartnered with University of Melbourne inAustralia to offer a new joint PhDscholarship programme from 2014.

The multimillion-dollar scholarshipprogramme was launched in India onMonday to provide the next generationof researchers, innovators andentrepreneurs in Melbourne and Indiawith world-leading academicsupervision and support.

According to an official statement, theMelbourne-India PostgraduateProgramme (MIPP) will link theUniversity of Melbourne with some ofthe leading research institutes in India,the Indian Institute of Science inBangalore (IISc), the Indian Institute ofTechnology Kanpur (IIT-K) and the IndianInstitute of Technology Madras (IIT-M).A joint initiative of the four institutionsis an AUD 3 million programme which willprovide 16 PhD scholarships andassociated support for research exchangesover the next three years.

Speaking ahead of the launch, MelbourneUniversity Vice-Chancellor Glyn Davissaid the new programme was a valuableaddition to Melbournes already extensivescholarship offerings.

By enabling students from India andAustralia to undertake jointly developedresearch of the highest quality, wereconfident the programme will addressshared global challenges in areas ofenvironmental, societal and technologicalneed.

Were excited that the program will givestudents the opportunity to contribute tothe development of education, cultural andindustry links between both countries,Davis said.

The programme will officiallycommence in 2014 and will be open toPhD students enrolled at the UniversityOf Melbourne, to be co-supervised bystaff at IIT-K, IIT-M or IISC.

Alternatively, students enrolled in oneof the three Indian institutions will haveaccess to co-supervision withMelbourne academics.

IIT-K Director Professor IndranilManna said the initiative would bringleading institutions together.

Australian and Indian communitieshold immense respect for each other andthis is yet another opportunity that wouldcontribute to the strengthening of culturalties between the two great nations, hesaid.

UGC to bring New Technical Education Norms forDegree Institutions Only

HRD ministry and University GrantsCommission (UGC) on 30 Decemberinformed that the new regulations beingframed for technical education institutionsis going to be implemented only for thecolleges that are offering graduate degrees.According to the statement of a seniorofficial, the draft regulations will leave outinstitutions offering all diploma courses.

After the UGC proposed the newregulations a large number of managementinstitutions reported complaint and are ontheir course to appeal at the SupremeCourt (SC) against the proposed UGCdirectives. Their petition will be againstthe new regulation of UGC which shalldelay the process of admission that isalready going on.

UGC had to seek this matter after theSupreme Court (SC) in early 2013 declaredthat permission of the All India Council forTechnical Education (AICTE) is not

needed to be obtained by the privatecolleges to receive consent for runningMBA courses in their private institutions,

because AICTE does not fall under thedefinition of technical education.

The SC had also stated that AICTEs rolevis-a-vis universities is only advisory,recommendatory and one of providingguidance and has no authority empoweringit to issue or enforce any sanctions by

itself. Instead, the apex court had saidregulatory function is with the UGC or theuniversity.

Sources from Ministry told thatManagement institutions failed to perceivethe Supreme Court judgment as it does notaffect diploma courses by non-affiliatedinstitutions. However, the regulations havenot been confirmed as yet and some moretime will be taken to know the exact.

To implement SC judgment, UGC cameinto the scene. Formerly, UGC wrote touniversities who have affiliated collegesunder it that no new courses should bepermitted by them.

A senior UGC official told that regulationsneed to be brought before the 2014-15admission session activates. On the otherside, AICTE officials are still expecting oftheir regulatory function to return eitherby amendment or through ordinance.


NEWSOnly 10% of students have access to

higher education in countryAccess to education beyond highersecondary schooling is a mere 10%among the university-age population inIndia. This is the finding of a reportIntergenerational and RegionalDifferentials in Higher Education in Indiaauthored by development economist,Abusaleh Shariff of the Delhi-based Centrefor Research and Debates in DevelopmentPolicy and Amit Sharma, research analystof the National Council of AppliedEconomic Research.

The report says that a huge disparityexists as far as access to highereducation is concerned across gender, socio-economic religious groupsand geographical regions.The skew is most markedacross regions. Thus, adalit or Muslim in southIndia, though from themost disadvantagedamong communities,would have better accessto higher education thaneven upper caste Hindusin many other regions.Interestingly, peopleliving in Bihar, UttarPradesh and West Bengal designated as the northcentral region andthose in northeast Indiahave the worst access tohigher education. Those in southern Indiaand in the northern region consisting ofJammu & Kashmir, Punjab, HimachalPradesh, Uttarakhand, Chandigarh,Haryana and Delhi are relatively betterplaced in this regard.

In the age group 22-35 years, over 15% inthe northern region and 13% in thesouthern region have access to highereducation. In the north-central region, thenumber is just 10% for men and 6% forwomen whereas in the northeast, only 8%men and 4% women have access to highereducation.

The report, brought out by the US-IndiaPolicy Institute in Washington, is based ondata from the 64th round of NSSO survey2007-08. It throws up quite a few other

interesting facts. For instance, amongcommunities, tribals and dalits fare worstwith just 1.8% of them having any highereducation. Muslims are almost as badlyoff, with just 2.1% able to go for furtherlearning. Similarly, just 2% of the ruralpopulation is educated beyond highersecondary level, compared to 12% of theurban population and just 3% of womengot a college education compared to 6% ofmen.

South India offers the best opportunitiesfor socially inclusive access to highereducation including technical education and

education in English medium. For instance,the share of Hindu SC/ST in technicaleducation in south India is about 22%, andthe share of Muslims 25%.

These were the lowest shares among allcommunities in south India. But this washigher than the share of most communitiesincluding Hindu OBCs and upper casteHindus in most other regions. South Indiaalso has the highest proportion of highereducation in the private sector at about42%, followed by western India where it is22%. The northeast has the leastprivatized higher education sector and isalmost entirely dependent on government-run or aided institutions.

Not surprisingly, government institutionsare the cheapest places to study at, with

annual expenditures ranging from less thanRs 1,000 to around Rs 1,500, except innorth and south India, where the average isabove Rs 2,000. Both private andprivateaided institutions are quite costly,making them difficult to access for thepoor. With little regulation of the qualityof education and cost differentials, thepoor and deprived are often trapped inlow quality education, the report pointsout. It adds that although free education isprovided at school level, it is almost non-existent at higher levels.

The report also compares Indias low 10%access to highereducation withChinas 22%enrolment and the28% enrolment inthe US. Since theearly 1990s,Chinas post-secondaryenrolments grewfrom 5 million to27 million, whileIndias expandedfrom 5 million tojust 13 million,says the report,while emphasisingthat highereducation has thepotential toenhance

productivity and economic value both atthe individual and national levels.

The government has to urgently addressthe geographical skew in the availability ofhigher education facilities in the tworegions of north-east and north-central,says Shariff. The central region,comprising Chhattisgarh, MP, Rajasthan,Jharkhand and Odisha, too needsattention. There is so much talk about aHarvard in India. I say, give two hoots toHarvard. What we need are thousands ofcommunity colleges that can offerprofessional courses so that youngsterscan improve their skills and becomeemployable.


NEWS

Rooting for reforms in educationsystem, Telecom Minister KapilSibal on Thursday said reforms need to bechild centric so that children can pursuetheir own dreams and aspirations.

Referring to Indias first mission toMars, Sibal said: When we talkabout launching a satellite on toMars, we have more than 220million satellites in the country,our children and each satellite hasits own trajectory. We should helpthem in finding their orbit andshine.

Sibal has previously held HRD andScience & Technology Ministries.

Speaking here on the occasion of the two-day CII global university-industrycongress, the Minister said that educationneeds to concentrate on the child and notthe curriculum. Its efforts should be tobring out the brilliance in the child.

He also propagated a 10-year vision tocreate a road map to facilitate reforms ineducation to ensure that India comes to theforefront of worlds education scene.

Commenting on the plight ofeducation, Sibal said that ironically, while,satellite (Mars Mission) is being guided,many institutions under the AICTE,engineering institutions, are closing downin India.

They are winding up because of lack ofquality and a feeling among students thatthese institutions lack on individualstructure and other things, he said.

He further said: We have a level ofexcellence that we have achieved whichis symbolized by the launch (Marsmission) and you have the lack ofexcellence that is staring us in the faceand that is the irony of India.

He emphasized on the need to makeeducation compatible to leveragetechnological advancements like cloudcomputing and low cost access devices.

Sibal advocated providing studentswith low-cost devices that canfacilitate access to educational material

and global information anytime, anywhere.

The Minister added that investment ineducation will suffer in absence oflegislation saying it could create chaos anduncertainty.

