Monday, February 17, 2014

Contradiction in Reply

An interviewee should take maximum care to see that he does not contradict himself at any stage. Where a candidate contradicts his own statement, he can be judged as a person with split personality with no proper guidance and prudence.
Question : Should Sanskrit continue to be taught in school curriculum?
Answer : Our ancient wisdom is contained in various scriptures which are in Sanskrit. So, it should be taught. But we also know that most of our ancient scriptures have already been translated into other languages and Sanskrit is no more than the language of a few religious scholars, so it is at the most an unpractical language, if not dead. So it should be excluded from the school curriculum.
Analysis : As is evident from the above answer, the candidate has plunged himself into deep trouble by taking a stand and giving a suitable reason for it. But in the same breath he refutes his stand and gives another reason. He does not seem to know what his final answer should have been, for or against, so he has messed up everything. It may be known that everybody is entitled to possess views, but what the interviewers are interested to know is how their prospective employee came to hold them, his reasoning behind his views and how he analysed things. Had the candidate taken a broader view here, he would have saved himself from the stigma which he seems to be afraid of—whether to take a stand for or against the language. He should have paraphrased his answer something like this :
“Sanskrit is our ancient language and our ancient wisdom is contained in this language in form of various Vedas and scriptures. But it remains a fact that this langage was always the language of the high class and scholars, so it could never become a mass language. Introduction to this language at the junior school level is all right. After this, it should be taught to only those who take interest in it, as it is done in present tines. There is no reason to discard this language when it has in its store rich heritage and answers to many questions which our great saints have put in it.”
A few other examples can be : “Should students be allowed to take part in politics?”
“Should religious instructions be imparted in our education institutions?”

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