Long before closed-circuit TV (CCTV) cameras were installed in school classrooms, Michael Apple used the black box as a metaphor to convey the mystery of routine teaching. I was reminded of his metaphor when a student told me that her teacher had recently explained the caste system as a genetic classification. According to this teacher, the upper castes have been in a dominant position because they are genetically superior and fitter to survive than the lower castes. When a student tried to intervene and quoted BR Ambedkar’s denial of the genetic theory of caste, the teacher replied that Ambedkar was not a scientist.

This peep into the mysterious black box of routine teaching offers no clue about what can be done to improve this teacher’s understanding of Indian society. We can’t guess what books she has read on the well-researched subject of caste. Perhaps we can speculate about the books she has not read or heard about. In all likelihood, she has not read any, and her views about the caste system merely reflect a widely prevalent perception that the problem of caste hierarchy is a colonial myth.

In our system of public higher education, there is no provision for course evaluation. In the western world that our system is now vigorously trying to emulate and compete with, course content and teachers’ knowledge are put........

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