President urges IITs to attract students for PGPresident Pranab Mukherjee onSaturday pressed upon the IITs todevise strategies to attract under- graduatestudents towards post graduateprogrammes and research activities,saying lack of enthusiasm to pursuehigher studies does not auger well for thecountry.

IITs have so far not been very successfulin attracting undergraduate students topost graduate education and research. IITshould devise some strategy to attractunder graduate to post graduateprogrammes, he said while addressingthe 44th convocation of IIT-Delhi.

I understand that very few IIT graduatesare pursuing specialised education leadingto PhD or higher degrees. In the long term,this will deprive the country of talentedspecialised personnel who are mostimportant assets in a knowledgeeconomy, he said.

The President said as against the studentstrength of 71,000 in National Institute ofTechnology (NITs), there are about 4,000

PhD students. Similarly, in IITs, as againstthe strength of 60,000 students, there arearound 3,000 PhD students.

This indicates that bright students aremoving away from research and

innovation. This does not speak well forour research facilities, he said.

Asserting that the present day economy isknowledge- driven, he said IIT-Delhi needsto take a giant leap as a contributor ofknowledge. This can happen only byfurther strengthening and enhancing postgraduate education and research in IITs, hesaid.

India is also far behind in creation ofintangible assets and creation ofownership. Hence, the time has come torecover this trend through research infrontier areas of technology, engineeringand science, Mukherjee said.As IIT system has seen an increase of newinstitutes and increase in number of seats,he asked the established and old IITs toprovide the same kind of support andhand-holding to the new IITs which theyreceived when they were set up byfriendly countries.


Education should be child centric: Kapil Sibal

INSIGHTS

Sleepboosts braindevelopmentAccording to a new study reportedonline in the journal Brain Science,the connections between the left andright hemispheres of the brain in youngchildren develop rapidly during a goodnights sleep. Such connections areessential for brain functions to mature.The research team under the leadershipof Dr. Salome Kurth at the University ofColorado Boulder in USA came to thisconclusion after elaborate studies usingelectroencephalograms (EEGs), whichmeasures brain activity. They observedthat during peaceful sleep, theconnections within hemispheres weaken,while those between hemispheres gotstrengthened.

It is known to the scientists that thebrain functions change dramaticallyduring early childhood. New brainconnections are developed; some othersare removed during this period of life. Afatty layer called myelin forms aroundthe nerve fiber in the brain. Thisstrengthens the connections by speedingup the transfer of information.

Maturation of the nerve fibers is foundto improve skills such as language,attention and impulse control. However,it is for the first time the influence ofsleep on brain development isrecognized.

Researchers found strong indications ofcorrelation between sleep and brainmaturation during their experiments.They found that the strength of theconnections between the left and righthemispheres increased by as much as 20percent over a nights sleep.

Remove anxiety withmeditation

Scientists and monks alike have suggested for years that meditation can cure anxiety.How this cure takes place has been proven by scientists at Wake Forest BaptistMedical Center. They have identified the brain functions involved in the process in areport published in the journal SocialCognitive and Affective Neuroscience. Theyhave identified the areas of the brain activatedduring meditation-related anxiety relief programs.

In the test, healthy volunteers with normallevels of day-to-day anxiety were allowedto practice an anxiety- reducing meditationpractice, mindfulness meditation. Herepeople are taught to focus on breath and bodysensations and to evaluate distracting thoughtsand emotions non-judgmentally. The brain activities of the candidates are evaluatedboth before and after meditation training using a sophisticated brain imaging technique -arterial spin labeling magnetic resonance imaging, which is proven technique to imagebrain processes during meditation.

The anxiety levels were measured both before and after brain scanning suggests that theparticipants decrease in anxiety during meditation by as much as 39 percent. Thisshowed that a few minutes of mindfulness meditation is powerful to reduce normaleveryday anxiety.

The brain imaging has shown that during meditation, the anterior cingulated cortex andventromedial prefrontal cortex were activated. These are the areas of brain responsiblefor executive-level functions. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex, which controlsworrying, is found to have increased in activity during meditation. Similarly, theanterior cingulated cortex, which governs thinking and emotion, is also found activated.Both these activations seem to decrease anxiety.

The neuro-imaging experiments during meditation thus identify the brain mechanismsassociated with meditation-related anxiety relief in healthy people, complementing tothe wealth of information correlating meditation and anxiety reduction.

There is a popular contention thatlearning with stronger peersboosts performance of the weakerstudents. However, a new studyapparently contradicts thisconclusion. Michigan StateUniversitys Scott Imberman andcolleagues found that this is notalways true. Just because you havestronger peers doesnt necessarilymean you are going to perform bettersaid Imberman, associate professor ofeconomics and education.

The study was based on studentsparticipating in Gifted and talentedprogram, which has grown popularity

New study on weak students

in USA. The research team analyzedthe standardized test scores in math,science, reading, social studies andlanguage arts of the studentsparticipating in the program to reachtheir conclusions.


Exercise improves brain functionShort bouts of physical exercises isfound to boost higher brain functionslike, memory, concentration, planning,decision-making, etc. It is also found toboost self-control. These facts are revealedthrough a review of 24 relevant studies onthe theme reported up to April 2012.

Physical exercises are particularlyimportant for children and teens, whodevelop their higher brain functions duringthese periods. Physical exercises areimportant for them to ensure academicachievement and to improve other aspectsof their lives. The physical exercises arefound to enhance inhibition/interferencecontrol, which are crucial for success indaily life. Inhibition is essential for

regulation of behavior and emotions insocial, academic, and sport settings.

The review speculates that short bouts ofexercise boost the cerebral blood flow to

Meditate to attain emotional controlMeditation training has been shown toaffect enduring emotional processingin the brain, according to a new studyreported in the November issue ofFrontiers in Human Neuroscience.According to the researchers the partof brain, known for decades to beimportant for emotion, is modifiedslightly after meditational practices.

Many previous studies havesuggested the hypothesis thatmeditation improves thepractitioners emotional regulation.The current study reports reductionin the activation of amygdale-astructure at the base of the brain thatis known to have role in processingmemory and emotion.

The current research venture to testthe hypothesis: Meditation trainingcould also produce a generalizedreduction in amygdala response toemotional stimuli. The brainfunctions during meditation weremeasurable by functional magneticresonance imaging (fMRI). Two types ofmeditation techniques were put to test,namely Mindful Attention Meditation,which is propagated for developingattention and awareness of breathing,

thoughts and emotions and CompassionMeditation, which includes methods todevelop loving kindness and compassionfor oneself and for others.

The fMRI images of the brains of theparticipants were taken at the MartinosCenter state-of-art imaging facilities. Theparticipants in the Mindful AttentionMeditation showed a decrease in

activation in the right amygdale inresponse to all images, supporting thehypothesis that meditation can improveemotional stability and response to stress.In the Compassion Meditation group,

right amygdale activity was found todecrease in response to positive andneutral images. However, goodpractitioners of CompassionMeditation developed rightamygdale activity in response ofnegative images depicting humansuffering.

The researchers conclude that twoforms of meditation cultivatedifferent aspects of mind.Compassion Meditation enhancescompassionate feelings. Increasedamygdale activation in this groupwas also correlated to reduceddepression scores in the compassionmeditation group, which suggeststhat having more compassiontowards others may also bebeneficial to oneself.

The research supports the hypothesis thatmeditation may result in enduring,beneficial changes in brain function,especially in the area of emotionalprocessing.

the pre-frontal areas of the brain,responsible for higher executivefunctions.

The review also suggests that physicalexercise also might help repair impairedhigher brain functions, such as attentionhyperactivity deficit disorder (ADHD)and autism. Similarly it might also delaythe ravages of dementia.

Modern times are characterized by moresedentary lifestyle, worldwide aging andthe increasing prevalence of dementia.The results of the review highlightimportance of regular physical exercisefor general population to counter the badeffects of modern life-style.


INSIGHTS

No test to detect cognitiveabilities

A new study from MITneuroscientists working witheducation researchers at HarvardUniversity and Brown Universitysuggests that even high performingschools dont influence their students

abstract reasoning abilities. Such schoolsusually equip students to be successful instandardized qualifying tests. Such testsare designed to measure the knowledgeand skills that students have acquired inschool- the so called crystallizedintelligence. However, when it comes tothe fluid intelligence, such schoolstypically fail.

Fluid intelligence consists in the abilityto analyze abstract problems and to thinklogically.

The researchers asked themselves thequestion: If you have a school thatseffectively helping kids from lowersocioeconomic environments by movingup their scores and improving their

chances to go to college, then are thosechanges accompanied by gains inadditional cognitive skills? They foundthat educational practices designed toraise knowledge and boost test scores donot improve fluid intelligence.

