Fortress Mentality in Education: The Need for Technological Windows

1. 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

2. 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 Technology Ch.Venkateswara Rao, Member Secretary, Chief Administrator, Vignana Jyothi Society Dr. B. Chennakesava Rao, Principal, Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology Dr. N.V. Koteswara Rao, Prof. & Head, Electronics & Communications Engineering, Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology Prof. R. Sreenivas Sarma, Head, Civil Engineering, Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology Dr. Suresh Pabboju, Prof. & Head, Information Technology, Chaitanya Bharathi Institute of Technology Prof. P.S. Raju, Director, Gokaraju Rangaraju Institute of Engineering and Technology Dr. K.S. Rao, Director, Anurag Group of Institutions Dr. Veeranna Bommakanti, Director, Aurora's Scientific, Technological and Research Academy Dr. N. Sambasiva Rao, Principal, Vardhaman College of Engineering

3. “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.”

4. Survival of the fittest: What determines fitness? Metcalf’s Law Fitness of a gene pool is directly proportional to genetic diversity within the pool

5. 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

6. 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

7. Today Since 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

8. 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

9. 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.

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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.

13. 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!"

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. 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

18. Transaction Management PunditBox T ψ P S I Social Networking Enabling Technologies Network www.punditbox.com

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