| | 8 July 2017HIGHERReviewIN MY VIEWOf Parrots and MonkeysIndian higher education is improving. We will improve faster when we resolve to change the types of animals we want to train. I refer to myself as a compulsive teacher. I cannot spend ten minutes with a person without trying to teach him something. I have been teach-ing since I was 16 years old. I have taught a number of sub-jects to a variety of audiences in different forums in several countries. Along the way, I have learned a few things about what works and what does not.Here in India, where I have chosen to spend the rest of my life, I have served as a guest lecturer, visiting profes-sor, leader of faculty development programs, member of the academic advisory council, and, since last year, full-time professor at a business school. Again, I have seen things that are working well, as well as areas for improvement.The change I have worked for most passionately is to quit educating parrots and monkeys. I have never seen an actual bird or ape in a classroom, but I have interacted with a lot of students who have been taught to behave like par-rots and monkeys.Parrots are famous for their remarkable ability to mimic human voices. If you say a phrase, a parrot can memorize the phrase and repeat it perfectly. Monkeys can be trained to perform tricks and even jobs. The phrase, "monkey see, monkey do" explains the video clip of a coconut farmer who showed a baby monkey how to twist coconuts suspended on a frame until the strings broke and the coconuts fell. Later, the farmer sent the mon-key to climb the coconut palms, and the animal performed the feat flawlessly, saving the farmer the expense of hiring human harvesters.In India, students can achieve top marks by showing lit-tle more skill than a trained parrot or monkey. Students who can memorize what their teachers say and "parrot" it can score top marks. Students who can "ape" the problem-solving methods demonstrated by their teachers can clear their exams.While a parrot-like memory and ape-like imitation are both useful, success in business and life usually depends on By David Wittenberg, Professor of Entrepreneurial Innovation, ISME and ISDIHe is professor of entrepreneurial innovation at the Indian School of Management and Entrepreneurship (ISME). He also teaches at ISME's sister institutions, the Indian School of Design and Innovation (ISDI) and the ISDI WPP School of Mass Communication.David Wittenbergother abilities. In many situations, there is no right answer to memorize. When an unfamiliar problem arises, a man-ager cannot look up the correct approach to the problem in a textbook. Our institutions of higher learning will produce bet-ter results when we demand more of students than mere recall of facts and repetition of problem-solving steps. In-stead of parrots and monkeys, we can--and we should--produce adult human beings with well-developed powers
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