The Indian Ministry of Railway exams and our complex relationships with certificates, badges, and external validation.
The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.
– Albert Einstein
“Would You Pass the World’s Toughest Exam” by Harriet Shawcross and Dipanjan Sinha ( July 24, 2025, Long Reads, 1843 from The Economist)provides a window into the lives of Indian students who move to Musallahpur to study with private coaches while waiting, sometimes for years, for the opportunity to take the required exams for civil service or railway employment.
The multiple choice exams are famously hard and the questions have very little to do with the hoped for work.
Example exam questions include:
- The pH range of the human body is:
- Which of the following articles deal with the provisions regarding the election, qualification and removal of the vice-president of India?
- Two taps can fill a cistern in 2 hours and 54 hours respectively. A third tap can empty it in 54 hours. How long (in hours) will it take to fill the empty cistern, if all of them are opened together?
- Which of the following statements accurately describes the role of moral suasion in controlling money?
- The magnetic field inside a long, straight solenoid carrying current is …
- (1 + sinA)(1 – sinA)(1 + tan2A) is equal to:
- Who propounded the homeopathic principle ‘like cures like’?
- As per November 2020, how many countries have membership in the World Trade Organization?
Why such a tough exam? It’s thanks to a mix of colonial legacy, byzantine government sector polices and practices, and a straight-forward way to filter an overwhelming number of candidates.
But beyond that, what really caught my attention about the exams, is what they reveal; the determination and immense grit of these students to achieve positions that have traditionally (but perhaps won’t in the future) come with status, respect, and economic security.
The story of these young people who are extraordinarily affected by this system may seem far removed from the Canadian experience of professional development, but it casts a light on what seems to be an accepted norm in many of our work lives; the jumping through hoops for certificates and badges in order to receive the external validation and rewards of status and material gain. I’m pointing at this, not judging it. I’ve done similar so that clients know about my education, training, and ongoing professional development and will want to work with me.
But at what point does all this hoop jumping no longer serve us or our work?
- How much of our professional development is truly about learning and how much is about the certificate, the badge, the bullet point on a resume, or the announcement on social media and in meetings?
- Do we know the difference between giving the right answers and learning?
- Are we putting more effort into rote memorization than into our cognitive and emotional development?
- Are we setting aside the time to read deeply and broadly, to strengthen our conversation skills, and to think critically*?
- What life skills and habits do we have for growing our courage, compassion, humility, dignity, and respect for ourselves and others?
- How might we challenge or add to the discussions about professional development so that certificates and badges are more balanced with deep learning and human development?
Here’s a final, and perhaps odd thought from one of my favourite films.
Years ago my mother used to say to me, she’d say, “In this world, Elwood, you must be” – she always called me Elwood – “In this world, Elwood, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant.” Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. You may quote me.
James Stewart as Elwood P. Dowd in Harvey.
Thank you for musing along with me.
Babs
*Just a quick aside, I was at a professional development event recently where it was demonstrated many times that there is some confusion between critical thinking and criticizing. Oh oh.