The study does not find fault withschools who design their curriculum toboost test scores of students. It does notrubbish crystallized abilities studentsacquire in such systems. Rather, it pointsout to educational policy makers of theneed to add practices that enhancecognitive skills into the curriculum. Suchskills are seldom explicitly taught.

Many studies have already concluded thateducational programs that focus onimproving memory, attention, executivefunction, and inductive reasoning canboost fluid intelligence. However, there isno agreement over the programs that areconsistently effective for the purpose.

NonverbalLearningDisability

Does your child perform excellentlywell in language skills and yet lagbehind in mathematics? It may be due toso called Non Verbal Learning Disability.NVLD is characterized by significantdiscrepancy between higher verbal skillsand lower motor, visuo-spatial, andsocial skills. The affected children willdevelop deficits in perception,coordination, socialization, non-verbalproblem-solving, understanding humor,and memorization.

NVLD usually coexists with otherdisorders like attention deficithyperactivity disorder (ADHD) andhence remain indistinguishable.However, distinguishing a disorder is thekey to its treatment. The findings ofMichigan State University researcherspublished in Child Neuropsychology,help distinguish NVLD with otherlearning disorders.

The research shows that the childrendiagnosed with NVLD had smallerspleniums than children with otherlearning disorders like Aspergers andADHD, and children who had nolearning disorders. The splenium is partof the corpus callosum, a thick band offibers in the brain that connects the leftand right hemispheres and facilitatescommunication between the two sides.This posterior part of the corpuscallosum serves the areas of the brainrelated to visual and spatial functioning.

This possibly suggest that NVLD is aunique learning disorder in the family oflearning disorders.

Childhood music trainingimproves brain functions

Brain functions associated withlistening and the complex processingof sound get critical enhancement from themusic training in the childhood, suggests anew study from Northwestern University.The study reports that adults with one tofive years of musical training as childrenpossessed improved brain responses tocomplex sounds, making them moreeffective at recognizing the fundamentalfrequency of the sound signal.

Musical training also makes children betterlisteners later in life, the study observes.Thus even a short-term music lessons may

enhance lifelong listening and learning.This insight is useful not just for thosestudents who later on pursue professionalmusical career. It applies to the generalpublic of students. Hence, the musictraining needs to get adequate attention ofeducational policy makers and curriculumdevelopers.

These insights will be shortly published inthe paper A Little Goes a Long Way:How the Adult Brain is Shaped byMusical Training in Childhood in theJournal of Neuroscience.


INSIGHTS

Can HMT regain its past glory?

COVER STORY


COVER STORY

The Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT)compound at Kalamessery, Kochi, nowbears a deserted look. HMT was once anindustry which did Kerala proud. Its declineis an obvious example of lack of vision andprudence at the political and bureaucraticlevels. In its glorious days two decades ago,HMT had about 3,500 employees workingin three shifts. Now its employee strengthis less than 400. The arrival of HMTsKalamassery unit has had a defining impacton the way Keralas industrial history hasunfolded over the past 50 years.

As part of an engineering behemoth, whichPrime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru called thejewel of the nation, its appearance onKeralas shores with the 10 storied building(the tallest in Ernakulam those days) couldnot but be taken notice of. The aim of theambitious HMT enterprise as a whole wasto manufacture mother machines to buildmodern industrial India. A brief on the initial

years of the company in the 1960s is inglowing terms. The success in those years intechnology absorption and in productioncompetence ahead of the time schedule

prompted the company management tolaunch diversification and expansion drives,resulting in the duplication of the Bangaloreunit. Units at Pinjore, Kalamassery and

Hyderabad were the results of this optimismand vision.

The setting up of the HMT unit had acascading effect. A whole lot of newbusinesses imbibed strength from theconcept of advanced engineering and rapidlygrew around the HMT unit since itsinauguration in 1966. The most prominentbus stop on National Highway 47 afterErnakulam used to be HMT Junction. Thereputation remains intact to this day despitethe travails of the unit and the fact that thenew generation may hardly be aware of thegreat drama that unfolded on the Statesindustrial stage on account of its arrival here.

The decline in the units fortunes has beenquite dramatic too. The decline in theemployee strength apart, constant shortageof working capital is the most seriousproblem confronting the unit, according toK K Balachandran, the unit chief and GeneralManager.

HMT was once an industry which did Kerala proud. Its decline is an obviousexample of lack of vision and prudence at the political and bureaucratic levels.In its glorious days two decades ago, HMT had about 3,500 employees working

in three shifts. Now its employee strength is less than 400.

COVER STORY

A group of employees, under the banner ofHMT Employees Union, has been on a relayhunger strike from January 1, 2010,demanding the induction of professionalmanagement, revision of salaries and wagesand raising of the pension age to 60 from thecurrent 58 years.

The present conditions can changesignificantly at Kalamassery if there issufficient working capital, saysBalachandran. The Kalamassery had beenmarked by high skill levels of employees andcommitment on their part.

Kalamassery HMT to be independentA high-level committee convened by UnionMinisters Praful Patel and K V Thomas hasdecided to make Kalamassery HMT anindependent company. Among the six HMTMachine Tools units across the country, theKalamassery unit alone has been makingsome profits. This has been so for the last

five years. The gross profit was Rs 6.25 Croreand net profit Rs 2.26 Crore in the last fiscalyear. With the unit becoming an autonomousentity, the company can initiate jointundertakings with PSUs like CochinShipyard, FACT, Kochi Metro, KochiRefineries and LNG Terminal. The decisiontaken by the Centre to make the Kalamasseryunit an independent company is expected tomop up its capital position and talent pool,apart from enhancing emoluments of theexisting employees. The loss-making statusof the HMT Machine Tools entities as awhole was depriving the employees of theKalamassery unit also of salary increases.The pay scale in the unit is now at a levelwhich was revised in 1992; despite the factthat the unit was making profits. When theunit is made independent, it will be possibleto offer better compensation package to thestaff, says Balachandran. The increasedoperational freedom that the new decisionextends to the company will also enhance its

prospects of launching joint ventures withother public sector entities. It will alsoprovide the enabling environment toincreased talent acquisition to the companywhich with its 350-odd personnel is facingsevere manpower shortage, he said.

BRPSE has recommended total revival forthe company. It has also mooted allotmentof working capital of Rs 75 crore for 2013-14. The Union Ministry of Heavy Industriesand Public Sector Enterprises has decided toappoint a commission to study theproposal. The report is expected to besubmitted within two months. BRPSE hasalso recommended an increase in retirementage from 58 to 60.

Business opportunitiesLots of new initiatives are in pipelineto regain HMTs lost glory. HMTKalamassery has bagged orders worthCrores of rupees with BEL, at the behest

The decline in the units fortunes has been quite dramatic too. The decline inthe employee strength apart, constant shortage of working capital is the most

serious problem confronting the unit.


of Naval Physical OceanographicLaboratory (NPOL), Thrikkakkara, forsupply of components. The deal, worthCrores of rupees could help improve theturnover of the machine tools unit, which isplanning a large-scale expansion. While thedeal would boost the prospects of the unit,it would help the Kochi-based DefenseResearch & Development Organization(DRDO) unit to have some of theimportant orders executed locally. The tie-up with NPOL will be an important step inits march towards progress. The machine

HMT Kalamassery:ManufacturingFacilitiesCan handle machining of componentsweighing up to 10 tons

Captive foundry of capacity2500 MT per annum Sizeof Grey Cast Iron casting upto 9.5 MT & S.G. Iron up to2 MT

A range of CNC machinesfor manufacturing smallparts and heavy parts

Pattern shop

Tool room with latestfacilities

In-house heat treatmentplant

Experienced in-house design team with CADfacility

Online production monitoring and materialmanagement system

Best application engineering

Major ProjectsExecutedFirst in the country to manufactureCNC Slant Bed Turning Center throughin-house development

First in the country to develop flexibleturning cells

Design, development, manufacture andcommissioning of fully automatedflexible turning system to manufacture

Lots of new initiatives are in pipeline to regain HMTs lost glory. A high-levelcommittee convened by Union Ministers Praful Patel and K V Thomas has

decided to make Kalamassery HMT an independent company. Among the sixHMT Machine Tools units across the country, the Kalamassery unit alone has

been making some profits.

heavy armour penetrator for StragegicSector

Heavy duty CNC Turning Machines withgantry load/unload systems

Machines exported to Europe, America

and Middle East Countries

Awards ofExcellenceFIE Foundation Award forExcellence in Design atIMTEX 1975 (FC 25)FIE Foundation Award forExcellence in Design atIMTEX 1979 (SBC 35)CMTI-PMT FoundationAward for Excellence inDesign (SBCNC 35) atIMTEX 1979

Vasvik Award (STC 25)PRINTEK90 Technology Award (SOM125)FIE Foundation Award for Excellence inDesign at IMTEX 2001 (STALLION HS)

tools unit is also keen to partner withKochi Metro Rail Limited.

