I have always believed my writing to be average and my thoughts to be above-average, if not extra-ordinary. There is however, always a quality gap between my words and my thoughts.The problem of translating abstract, messy thoughts into precise, succinct words is one that most of us face. I blame it squarely on our poor quality, marks-obsessed, rote-learning based Education System.
Do you remember the first time we were told to write a five-liner on 'My Mother' and we were dictated the usual, also very sexist words to copy down- "my mother cooks, cleans, washes .....",essentially, she is a glorified maid. And i cannot forget the way my parents hoarded the " best" essay books in both Hindi and English. Anytime we were given an essay to write, we picked up the fanciest piece we could find, and wrote it down. The 'quotes' are given extra-marks. The only thing original was perhaps the writing down part, and the one-line introduction. The teachers knew we copied it, our parents encouraged us to copy it and we were only too happy to do so if only to get the best marks possible.
Plagiarism is an everyday practice in our country, taught to us in school and it makes us experts to avoid detection in college. The best college however expects you to come up with 'original' writings- as if we can just wash our hands off years of easy work. Most of our academic journals publish expert-level plagiarized work. If those are not your own thoughts, you cannot claim them as your own work. This is the reason why as academicians or writers we are so far behind in the World. The 'Jugaad' trait is so inherent, its nearly impossible for us to get ourselves out from under its weight. We cannot write a paragraph on our version of 'Diwali' without Googling it. There is zero impulse or adventurism in us to just pick up a pen and put down our musings into command. The capability is lost under the pressure of excelling in whatever field we are pushed into. Our imagination is stunted and allowed to move on the freely-given crutches of plagiarism.
The first time I tried to come up with something original- it ended up being paraphrased. Today, at least my academic writing has improved enough that i can sit back and not be scared of the international Plagiarism standards. My non-academic writings however, (as the present post indicates), is at least original if still below-average in quality. There is a huge thought-words gap left to be bridged.
The key, i have learnt, is to practice being average in writing to get top marks in originality. I got an amazing Acdemic Mentor (Dr. Shefali Jha) in my Masters who encouraged me to have the courage to write down my own thoughts in my academic paper and while the result wasn't flawless, it satisfies me. It was my own product.
This blog started out as a way to just pin-down my thoughts and i have tried to be regular in the past year. Most of it is filled with terrible language errors and the everyday musings of a lost, jobless student. But it has helped me give a non-evaluative, judgement-free space for my words to express my inner monologue and its Random Thoughts. :)
Good Night!
Do you remember the first time we were told to write a five-liner on 'My Mother' and we were dictated the usual, also very sexist words to copy down- "my mother cooks, cleans, washes .....",essentially, she is a glorified maid. And i cannot forget the way my parents hoarded the " best" essay books in both Hindi and English. Anytime we were given an essay to write, we picked up the fanciest piece we could find, and wrote it down. The 'quotes' are given extra-marks. The only thing original was perhaps the writing down part, and the one-line introduction. The teachers knew we copied it, our parents encouraged us to copy it and we were only too happy to do so if only to get the best marks possible.
Plagiarism is an everyday practice in our country, taught to us in school and it makes us experts to avoid detection in college. The best college however expects you to come up with 'original' writings- as if we can just wash our hands off years of easy work. Most of our academic journals publish expert-level plagiarized work. If those are not your own thoughts, you cannot claim them as your own work. This is the reason why as academicians or writers we are so far behind in the World. The 'Jugaad' trait is so inherent, its nearly impossible for us to get ourselves out from under its weight. We cannot write a paragraph on our version of 'Diwali' without Googling it. There is zero impulse or adventurism in us to just pick up a pen and put down our musings into command. The capability is lost under the pressure of excelling in whatever field we are pushed into. Our imagination is stunted and allowed to move on the freely-given crutches of plagiarism.
The first time I tried to come up with something original- it ended up being paraphrased. Today, at least my academic writing has improved enough that i can sit back and not be scared of the international Plagiarism standards. My non-academic writings however, (as the present post indicates), is at least original if still below-average in quality. There is a huge thought-words gap left to be bridged.
The key, i have learnt, is to practice being average in writing to get top marks in originality. I got an amazing Acdemic Mentor (Dr. Shefali Jha) in my Masters who encouraged me to have the courage to write down my own thoughts in my academic paper and while the result wasn't flawless, it satisfies me. It was my own product.
This blog started out as a way to just pin-down my thoughts and i have tried to be regular in the past year. Most of it is filled with terrible language errors and the everyday musings of a lost, jobless student. But it has helped me give a non-evaluative, judgement-free space for my words to express my inner monologue and its Random Thoughts. :)
Good Night!
No comments:
Post a Comment