India, March 11 -- 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 im...