The HMT unit has more than 300 acresof land at Kalamassery, which could beused for the expansion project. The HMTunit at Kalamassery is keen to enter intoan agreement with Kochi Metro RailLimited for manufacture of metro railcomponents and discussions are inprogress. While the pact with the metrorail company might take more time, thenod for the defense facility could comesoon.


COVER STORY

STORIES OF LIFE

The teenage girl who is backto life after a kidnap

Rose ,18 years, a first year nursingstudent was brought to the clinic byher parents along with a host of herrelatives. They all looked worried, helplessand confused. The parents painfullynarrated what had happened to their deardaughter. One day on her way to collegeRose was abducted by some men in a taxicar and was let off in the far end of thecity. Rose told her parents that she couldidentify her abductors. The parents wereextremely worried and perplexed, yet attimes expressed doubts about theirdaughters version of the dramatic eventsas she vividly narrated. The family foundher walking aimlessly in a remote part of

the city. Rose spoke in

earnest to convince them that she reallywas abducted and that this whole thingwas so frightening, she didnt want to talkabout it.

Roses background was equally confusingand entangled. She is a tall, slim, beautifulgirl interested in becoming a medicalprofessional. Rose got admitted in thedegree course in a public college and wasearnest to achieve her great ambition.Unfortunately She caught jaundice andmissed a months classes. She hails from alow income family and her father is a semi-skilled worker. Rose has a sister who istwo years younger and very snobbish andsilly. Obviously the older one does notget along well with the younger one, andvice versa!

Roses mother is very loving and gentle.Although the father loves the older

daughter very much, she doesntreciprocate that love. He is an

alcoholic and every day he picks up aquarrel with mom, ending up in physicalabuse and mental torture. Ever since shewas a child, she has been forced to witnessto these horrible scenes. No wounder Roseis so shy and different, has very fewfriends. Though lately Rose has beenjumping into the family fray, she accusesher father of destroying the peace of thefamily. Fathers counter-accusation is thatshe is the puppet of her mother.

To make things worse, Rose has developeda habit of fainting at frequent intervals.This made it impossible for her to continueher college education.

An in-depth interview with the familybrought the following facts to light:

1. Rose was under tremendousstress, both at home and incollege.

2. She was physically weak andhad very low blood pressure,resulting in fainting at slightestprovocation.

One day on her way to college Rose was abducted by some men in a taxi carand was let off in the far end of the city. Rose told her parents that she could

identify her abductors.

Dr. Jos Cletus Plackal


STORIES OF LIFE

3. Her father was not a source ofstrength due to his alcoholism.She loves and hates him. She hasfelt deep sense of insecurity andfear.

4. The day she was abducted shewas supposed to appear for aclass test for which she had notprepared a thing.

5. Rose has started identifying withher negative role model- shorttempered, quarrelsome etc.

6. As she missed out a monthsclasses, she didnt understandmuch of what was taught in theclass.

7. Rose had suicidal ideation andverbalization with one attemptto cut her veins.

8. Rose is quiet a determined younglady yet was unable to reach hergoal. This made her moremiserable, confused andanguished.

Therapeutic strategy and interventionImmediate attention went

to

dissociating the exaggerate anxiety aboutthe studies and the phobia and shameassociated with the abduction episode. Forthis, Brain Wave Therapy wasadministered. She was advised todiscontinue her college classes for the timebeing. Rose also received attention abouther tendency to faint. The frequency offainting attacks was brought under control.

Long restructuring of the personality,improving the coping skills, familydynamics separation and individuation etc.were attempted. Since Roses father isvery loving but disruptive, this issue hadto be tackled. Fortunately he cooperated.She was given training in separation,individuation from the familys emotionalego-mess. She was given motivationalinputs such as her determination tobecome a medical professional was fargreater than her fear of exams, disruptionat home etc. She was advised to take upless work load and she complied.

Therapeutic outcomeAfter four days ofcontinuous

counseling and therapy, Rose becamealmost symptoms-free. No more fainting,reduced rivalry with sister, no moredepressive spells, no suicidal ideation andverbalization etc. In the follow- upsessions, She was helped to sharpen herdetermination to achieve her goal ofbecoming a medical professional. For thisshe had to separate and individuate fromthe enmeshing, disruptive familydynamics and had to work for emotionalempowerment.

After one year Rose was successful inregaining admission in a Governmentcollege and completed a semester withoutevents. She is earnest in her professionalstudies and enjoys all activities. At thisrate Rose is sure to attain her goal ofbecoming a medical professional as well asan integrated caring person.

After four days of continuous counseling and therapy, Rose became almostsymptoms-free. She was helped to sharpen her determination to achieve her

goal of becoming a medical professional.

The author is licensed clinical psychologist(HRT), Jeevas Centre Aluva.


EXPERT COUNSEL

Dr. K.N. Raghavan

Keep society and rule oflaw above self

Corruption can be curbed only if each citizen takes upon himself the taskof placing society and rule of law above self. Punishments and tougher

laws might act as a deterrent in the short run and may also be successfulin masking the symptoms, but without curing the malaise.

The success of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the recently concludedelections to the Delhi state legislature hasshaken the political classthoroughly for a number ofreasons. AAP has been uniquein many ways- as the firstpolitical organization to fightelections after being born as anoff shoot of an anti corruptionmovement; for making it loudand clear that the party and itsleading lights would not playby the rules that had hithertobound politicians and politicalparties and for ensuring that thecandidates put up by themwere new faces who had notfought elections before. Thecommitment and zeal of itscadres along with a forceful andwell planned campaign helpedto convert the novelty andadmiration into ballots, thusensuring a stunning electoralperformance which has thepotential to be a game changerin the history of parliamentarydemocracy in India.

This event has served to bringthe enactment of Lokpal Bill,which is aimed at curbingcorruption in public life, intosharp public focus once again.There cannot be any twoopinions about the adverseimpact that corruption has on theeconomic health of the nation besides itscapacity for imperilling the moral structureof the polity. In the six and a half decadessince independence, corruption has

unfortunately increased, developingtentacles that have engulfed all sections ofthe society. Thus there is an urgent need

to tacklethis menace head on with the intention ofrooting it out and the verdict of Delhielections highlights the angst and anxietythat the common man has in this regard.

However before deciding on how toeradicate corruption we should analysewhy it happens in the first place. I will

begin this by recounting a couple ofinstances when I was forced toshell out bribes. The firstinstance took place in 1987when I and some friends of minefrom Medical College had goneon a tour which took us toKathmandu. While leavingIndian borders we were asked byCustoms officers whether wehad anything to declarewhereupon we informed that wehad with us only cloths andarticles for personal use andsome sarees bought fromBenares during the course of ourtour. We were told that theywere not required to be declaredat the point of leaving thecountry. But when we returnedwe saw a different face of thesame department and the officerwho was on duty said that wewould not be allowed to proceedunless we paid a hefty sum asduty. Our fervent pleas that wehad carried these goods out ofIndia fell on deaf ears and theofficer became more adamant.Finally a tout who was loiteringin the background approached usand told us to settle the matterby paying a bribe. We wereaghast as we had not brought

anything from abroad nor done anythingwrong. However we also realized thatthere was precious little we could do aswe were in an unknown part of the


country without any access to help andassistance. So we pooled together somemoney and paid the bribe after intensenegotiations. This incident continues torankle me as it made me painfully awareof the helplessness that a personexperiences when confronted withmisused authority.

The next instance happenedwhen I was umpiring my firstever Ranji Trophy match atRanchi in December 1992. Thematch was to get over on 7December but Bihar sooutplayed Tripura that thegame got over one day earlier.As we were completing thepost match formalities, mycousin, who was working inRanchi, came over and told methat there were reports of sometroubles in Ayodhya and henceit was better to leave at theearliest since curfew is declaredin the city at the smallest ofprovocations. So I finished mywork and went with him torailway station, where I boughta second class ordinary ticketfrom Ranchi to Kochi. Mycousin, who was meanwhiletalking to another railwayofficer, called me and told me tohand over a small amount to theofficer, which I did. Then hetook me away and told me that thepayment was for getting a reserved berthin the train. I was sceptical whether thebribe would work but when the train cameto the platform I saw my name printed inthe chart against a reserved berth. Thus Imanaged to leave Ranchi before troublesbroke out in the city while my fellowumpire who refused to change his ticketthe way I did was forced to spend another15 days there on account of the curfewthat was imposed.

