Fun of Elementary Economics
Economics was the subject of my choice. This is where I put in my best efforts. My objectives were clear. First, I needed to score good marks in the examinations. Second, I needed to understand each section or chapter in the textbooks to find out what economics was really about and how the knowledge of economics is applied in individual and social life. Third, I needed to have a good grasp of the subject at its most elementary level so that I have less difficulty in my future higher studies in economics at the college and university.
The first objective was difficult to satisfy irrespective of the time I would have put in to study. The first time I had given the economics examination in the school in class IX showed me the bleak future. I thought I had done reasonably well. But when one day the teacher, Mahendra Babu, came to the class with the answer scripts, he almost made me give up my dream of becoming an economist for a while. He called my name and as I stood up, he inquired what I had thought I would have scored in the examination. I replied that I had done not that bad: I could not say that I had done well because the way he had asked the question. He replied that I got only 15 out of 100. Then, he went on going through the answer scripts of other students telling us what each had scored. At the end, he came back to me again and told me that there was a slight mistake: he awarded me the highest mark of 51 out of 100 but had mixed up the digits. He then said with an appreciating smile and beaming eyes that he was happy with my answer script and that I could do much better. From his little drama in declaring the marks in the classroom, I knew that I had permanently own the heart of my first economics teacher with my very first game in economics. My dream of becoming an economist got restored but I knew that during the next two/ three years I would have to be contended with poor marks like 51: this teacher is not going to be generous in awarding marks. My forecast was correct: he awarded higher marks in the subsequent five or six examinations – the marks were in ascending order of Arithmetic Progression like 53, 55, 57, 60, 63 and 66.
Elementary economics was, of course, elementary. But studying this for three years did help in becoming comfortable with the terminology and the special analytical approach of economics, besides getting a good taste of the applied nature of the concepts and principles of economics from the point of view of individual and societal living under scarcity of resources.. It was great experience taking the text books written in English for the undergraduate students taking up economics minor in the college as supplementary reading to the higher secondary school economics textbook written in Bengali. It was an exciting feeling at the high school age to get introduced to such interesting concepts (both in Bengali and English) as the factors of production, organization of production, law of diminishing returns, marginal utility of consumption, law of demand, demand curve, consumer surplus, price elasticity of demand, market equilibrium, perfect competition, imperfect competition, national income, gross national product, money supply, quantity theory of money, inflation, growth of population and Malthusian theory of population, unemployment, scarcity and productivity of resources, rent, profits, wages, interest rates, taxation, Indian economic planning, capitalism, mixed economy, socialism, communism and so on. In those days, many educated adults did not have any idea of these concepts though most educated had some idea about electricity, sound waves, atoms, chemical reaction, oxygen, hydrogen, radio frequency, etc. Unlike today, daily news papers did not have a page or two on economy, banking and finance. There was a single economics daily published from Mumbai (Bombay) and there were no business magazine. Economics had not become a daily topic of discussion among the common people except the concern over inflation and unemployment among educated people in urban areas.
While studying in the higher secondary classes, I had a fairly good idea as what was being taught in Physics, Chemistry or Geography to my fellow class students, all though I was not studying these subjects. This was because elements of these subjects were taught in the schools from the beginning of the secondary stage. But my classmates who did not offer to take economics as a subject had virtually no idea of what was being taught in economics. At the school level very few students studied economics at that time. That there was a subject called economics was known to very few high school students. Even those who had heard about the subject generally thought that economics as some kind of social study on the economic conditions of the people in general, the poor people and rich people. I had thought then that it was indeed good because there would be few economists. But neither did I nor my classmates or people in general had any idea of what the economists do with their degree and what kind of jobs they would get. Naturally no one would study a subject that did not provide knowledge and skills for specialized jobs with high demand. Demand for scientists, engineers, technicians, mathematicians, physicists, chemists, geographers, poets, novelists, teachers in English, Bengali and Sanskrit would be growing in a developing country like India. But what kind of jobs would be there for philosophers and economics? The answer at that time was that an economics degree would fetch no specialist job. So, the impression was that economics must be a subject meant to be studied by those who are unlikely to do specialist jobs or any job at all.
