Wrong education

Thinking unwelcome and Only persistence begets prize (January 3) exposed the sorry state of science teaching in this country. Science here has been dumbed down considerably in the last few decades. For that matter, the entire system of education encourages pupils too stack information and learn by rote without any in-depth exploration. It's meant to kill the natural curiosity and thirst for knowledge in a child. Thanks to such education, the country is losing its edge in basic science. While countries like Brazil and China are making strides in basic research, India has turned itself into a factory of cyber-coolies who toil 24 hours for seven days for Western corporate companies.

Arun Kumar Sharma
Jamshedpur

Bad governance

With reference to Furious waves (January 3), I doubt if a tsunami warning would have worked if delivered in time. Even if the government had issued warning, people wouldn't have paid heed to it because the majority of people are unaware of such a phenomenon. However, the disaster death toll could easily have been avoided had government agencies taken some prompt action. On the contrary, the government delivered a false warning on the aftermath of the tragedy, disrupting the relief system. The goof-up only demonstrated how inefficient our administrators are.

Avinash Chatterjee
Behala

Male psyche

It wasn't surprising at all to know men are more likely to marry women who are their assistants (Why bosses marry secretaries, December 20). What amazed me was that the typical male psychology afflicts even men in the US. The reality is that men prefer subordinates as wives because they assume that they can dominate them easily. Unfortunately, things turn the opposite after marriage.

Susobhan Halder
Siliguri