If the first incident had angered me, thesecond one had pleased me and I used to

narrate this before many audiences. But astime progressed I started wondering aboutthe correctness of my action. In the courseof first incident I (and my friends) hadbeen threatened by a rogue officer whomanaged to extort money from us bythreats. The best that we could have donewas to complain to his superiors which wedid not do. In the second instance I stood

guilty of encouraging a practice which notonly denied Indian Railways a fair share ofits revenue but further deprived apassenger the reserved berth that he waseligible for.

So by any standards my actions at Ranchiabout which I had felt happy were moredetrimental to the public as a whole. Butmy thought process, which was totallyfocussed on my personal interests, mademe angry with an unscrupulous officer atthe Indo Nepal border while making mefeel grateful to another corrupt official atRanchi.

The most crucial reason for the growth of corruption, which can be termed asan unholy urge to promote ones own interests unmindful of the damage it

causes to the society at large. Corruption can thrive only in a society wherethere exist persons willing to pay as well as to accept bribes.

The author is the Commissioner of Customsin Kochi.

EXPERT COUNSEL


This brings one to the most crucial reasonfor the growth of corruption, which can betermed as an unholy urge to promote onesown interests unmindful of the damage itcauses to the society at large. Corruptioncan thrive only in a society where thereexist persons willing to pay as well as toaccept bribes. While the former part withmoney for short circuiting the system with

the intention of promoting hisnarrow, selfish interests, thelatter does so solely forenriching himself. This is thereason why law enforcingauthorities have traditionallyplaced the bribe givers on parwith bribe takers. Howeverthe existence of rogue officers,like the one I encountered atIndo Nepal border, bring out astrong case for protecting theordinary citizens through proactive measures such assupporting whistle blowersetc to weed out suchelements.

In the final analysis,corruption can be curbed onlyif each citizen takes uponhimself the task of placingsociety and rule of law aboveself. Punishments and tougherlaws might act as a deterrentin the short run and may alsobe successful in masking the

symptoms, but without curing the malaise.AAP is a good beginning; its success hasmade the citizens aware of their rights andprivileges in a democracy. But theorganisation would be able to reach itsgoals only if it is able to reach out to thepopulation with the message that rights arerequired to be balanced withresponsibilities and personal interestsshould never override national andcommon goals.

NOTES ON CREATIVITY

Dr. Varghese Panthalookaran CMI

Hone your fluentthinking skills

High intelligence quotient (IQ) may not suffice to ensure success in life. It isnot sufficient when it comes to creative contributions, which usually bench-marks successful lives. We need to develop high values of creative intelli-

gence quotient, to ensure successful career and entrepreneurship.

Effortlessly flow a river from the hilltopto the valley. It gently responds to theinherent gravity pulls and exhibitsmesmerizing spontaneity as they fall. Ajoyous experience to an onlooker! So is aperson gushing out incessant stream ofpowerful thoughts! People love to listento such speakers with awe and reverence.Great artists, philosophers, statesmen, andall creative thinkers repeated the same featin the past. The prolific ideas and fluentthoughts characterized them as a class.

As a teacher, I have observed many socalled dull students. Let free, they loveto occupy the last benches the so calledlast benchers. They pay attention to youwith great difficulty and often undercoercion. They get easily distracted.However, at times they may surprise youwith their stunningly creative ideas! Theyare damn creative! Their eyes glitter inresponse to your creative suggestions.These back benchers are often foundsuccessful in the life-after-school. Theystand the test of time. Being baptized infire of failures, they do not wither away in

the scorching sun of life. I have seen manyof them becoming entrepreneurscontributing significantly towards thewelfare of the society. They become highlysuccessful in business, the arts, science,education, politics, and more. They evencontribute much better than thoseintelligent front benchers, who often endup with lacklustre careers!

This warrants careful distinction betweentwo types of intelligence: ordinaryintelligence and creative intelligence.Ordinary intelligence is something thatcould be measured using intelligencequotient (IQ). It signifies the power ofyour brain to think clearly and distinctly.The output of ordinary intelligence islogical conclusions, the right answers, andwell-founded inferences. Creativeintelligence rather posits large number ofcreative options. Ordinary intelligence andcreative intelligence are two sides of thesame coin, called success in life.

It was Joy Paul Guilford (1897-1987) whofirst distinguished between two forms of

thinking: Divergent and convergent (J.P.Guilford, Traits of creativity in H.H.Anderson (ed.), Creativity and itsCultivation, Harper, 1959, pp 142-61).Divergent thinking diverges in that it isnot linear. It is rather lateral, not directedto the only best solution. It seeks multipleviable solutions. Convergent thinking, onthe other hand, seeks the logical solution,which is at the same time the bestanswer. True intelligence is multiple-intelligence, equipped for both convergentand divergent thinking.

Therefore, high intelligence quotient (IQ)may not suffice to ensure success in life. Itis not sufficient when it comes to creativecontributions, which usually benchmarkssuccessful lives. We need to develop highvalues of creative intelligence quotient, toensure successful career andentrepreneurship.

It is high time that we train the newgeneration students in creative thinkingtoo, to ensure that they are successful intheir globalized work place. They should


NOTES ON CREATIVITYThe very first measure of creative thinking skills in both these schemes is

but fluency of thinking. Both Guilford and Torrance consider fluent think-ing as a stepping stone to creativity.

imbibe the principles of creative thinkingalong with the logical thinking.

The popular assignment of logical thinkingto the left hemisphere of the brain andcreative thinking to the right hemispheremay not be accurate. However, studentsshould learn to integrate both the logicaland creative functions of their brain.Education is complete only if we equipstudents for creative contributions.

How to measure creative thinkingskills?

There are many standard methods ofmeasuring intelligence quotient (IQ) of anindividual. One may wonder how we couldever measure creative thinking skills. Thereare, in fact, many attempts in this regardfrom the part of educational psychology.

It was J.P. Guilford, who gave one of thefirst schemes for measuring creativethinking skills. He suggested that creativethinking could be measured based on thescales of fluency, flexibility, originalityand elaboration. He developed a goldstandard for estimating creative thinkingskills based on them.

Dr. Ellis Paul Torrance (1915 2003) builton Guilfords research, gave suitablemodifications and popularized this methodof measuring creative thinking skills. It waslater on known as Torrance Tests ofCreative Thinking (TTCT). Manyconsider E.P. Torrance as the father ofcreativity research because of this widely-

accepted measure of creativity madepopular in his name.

The very first measure of creative thinkingskills in both these schemes is butfluency of thinking. Both Guilford andTorrance consider fluent thinking as astepping stone to creativity. Those whomaster the skill of fluent thinking,according to them, will be naturallyinitiated to creative thinking, creativeproblem solving, creative decision making,and to creative living. Equipped withfluent thinking, a student may undertakecreative assignments; an adult may developa piece of art or write a book; a parent mayidentify alternate ways of executing aboring task; a home-maker may becomeresourceful to rightly choose vacationprograms for children. Fluent thinkingskills can change the locus of your life forbetter.

Fluent Thinking Skills

Fluency of thinking, according to Torrance,consists in generating great number of ideasand alternate solutions to a given problem.Quantity of ideas, not their quality, is theprimary concern of the first phase ofcreative thinking. Ideas should flow freelyand quickly. They should occur fluentlyand in plenty. This is just the stepping-stone to skills of creative thinking. Thequality of the ideas generated is simplyunimportant at this juncture.Fluent thinking can be distinguished fromthe so called brain storming. Thinking

fluently requires that one think aboutrelated topics. It is a correlated thinking.On the other hand, in brain-storming ideaspop up just like a popping corn in apopcorn machine. Unrelated ideas pop upduring a brain-storming session. In afluent-thinking session, on the other hand,related ideas emerge. It is more comparableto a stream flowing incessantly from thetop of a hill. It gushes out and flows downas an incessant torrent. It coordinatesdifferent elements of truth, and makes it awhole. Fluent thinkers often access theirlong-term memory and get in touch withtheir foundational life experience. Thisallows them to present a total picture ofthings in many facets. Thinking fluently ismore or less an individual activity, whichmay be at times done in a group. On theother hand, brain-storming is primarily agroup activity, which is at times done atindividual level. Free and effortless flow ofrelated ideas characterizes fluent thinking;whereas diversity of ideas determinessuccess of a brain-storming session.

In order to develop the skill of fluentthinking, one should learn the skills tocompare, convert, invert, associate, adapt,define, illustrate, explain, identify, label,list, match, outline, paraphrase, predict,summarize, etc. the ideas at hand. Itrequires much more intellectual prowess,much more than just memorizing ideas asin rote learning. Higher order learning skillsare the necessary pre-requisite of fluentthinking.