I had lost touch with my former classmates of the English medium Irish missionary school where I had studied for four years from class V to class VII. When I was in class X, I happen to meet one of them while he was cycling away on the high road. He stopped over seeing me cycling across in the opposite direction. We discussed about other friends and what we were all doing at that time. He was surprised to know that I was studying economics. He exclaimed, “Economics is a subject for the girl folks to study. Boys do not study economics. What job would you do after getting an economics degree?” I was a bit amused then but less shocked. True, I had no idea as to where did job opportunities lie for economists. But I wanted to study economics for the sake of economics. Amd with my knowledge in English, Bengali and mathematics, I was confident that some job would be available to me five or six years down the line. As for economics as the choice of subject for girls, I was not sure that my friend was correct. In the neighbourhood or among our relatives, I had till then spotted any school going girl studying economics at that time. Even some 6 or 7 years later, the girl students did not constitute even 20% of the total number of students in my postgraduate economics class.
Some seniors in the neighborhood and among the relatives had the impression that the subject of economics was all about current information about markets for different goods. Or, rather a subject where students are required to pick up quantitative financial and economic information so that they can be a ready source of access to information on the price of commodity X now and a year ago, how much taxes government is collection, how much the government is spending, how many people are unemployed, what is interest rate the banks are offering on 5 year term deposits, what is the planning commission doing and the like. Often, they would try to test my knowledge in economics: they would ask me such things as what was the cost of renting out an apartment in my locality? Or, what was the ruling price of gold? They were extremely disappointed to find that I knew nothing about these even while studying economics. Some others were a bit advanced: they would try to know if I had figured out whether capitalism was bad and communism was good. Still others offered their comments that the study of economics was not very useful as was proved by the disastrous economic planning that Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, had introduced in 1951. Even more advanced were some executives in companies: they felt that Marx’s theory of exploitation of labor by the owners of factories was correct and expected students of economics to find out from the books a solution to this problem other than the solution of communist revolution. For them, the best economist of the country was Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India. And, some even thought that Mahatma Gandhi was probably one of the greatest economists the humanity has ever produced.
I was rather amused at the tendency of educated people without any background in economics trying to form their own opinion about what economics was all about and their expert comments on capitalism, communist revolution and economic planning. I could see their ignorance about the subject of economics as also their interest in being recognized as amateur economists of some standing. But I had many questions about applying whatever elementary economics lessons I was picking up in the school. My elder brother, already a post-graduate in commerce had studied economics as a minor at the under-graduate level. I would often ask him as to how I could apply some of these economic principles/ lessons in real-life markets and Indian economy. He would encourage me to ask such questions but always advised me that the application of economics was not an easy task as in the case of physical sciences. He advised me to hold on to my questions till the time I would complete my Masters degree in economics before really trying to apply economic theory. I had realized then that application of economics was not about working out some sums using formulas or expressing opinions on current economic events or future economic scenario using one of the hands and ignoring the other hand. He also game me the impression that the study of commerce and accountancy was part of the application of economics. I started looking at some commerce books: accountancy did not interest me much at that stage because I had no idea how businesses are managed at that time. The books on commercial business organization however appealed to me as being part of applied economics. I had to wait for quite a few years before I could get the opportunity to test application of economics.
