If Thackeray’s sentiments mirrored British educational policy in India, no better evidence for it could be found than Ramanujan, for whom college might have seemed aimed at suppressing “haughty spirit, independence, and deep thought.” Indeed, Indian higher education’s failure to nurture one of such undoubted, but idiosyncratic, gifts could serve as textbook example of how bureaucratic systems, policies, and rules really do matter. People, as individuals, appreciated and respected Ramanujan; but the System failed to find a place for him. It was designed, after all, to churn out bright,
...more