NOTES ON CREATIVITY

Do not allow your inhibitions to obstruct that flow. It is your inner freedomthat counts, which will be reflected in your fluent thinking. If your mind is

sufficiently free, your thoughts will follow your mind.Fluency of thinking can express itself inmany different ways: Word fluencyconsists in the ability to use largervocabulary of words to express preciselywhat one want to describe; associationalfluency consists in fluently usingsynonyms for a given word; expressionalfluency consists in easily writing well-formed sentences with a specified content;ideational/imaginational fluencyconsists in easily developing concepts tomeet the challenges of a given task.

How to develop fluent thinking skills?

The fascinating aspect of the fluentthinking skills is that they can be honed.With adequate practice one couldsystematically open up to the world ofcreative thinking. Given below are someexercises that would help students to trainin fluent thinking skills:

List different things that share a commonproperty. E.g. Red Colour: Blood, Red Sea,Chinese flag, setting sun, Apple, etc.

Categorize things into groups: E.g. Listfood items corresponding to all letters ofthe English alphabet.

Pool different types of things sharingsimilar names: E.g. Round table, Watertable, Table of contents, Table land, etc.

Learn the art of comparison: E.g. A bookis like a machine gun, it shoots out ideas.

Exercise conversion techniques: E.g.Convert a Lion into Dear: Lion-Loir-Liar-Lear-Dear.

Invert words to generate differentmeaning. E.g. A word could become aSword if you add your Yes in front of it.

Associate an idea with another one tobring about a different sense. E.g. World isround, when it is surrounded.

Adapt an idea to communicate differentsenses. E.g. Sky is blue-Sky looks blue-Sky appears blue.

Define a common thing in numerousways. E.g. To smile is a way to show yourappreciation to somebody; To smile is tomove your muscles in a coordinated wayso as to please others; To smile is youryes to go extra-mile; To smile is to smellnitrous oxide; To smile is to imitateMonalisa.

Illustrate things differently: It rainsclouds weep; It rains as the cloud chuckles;It rains as the clouds pisses; It rains as thecloud wellspring, etc.

Explain things differently. E.g. Explaindifferent ways to touch your nose with

your right hand.

Label same thing differently. E.g. Givedifferent captions to the same photo.

Match one thing to many other things toproduce different senses.

Outline the same event to evokedifferent feelings in the hearers.

Narrate the same story differently so asto bring them to different climaxes.

Emulate a well-known rhyme withdifferent melody.

Predict different outcomes for the samecourse of action.

Summarize a text in many different ways

Write a poem in different physicalformats.

In all these exercises, make sure that youallow your ideas to flow freely. Do notallow your inhibitions to obstruct thatflow. It is your inner freedom that counts,which will be reflected in your fluentthinking. If your mind is sufficiently free,your thoughts will follow your mind. Itmakes you creative. Your inhibitions, onthe other hand, will chock your ideas.Inner freedom is the true locus of bothfluent thinking and creativity.


AXn-Po-h\w

Ccp-fn s]bvXag-bpsS kwKoXw....

Nppw A-Imc-am-bn-cp-p. \nd--sfsv Adn-bn-.Nn{X-i-e-` -fpw ]q-fp-an-m _meyw. ]s lrZ-b-n

Pzenp Ip hnf-mbn kwKoXw Iqn-\p-m-bn-cp-p.kwKoXw sImv A-Xsb adn-I-S AXn-Po-h-\-ns

IY-bmWv A^vk bpk^v F kwKoXkwhn-[m-b-I\v ]d-bm-\p--Xv..............

kwKo-X-h-gn-bn-

ImgvN-bp-f-f-hp am{X-ambn Fpw "kwh-cWw' sN-s IebmWv kn\na.]tAcw k-sf XIs-dn-p-sIm-mWv A^vkbqk^v kn\nam tem-I-tv IS-p-h--Xv. A^vk-ens kwKo-X-ssh-`hw Hp sImv -am-{X-amWv{]ikvX kwhn-[m-b-I emtPmkv ""Cm-\p-h'' F XsNn{X-n\v ]m-e kwKo-X-sam-cp-m A^vk bqk-^ns\Gn--Xv.- A--Xsb shp-hn-fn-p {]Xn-`m-im-enXzw Cu bphm-hn-\pv F Da t_m[y-tm-sS-bm-Wv em tPmkv A^vk-ens\Xnc-s-Sp--Xpw.- hfsc at\m-l-c-am-bn-s A^vk B ZuXyw

\n-lnp. amdn -am-dn-h-cp ko\p-I-fn kwhn-p--sX-svemtPmkpw Iqcpw ]d-p-sIm-Sp-p-sIm-n-cp-p. -Zr-iy-Hsm-mbn a\-n HmSp--Xn-\-\p-k-cnv IYm-k-`-n\vtNcp CuW- A^vkkrjvSn-p.- A-h-km\ ZriyhpwXov emtPmkv Hms ]d--tm ktm-j-tm-sSmw B-hn-izm-khpw a\-n \nd-p.-kw-Ko-X-n A[n-I-ampw ]cn-N-b-an-m A\p-`-h--fmWvA^vk-entXv.

lrZbw \ndsb kwKoXw

"ag-bn \ndbpw ' FXs ]mn\v bqSyq-_n BZysIpdv Znh-k-p-f-fn

]{v-ew ImWn-I-fp-m-b-Xns ktm-j-amWntmA^vk-ens a\v \nd-sb. 1981Cd-nb `c-X Nn{Xw "]d-n-a-e-'bpsS ]pXnb ]Xn-n-\mbn \PowAjmZpw arZpem hmcycpw ]mSn-b-XmWo ]mv.- tZ-h-cm-P amjn-t-Xm-bn-cpp ]gb ]mns kwKo-Xw.-A-Xn Hcp ]mm-Wpm-bn-cp-Xv.]p-Xnb ""]d-n-a-e-''bn KtWjvkp-chpw sshim-Jnbpw ]mSnb"aZ-\-h-\-tZ-hn-tbm...'-A-Sw cv]mp-I-fmWv A^vk CuW-an--Xv.

_nPp hn-bpsS "N{-\n-te-p-ff hgn' bmWv A^vkCuW-an BZy-Nn-{Xw.- A-Xn\v hgn-sX-fn-Xv 2004 \Sv ayqkn-Ivt^m lmv F kvtddPv


AXn-Po-h\w

]mns hgn

Beph IogvamSv A-hn-Zym-e-b-n aqmw mn ]Tn-p-tm-gmWv A^vk ]mn-t\mSpw kwKoX-tmSpw NmwIqSn-b-Xv. tlmkv-en hnZymn-Iv ]cn-io-en-m-\p-ff lmtam-Wnbw aon-bm-bn-cpp XpSw .a-\-ns Ip-sImv lmtam-Wnbwaon-bm-bn-cpp A^vk kwKo-X-ns hgn-bn-te-v \-S--Sp-Xv. A-m-ev hon-se-n-bm lmtam-Wn-b-n\v ]IcwIot_mUn ]cn-io-en-p.-Hmtcm ]mpw \nc-cwaqfn lmtam-Wn-b-nepwIot_mUnepw CuW-an-mWv A^vk kwKo-X-n-tev NphSv sh-Xv. -]n-oSv B a\w \ndsbkwKoXw am{X-am-bn.

Pohn-X-nse hgn-n-cnhv

kwKo-tXm-]-I-c-W- X\nsb hmbn-p-t\m-p--Xm-bn-cpp A^vk-ens sNdp--nset\ctmv.h-f-tmkwKo-Xs Kuc-h-tmsS Ip.- _-p-hmb kwhn-[m-I ^m-kn hgn Hutk--s\]cn-N-b-s-Xv Pohn-X-n ]pXnbhgn-n-cn-hm-bn. -B-Zy-ambn t{]m{Km-anMv sNn-Xpw Km\-ns _n.-Pn.-Fw.-H-cp-m-\m-h-iy-s-XpwAt-l-am-Wv."-kz]v\w sImvXpem`mc'nse "IkvXq-cn-pdnsXmv...'-F ]mn-\p-th-n.-]n-oSvcho-{ amjn-sbpw t_WnCt-jy-kn-sbpw ssIX{]w

ktlm-Z-cam-cp-sSbpw _nPn-_m-en-sbpw Iot_mUv t{]m{Km-aBbn Ipd-p-hj-. C-s\-sbm-s-bmbncpp kwKo-X-h-gn-bn-te-p-ff A^vk-ens bm{X-I.