But it was not all economics that we were taught in this course. We had to study politics and the Indian constitutions as well. Maybe, this was the tradition of economics being taught as political economy. We must have had to relate the study of economics to the context of the political thoughts and political framework in India where the State and the public sector had assumed the commanding heights in the economy in which the principles of market mechanism and of capitalistic macro-economic management by the Government would have to compete with State planning and control over markets. The background in political theories and the Indian constitution was useful at that time. One could clearly see that most politicians and their active supporters were bereft of any knowledge of these subjects at that time. Those who were learned among the politicians were well read in political history, Gandhi and Marx. With virtually no formal exposure to economics, accountancy and political theory, Indian political elite was trying to march ahead in economic development and seeking to be an important player in international politics. To my mind studying economics was all the more interesting at that time.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Forefather's Language: My Unfolding Voyage 30
Dealing with Mother Tongue
Time and again people debate two things in West Bengal: one, should the medium of instruction be the mother tongue, Bengal in the case of Bengalis and two whether it is necessary to teach English in schools. The same two issues were hotly debated even when we were in the schools. I had always thought that these issues were irrelevant: both issues are an attempt by vested interests to argue for or argue against.
The real issue to me is whether a student (or, his/ her parents) is given the choice of his medium of instruction and to learn or not learn English? To my mind, the student should have the freedom to choose what suits him and the learned educationists or the State has any right to force students either way. Yes, all schools and colleges may not offer all choices: but a student can enroll in any school and chose any language in which he would write his examinations as also choose English as a subject of study. If the school has difficulty in evaluating the student’s examinations answer scripts, the school can arrange to get these evaluated by teachers of another school: if necessary the student may be asked to pay an extra fee for this purpose. There are very easy solutions to such problems of different languages as medium of instruction and study of various languages. In this age of computers, internet and Open University system, it is all the more foolish for the State or the educationists to restrict the freedom of choice to the students. Somehow, the Bengalis seem to find it difficult not to ape their British Rulers in thinking that they know what is better for the students of India.
I had studied in Bengali medium for five years during primary and pre- primary stages with English as a medium of study, studied in English medium during the secondary stage of four years with Hindi as a second language, in Bengali medium for the three years of higher secondary with English as a subject of study and the entire university education from undergraduate to post graduate to Ph d studies entirely in English medium. I never felt that I have been any way handicapped compared with those Bengalis who had studied all through in Bengali medium and not studied English at all or not seriously at all. I did not feel that I have had any less enjoyable life than those: I wrote my love letters in Bengali, I wrote poems and essays in Bengali, I taught Economics and management in Bengali to those who had difficulty with English. There are/ were ministers in West Bengal who studied all through in Bengali language – they have not done any thing to make Bengalis in general to be proud with their intellectual capability. Most of the Bengalis at home and outside speak a language that is a mixture of English, Bengali and Hindi languages any way.
In any case, Bengali is not an easy subject to study for even the Bengalis. I had to study Bengali in my own way. The teachers who taught Bengali in the school, in any case, have no idea of teaching a language, except teaching grammar and literature. Because they were Bengalis they thought they could naturally teach Bengali to Bengali student. After the initiation in the childhood years, the habit of reading the books and periodicals (novels, story books, newspapers, essays), writing and composing and giving speeches made a person pick up the mother language (rather any language) better and better. The teachers needed to intervene intelligently to make that process both interesting and interactive. That demanded lot of time and skills in teaching. Bengali teachers generally do not acquire that if they teach Bengali language to Bengalis – but they develop if they teach English.
I do not remember most of the teachers who had taught me Bengali and what had they been teaching in Bengali in my three years of higher secondary education or the next two years at the college. Yes, I do remember two: one in the school, one of our Assistant headmasters who was a poet keeping us astounded with his oratory and recitation in Bengali and his explanations of what were in the minds of the poets whose Bengali poems we had to study, and the other at the college, a renowned Bengali poet whose discourse most students did not even care to hear in the class.
But I had to learn Bengali for at least reasons. First, I had to clear the examinations and get decent marks. Second, I needed to communicate effectively both verbal and written in my community: a workable knowledge and skill in Bengali was necessary for a Bengali to be termed as an educated person. Third, I should have the minimum skills in Bengali composition and find out my own style of writing or speaking to express as a poet of some sort my feeing and emotions whenever I might so desire. Fourth, the selection of various pieces of essays, poems, stories and novels by great authors that we had to study in Bengali did indeed expose us to various kinds of thoughts, knowledge, analytical and logical exercises, presentations, styles, rhythms and perspectives. But no teacher in Bengali would really be helpful in the pursuit of my above for above objectives. That was clear to me as a student in the higher secondary school. So, I had to depend on myself. And, I did it satisfactorily to achieve my objectives. The first objective was rather easy to realize. But, I had to put in more time to my books for realizing the last three objectives.
A sub-objective of the third objective was to develop capabilities of using Bengali language for written and verbal communication to attract the attention of girls. I had observed at that time that certain styles, construction of sentences, delivery, diction or hand-writing and the choice of words had impact on the ability to draw attention of the girls. Even some students who would not study subjects seriously were very particular about developing good handwriting, style of using the Bengali language and choice of appropriate words only to draw attention of the girls. This was a special felt-need for adolescent guys like me who were not handsome or brave enough to attract girls’ attention. And, no teacher could have catered to this specific need. Therefore, I had to put in efforts to develop my expertise in this special kind of application of communicating in Bengali: after all the girls around were only Bengalis. It is another matter that the Lady Luck did not give adequate opportunity. The school was only for the boys, a rare girl would be bold enough to share a few words on the streets or playgrounds in the neighborhood. In the college, there were very few girls around any way and not all were worthy of attracting attention. I had to wait for long to test the the extent of my skills in this special type of communication.
One aspect of study of Bengali in the higher secondary school was the exposure to the study of Bengali literature from its origin. This was very interesting but up to a point. It gave us a new perspective – later in life I could look at many non- Bengalis in the eastern India as close relatives because the origin of our languages at a point of time in history was the same. We could jointly claim the same poets as the father of our different languages – though those poets had written in a language that is completely different from the languages we call as ours now. History, if recorded, written and taught intelligently, could tie us to a common bond, rather than encouraging enmity. This part of history was fascinating and did not depend on dates, kings, oppression, invasion, battles, wars, crookedness and ideology. The subject was not very important to my passing the school examinations but it was attractive to read this history. Good that I put more time than was necessary on this subject. It would serve a purpose later.
The study of Bengali had an additional effect. Once I had tasted the writings of sample pieces of authors like Bankim chandra, Rabindranath and Saratchandra, I automatically developed an urge to read all the writings of these great authors. I had become naturally inclined to taste Bengali literature. While in the case of English, there was no automatic urge to study English literature. Once I had learnt a bit of the English language and could communicate in English effectively, the basic purpose had been achieved. But learning Bengali language through the composition of such great authors just flowed into a taste for Bengali literature. I could enjoy literature all the more because I would not be required to remember what I had read or give tests. I enjoyed reading the poems, the essays, the short stories, the novels and all that and this enjoyment did not depend on whether others enjoyed them or not. Much of this enjoyment ultimately translated in to imparting preferences for certain values in the core of my own personality and behavior. Most of the Bengali literature that I had exposed myself to I would fail to recall, but I would have been a different man had I not read the writings of Bankimchandra, Rabindranath and Saratchandra. And, through reading these I could get the sense of the story my father had narrated regarding the alternative descriptions of the same thing: A dry log of wood (Sushkam Kastom) was lying ahead or My vision was stuck on a life-less branch of a tree (Niraso Tarubaro). I wanted to acquire the capability of moving from alternative paths to description with ease and wherever possible blend them, even if my father would not have liked the idea.
The unfolding voyage that lied ahead would of course be impacted by the enjoyment of reading the above three authors outside the classroom and beyond the examinations. The food I ate when I was young had helped build and grow my physical body, the education imparted at the schools and colleges helped developed my mental faculties and enjoyment of racing through Bengali literature at home helped mould my preferences. While it might be somewhat difficult to recollect what I ate during my younger days and what lessons I picked up while being educated, it would almost impossible for me to recount what enjoyment Bengali literature provided me before I became addicted to my working life: the enjoyment was simply nourishing.