A\p-`-h- Icp-mbn

A^vk Ggp-hsc ]Tn-Xv Beph kvq t^mssUnse t_mUn-Mn \nm-

bn-cp-p. -A-hn-sSv Innb A\p-`-h-fpw Icp-p-amWv \nXy-Po-hn-X-nepw {]Xn-k-n-I-fnepwA^vk-en\v XpW-bm-Ip--Xv.- B-scbpw B{i-bn-msX kzwBh-iy- sNm\pw Fgp-Xm\pw hmbn-m-\p-samw ]Tn-s-Sp-p. -Fw.-Pn.-bq-Wn-th-gvkn-ddn

Itemk-h-n hnUvCukvtd hn`m-K-n XpS-bmbn hnP-bn-bm-bn-cp-p.- Cw-ojv_ncpZw ]qn-bm-nb A^vkalm-cm-Pm-kn _n.-F.-ayq-kn-n\vtNs-nepw apgp-h-\m-msXt{]m{Km-an-Mn-tev Xncn-bp-I-bm-bn-cp-p.

a[pcn-p Hm-I

kwKo-X-Po-hn-X-ns AXmw hjwBtLm-jn--tm Km\-K- Xnc-s-Sp CjvS-ap-ff 50]mp-I-fn Hm-bn-cpp "Ie--dn'se "Nnd-Im au\w...'-CXvX\nv e`n hen-sbmcpAwKo-Im-c-ambnA^vk Icp-Xpp. H-cn- tZh-cm-Pamkvd-dsd sNp-I-Xpw tXmf-p-XnAtlw ss[cyw-]-IXpw Cu bphmhvs\tmSp tNpHm-bm-Wv.

IpSpw-_-hn-ti-j-

-sIm-n bqWn-th-gvkn-ddn-bn sIankv{SneIvN-d Bbn-cptUm.-sI.-sI.-ap-l-Zv

bqk-^n-sbpw ^mn-a-bp-sSbpwaI-\mWv A^vk bqk-^ v.-`mcy:Pnj.-a-sl\ ^mn-a(G-gv),-^nZ ^mn-a(Av),-A-_vZp dm(-H--c).Fd-Wm-Ipfw]pm-p-]-Sn-bnse "lcn--XIw' hon-emWv A^vkepw IpSpw-_hpw Xma-kw.

a-\-ns Ip-sImv lmtam-Wnbw aon-bm-bn-cpp A^vk kwKo-X-ns hgn-bn-te-v \-S--Sp-Xv.Hmtcm ]mpw \nc-cw aqfn lmtam-Wn-b-nepw Iot_mUnepw CuW-an- mWv A^vk kwKo-X-n-tev NphSv

sh-Xv. -]n-oSv B a\w \ndsb kwKoXw am{X-am-bn.


AXn-Po-h\w

Jose K. C.

PEDAGOGY

Students learned helplessness in writing

Vijay Krishnan, class X, in an Ernakulamsuburban school is hopeless inwriting essays. The hopelessnesscomprises poverty of ideas, looseorganization, incoherence, ill-defined topicsentences and much to the teachers chagrin the failure to belong. His essays, in thepedagogic jargon, evades the classification argumentative, expository, narrative and youname itMy God, they just dont belong,something in the fashion of ONeills TheHairy Ape (1922).

Such Vijayean hopelessness, theseasoned teaching fraternity admits, is afrequent stone in the otherwise deliciouscurry of teaching English. Highly

recommended remedies from within andwithout the country have been tried writingportfolio, writers workshop, relay writing,peer editing and so on. Despite theseremedies, many of our Vijays still write sub-standard. The teachers label hopelesssticks and sinks and the Vijays continue tobe such even in tertiary institutes oncesneaked in.

I may be allowed to call this writinghandicap learned helplessness. For, oncewhen Vijay was still in Class X, I chanced toread a pretty long love letter Vijay had meantfor his girl-friend, Shruti Balan. Head overheels in love with Shruti for a month then,Vijay had struggled hard to clear a

misunderstanding that had so mischievouslycrept into her head. But the struggle was invain. Shruti was not convinced. So, Vijaysat down; his sorrow and helplessness satdown with him. So did his undiluted passionfor Shruti, his do-or-die pining heart. Andthey together wrote that wonderful piece.Its Vijay, his heart, soul, brain, self, image,esteem a multitude that wrote it. I amlarge; I contain multitudes, as Whitmansang. A Whitmanesque charm his love letterhad indeed.

It had marvelous richness of ideas,cogent argumentation and silky persuasion,coherent presentation and bulls eye-hittingquotes. A wave of exhilaration ran down my

Can we let our students love what they write?Let not the high sounding jargons of academic writing distract them.Academic writing then will become a piece of hot cake and a cup of

welcome tea to our students.


hardly interfered with its irresistiblecommunication.

Vijays is an interesting case study.He is hopeless in a typical classroomacademic writing but superb (at least to me)in one of his personal writings. When hewrites to Shruti, he is not worried about thehierarchy of the process of writing; he isnot in the least bothered about the topicsentences in each paragraph; never doescoherence distract his flow. He just doesnot know which sub-genre his essay belongsto. But still, his finished product shows allof them.

Then, what was the big motiveforce, the great enabling factor when hewrote? He was passionate; he targeted a100% persuasion of Shruti his audiencewas concrete. Vijays inability for academicwriting was learned helplessness. Histeacher with good intentions taught him thechemistry of writing, the philosophy of theaudience, tone and coherence and at last thetaxonomy of the genre, essay. He lost hisway in this academic jungle and hedeveloped a belief in his inability to write awell-knit essay; he thought he did notbelong.

Can we let our students love whatthey write? Let them have before them aconcrete audience. Let not the high soundingjargons of academic writing distract them.Academic writing then will become a pieceof hot cake and a cup of welcome tea to ourstudents. Let them belong, unlike ONeillsYank.

Epilogue

A father tells his son, Dear son,Shruti is a nice girl. I like her. Why dontyou marry her? The son obliges, out offilial duty. Before long, their marriage sailsin rough waters.

It had marvelous richness of ideas, cogent argumentation and silkypersuasion, coherent presentation and bulls eye-hitting quotes. A wave of

exhilaration ran down my spine as I read it.. The composition wasimmaculate except for some jarring grammar slips, which hardly interfered

with its irresistible communication.

The author is lecturer in English,College of education, Samtse, Bhutan


PEDAGOGY

PERSONAL

Sajit Malliyoor

Love at the expense ofcharacter

Building character strength is not an academic activity, in fact, much of thetraining should happen at the family setting. In our attempt to provide our

children with whatever they want, we love them probably at the expense oftheir character.

Working as a teacher in an upscalemetropolitan school for more than 9 yearsgives me certain insights into the life ofchildren in urban middle class families ofKerala. My school prides in our ability toinculcate higher values of life in our pupilsand to equip them for a successful life,going forward. However, Ive beenrepeatedly observing this phenomenon inmany of our students. I may not beexpressing it clearly, but I feel, they aresomehow appearing brittle in theirapproach to difficult situations. Here is anexample: Last week, after the class tests,when the mark sheets are distributed, I hadto face a mini melt down in the class. Manystudents were not happy with the marksthey received and kept arguing with me torevise their scores. When I finally put myfoot down and told, enough is enough; atleast half a dozen of them went into cryingspells. It leaves me really worried abouttheir ability to face the adversities. I toldthem several stories about the need to facelife as it comes etc, but I feel, we teachersrequire some professional guidance inhandling similar situations. Kindly adviceus on how to build strength in them.

In the year 2010, a documentaryfilm, Race to Nowhere made a kind ofripples in several wealthy suburbs acrossthe country of United States of America.The movie deals with the stressors facedby the privileged American high schoolstudents. It is the story of a high achievingadolescent girl who faces increasingpressure to succeed both at class andhome, which finally ends up in taking herown life. What the film really helped wasin bringing about a movement ofpsychologists and educators who arguedthat the present practices and methodsemployed to raise and educate the kids inaffluent families are actually devastatingthem. In her book The price ofprivilege, Psychologist Dr MadelineLevin who is a key figure in the movement,sites several studies and surveys to backup her argument that children of affluentparents now exhibit unexpectedly highrates of emotional problems beginning injunior high schools. She attribute it to theprevailing practices of child rearing in thewealthy families where the parents arelikely to remain emotionally distant fromtheir children and at the same time insist

on high achievement, which createsintense feelings of shame and hopelessnessin children.

The scenario is not exclusive to the USA,and Kerala is definitely not lagging farbehind. Often we come across reports onstudents taking extreme steps in responseto failures. It leaves one wondering what isgoing wrong with the kids. I am happy tosee that a teacher perceives the problemfrom the perspective of building strength,but a comprehensive answer to your queryis beyond the scope of this column. HenceIll focus here exclusively on characterstrength as a remedy to the malady.