Time and again people debate two things in West Bengal: one, should the medium of instruction be the mother tongue, Bengal in the case of Bengalis and two whether it is necessary to teach English in schools. The same two issues were hotly debated even when we were in the schools. I had always thought that these issues were irrelevant: both issues are an attempt by vested interests to argue for or argue against.
The real issue to me is whether a student (or, his/ her parents) is given the choice of his medium of instruction and to learn or not learn English? To my mind, the student should have the freedom to choose what suits him and the learned educationists or the State has any right to force students either way. Yes, all schools and colleges may not offer all choices: but a student can enroll in any school and chose any language in which he would write his examinations as also choose English as a subject of study. If the school has difficulty in evaluating the student’s examinations answer scripts, the school can arrange to get these evaluated by teachers of another school: if necessary the student may be asked to pay an extra fee for this purpose. There are very easy solutions to such problems of different languages as medium of instruction and study of various languages. In this age of computers, internet and Open University system, it is all the more foolish for the State or the educationists to restrict the freedom of choice to the students. Somehow, the Bengalis seem to find it difficult not to ape their British Rulers in thinking that they know what is better for the students of India.
I had studied in Bengali medium for five years during primary and pre- primary stages with English as a medium of study, studied in English medium during the secondary stage of four years with Hindi as a second language, in Bengali medium for the three years of higher secondary with English as a subject of study and the entire university education from undergraduate to post graduate to Ph d studies entirely in English medium. I never felt that I have been any way handicapped compared with those Bengalis who had studied all through in Bengali medium and not studied English at all or not seriously at all. I did not feel that I have had any less enjoyable life than those: I wrote my love letters in Bengali, I wrote poems and essays in Bengali, I taught Economics and management in Bengali to those who had difficulty with English. There are/ were ministers in West Bengal who studied all through in Bengali language – they have not done any thing to make Bengalis in general to be proud with their intellectual capability. Most of the Bengalis at home and outside speak a language that is a mixture of English, Bengali and Hindi languages any way.
In any case, Bengali is not an easy subject to study for even the Bengalis. I had to study Bengali in my own way. The teachers who taught Bengali in the school, in any case, have no idea of teaching a language, except teaching grammar and literature. Because they were Bengalis they thought they could naturally teach Bengali to Bengali student. After the initiation in the childhood years, the habit of reading the books and periodicals (novels, story books, newspapers, essays), writing and composing and giving speeches made a person pick up the mother language (rather any language) better and better. The teachers needed to intervene intelligently to make that process both interesting and interactive. That demanded lot of time and skills in teaching. Bengali teachers generally do not acquire that if they teach Bengali language to Bengalis – but they develop if they teach English.
I do not remember most of the teachers who had taught me Bengali and what had they been teaching in Bengali in my three years of higher secondary education or the next two years at the college. Yes, I do remember two: one in the school, one of our Assistant headmasters who was a poet keeping us astounded with his oratory and recitation in Bengali and his explanations of what were in the minds of the poets whose Bengali poems we had to study, and the other at the college, a renowned Bengali poet whose discourse most students did not even care to hear in the class.
But I had to learn Bengali for at least reasons. First, I had to clear the examinations and get decent marks. Second, I needed to communicate effectively both verbal and written in my community: a workable knowledge and skill in Bengali was necessary for a Bengali to be termed as an educated person. Third, I should have the minimum skills in Bengali composition and find out my own style of writing or speaking to express as a poet of some sort my feeing and emotions whenever I might so desire. Fourth, the selection of various pieces of essays, poems, stories and novels by great authors that we had to study in Bengali did indeed expose us to various kinds of thoughts, knowledge, analytical and logical exercises, presentations, styles, rhythms and perspectives. But no teacher in Bengali would really be helpful in the pursuit of my above for above objectives. That was clear to me as a student in the higher secondary school. So, I had to depend on myself. And, I did it satisfactorily to achieve my objectives. The first objective was rather easy to realize. But, I had to put in more time to my books for realizing the last three objectives.