Discussions on academic achievementusually hover around IQ as the predictorof success. But we also know that IQalone is not sufficient to conquer thescholastic heights. Learning is hard! Thosewho excel are the ones with exceptionalcharacter strengths- the essential traits ofminds and habits- like optimism,persistence and social intelligence. Thosewho succeed are the ones, who can recoverfrom a bad grade and resolve to do betternext time; who resist the urge to go out for


The characters more relevant tothe problems here are the perfor-mance characters which include

values like perseverance, selfcontrol, diligence etc. This sce-

nario presents you with a uniqueopportunity to be the champion of

character strength training!a movie and stay home and study instead. Psychologistshave been researching on the character strengths that bringabout better chances of enduring success and happiness inlife. Dr Martin Seligman and Dr Christopher Peterson intheir book, Character strength and Virtues comes up witha list of 24 character strengths common to all cultures anderas. A more manageable list of 7 strengths their researchfound to be especially likely to predict life satisfaction andhigh achievement are the following: Zest, Grit, Self-Control, Social Intelligence, Gratitude, Optimism, andCuriosity.

Like many other traits, character is also half nature, andhalf nurture. Unfortunately, not much public discourse ishappening in our part of the world on nurturing thecharacter strengths. Value and character education is widelyadopted in our schools but these programmes mostly focuson the moral character values like integrity, fairness,generosity etc. The characters more relevant to theproblems here are the performance characters whichinclude values like perseverance, self control, diligence etc.This scenario presents you with a unique opportunity tobe the champion of character strength training! You couldbegin by compiling a list of indicators for the abovementioned character strengths. Assess the children on theircharacters using these indicators and then communicatewith students about their strengths and the areas wherethey need improvement. You may also seek the help ofcompetent Psychologists in the training programme.

Building character strength is not an academic activity, infact, much of the training should happen at the familysetting. There is a word of caution to the parents. In ourattempt to provide our children with whatever they want,to protect them from the dangers and discomforts; we lovethem probably at the expense of their character. Byindulging them and overzealously protecting them from thehardships, we may be depriving them of the kind ofexperiences that can lead to character growth. Characterslike Grit and Self-control are built through the repeatedcycles of failures and fight backs. Children can do with alittle hardship, some challenge, some deprivation that theycan overcome, even if just to prove to themselves that theycan. We all want our children to succeed, but it is just thatin order to do so, they first need to learn how to fail!

Please send your queries to [email protected]


PERSONAL

RESEARCH

Distil the Mind off Negatives

Scientists have discovered a system that drainswaste products from the brain. The finding

may reveal new ways to treatneurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimers

disease.

Our bodies remove dead blood cells and otherwaste through a network of vessels called thelymphatic system. The brain, however, has a

different method of keeping clean. Cerebrospi-nal fluid cleanses brain tissue. But how the

fluid moves through the brain and clears wastewasn't well understood. Until now, scientistscould only study brain tissue in animals that

were already dead. They thought nutrients andwaste were transported through the slow

process of diffusion.

RESEARCH


A basket ball coaching was conducted. Half of the players, say group A,were given coaching as usual in a court,with all the physical exercises andtechniques. But the other half, say B wastrained only inside a hall, not given a ballor taking any exercise. They were givenonly visuals of the actual exercises andtechniques. After seeing the exercises, theywere asked to visualise them as if theywere doing it. A sort of mediation! For 3weeks this happened. At the end of it,there was an on court test of the abilitiesof both the groups A and B. Surprisingly,both the groups had almost same score inthe test! This means the actual changehappening is in the mind. In studies too, a

lot of mechanical, impersonal readings willnot make any good. The moment wepersonalise the concepts, they make adifference, whether academic or spiritual.Here is a big difference between thelearning/living of academic or spiritualthings. Every study should be anassimilation of concepts and change in thebrain: not just bye-hearting of the letters!If there is device with just an ON or OFFpossibility, it can represent 2 possibilities.If two such devices are there, together theycan represent 4 different possibilities. Ifthere are 16 such devices, together theycan represent 65536 possibilities. Thenhow much of possibilities can be

represented by 100 such ON/OFFdevices? In our brain, there are trillions ofsuch devices called synapses. Even if only1 % of them are properly working, howgreat is the power of a human brain? Butwe fail to train it, tame it and tap it! Inrelation to what is in front of you, what isat the back of you and what is around youand above you, what is inside you, has nocomparison.

Brain and so the mind is plastic. On anaverage, there are billions of neurons andtrillions of connections in a brain. Braincan make or break a connection in thebrain. This phenomenon is dependent onthe activity undertaken by the brain.

The real change is the changein the brain

Dr. George Athappilly

Brain and so the mind is plastic. On an average, there are billions of neuronsand trillions of connections in a brain. Brain can make or break a connection in

the brain. This phenomenon is dependent on the activity undertaken by thebrain.

RESEARCH


Greater the connections, more powerfulthe brain becomes. Thus we can make orbreak ourselves. It can get changed byexternal influences before birth, after birthand from within the person too.

Brain can accommodate changesA lorry driver, on seeing a big snake lyingacross the road, stopped the vehicle. Butas more and more vehicles queued up onboth sides he finally had to take the

drastic step of running over the big snake.He did it. But later he got a child, and thatchild was having scales on his body!

The children he had before the incidentwere normal and one more child he hadafter the incident also had scales on hisbody. This is news I read about 40 yearsbefore in the newspaper.

The pregnant mothers are to meditate ongood faces and good children, so that theycan have good faced good children. Eventhe parents are to think of good things anddo good things, much before they go forprocreation, if they want worthy children.During the prenatal stage, what parents doand what the mother eat... influence thechild in the mind and body

Abhimanue of Mahabharata is supposedto have learned the skill of piercing the

chakra vyuha, when he was in the wombof his mother. John the Baptist could sensethe joy of the presence of Mother ofJESUS, while in the womb. If Sachinschild becomes another cricket prodigy it isquite understandable.

After the birth, the brains thinking can begreatly influenced by the others. Just by

the suggestion of the doctor a patient cangain strength or lose all strength. Becauseof an encouragement, a positive stroke, onecan grow to heights or in the opposite ofit, can get completely dejected and lostBy ones own effort, one can change thecourse of brain or its way of thinking andacting. Many ordinary people have comeup in life, just by the sheer power ofdetermination. Michael Faraday, ThomasAlva Edison, Abraham Lincoln, Dr. A P J

Abdul Kalam and the like are proofs tothis. A prepared mind gets the answer.Many scientists have come to an answerafter years of effort and thinking. Thebrain gets formed and the properconnections are taking place to get morecomplete picture of the issue. Brain can getanswers due to its plasticity like this.

A prepared mind gets the answer. Many scientists have come to an answerafter years of effort and thinking. The brain gets formed and the proper

connections are taking place to get more complete picture of the issue. Braincan get answers due to its plasticity like this.

RESEARCH


The Egyptian magicians and Indian rishisdeveloped great powers of mind, due tothe strenuous efforts. They have trainedtheir minds/brains with disciplinedpractice. Your dream can lead you tosleepless days filled with work to realisethe dream. In spite of the dejections, somehave come up in life, taking it as achallenge. This is possible because themind is able to control itself and the body.It is able to drive the body and ourthinking. Mind can change the course ofaction of anyone. Merlin Monroe,Amitabh Bachan, John Keats and so on aresome examples.

Mind can take over the matter. In theevolution it is clearly seen. From a sameprominence state, of mouth, stomach,heart and genitals intellect gets a primaryand highest post with the erect posture ofman. Head is held high. So is the thinkingin relation to anything else. So brain is torule the humans, nothing else.

Control your mind to produce energyControl develops energy. The waterflowing through a river does not provideenergy. But when it is controlled andreleased, it creates energy. Light, whenoscillates in every plane in any phase, isnot powerful. But when controlled tovibrate in one plane and in phase, can makelasers, which can cut even metals! Themind when controlled can create lots ofenergy which can work wonders

A non-trained, non-controlled mind falls onitself like a creeper onto itself. But with a

scaffold it can gain/scale heights. Fallenonto itself is fallen apart. Controlled byitself is winning oneself, and in turn,winning everyone. Win one is win all.Winning oneself is winning everyone. Selfvictory is the greatest victory, which evenAlexander the great would subscribe. Eventhis great Alexander became so, because ofthe strict control, training and taming of hismind by the able guide Aristotle the great!Is it not this principle preached by Jesuswhen He taught, enter by the narrowdoor?

The ancient yogis of India had identifiedthis and so introduced the concep

pallikkutam: january

Documents

future of moocs

future prospects of

education andlearning

higher education

current education scenario

purpose of college education

open university

value content