A sub-objective of the third objective was to develop capabilities of using Bengali language for written and verbal communication to attract the attention of girls. I had observed at that time that certain styles, construction of sentences, delivery, diction or hand-writing and the choice of words had impact on the ability to draw attention of the girls. Even some students who would not study subjects seriously were very particular about developing good handwriting, style of using the Bengali language and choice of appropriate words only to draw attention of the girls. This was a special felt-need for adolescent guys like me who were not handsome or brave enough to attract girls’ attention. And, no teacher could have catered to this specific need. Therefore, I had to put in efforts to develop my expertise in this special kind of application of communicating in Bengali: after all the girls around were only Bengalis. It is another matter that the Lady Luck did not give adequate opportunity. The school was only for the boys, a rare girl would be bold enough to share a few words on the streets or playgrounds in the neighborhood. In the college, there were very few girls around any way and not all were worthy of attracting attention. I had to wait for long to test the the extent of my skills in this special type of communication.
One aspect of study of Bengali in the higher secondary school was the exposure to the study of Bengali literature from its origin. This was very interesting but up to a point. It gave us a new perspective – later in life I could look at many non- Bengalis in the eastern India as close relatives because the origin of our languages at a point of time in history was the same. We could jointly claim the same poets as the father of our different languages – though those poets had written in a language that is completely different from the languages we call as ours now. History, if recorded, written and taught intelligently, could tie us to a common bond, rather than encouraging enmity. This part of history was fascinating and did not depend on dates, kings, oppression, invasion, battles, wars, crookedness and ideology. The subject was not very important to my passing the school examinations but it was attractive to read this history. Good that I put more time than was necessary on this subject. It would serve a purpose later.
The study of Bengali had an additional effect. Once I had tasted the writings of sample pieces of authors like Bankim chandra, Rabindranath and Saratchandra, I automatically developed an urge to read all the writings of these great authors. I had become naturally inclined to taste Bengali literature. While in the case of English, there was no automatic urge to study English literature. Once I had learnt a bit of the English language and could communicate in English effectively, the basic purpose had been achieved. But learning Bengali language through the composition of such great authors just flowed into a taste for Bengali literature. I could enjoy literature all the more because I would not be required to remember what I had read or give tests. I enjoyed reading the poems, the essays, the short stories, the novels and all that and this enjoyment did not depend on whether others enjoyed them or not. Much of this enjoyment ultimately translated in to imparting preferences for certain values in the core of my own personality and behavior. Most of the Bengali literature that I had exposed myself to I would fail to recall, but I would have been a different man had I not read the writings of Bankimchandra, Rabindranath and Saratchandra. And, through reading these I could get the sense of the story my father had narrated regarding the alternative descriptions of the same thing: A dry log of wood (Sushkam Kastom) was lying ahead or My vision was stuck on a life-less branch of a tree (Niraso Tarubaro). I wanted to acquire the capability of moving from alternative paths to description with ease and wherever possible blend them, even if my father would not have liked the idea.
The unfolding voyage that lied ahead would of course be impacted by the enjoyment of reading the above three authors outside the classroom and beyond the examinations. The food I ate when I was young had helped build and grow my physical body, the education imparted at the schools and colleges helped developed my mental faculties and enjoyment of racing through Bengali literature at home helped mould my preferences. While it might be somewhat difficult to recollect what I ate during my younger days and what lessons I picked up while being educated, it would almost impossible for me to recount what enjoyment Bengali literature provided me before I became addicted to my working life: the enjoyment was simply nourishing.
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