India’s middle-class parents are proudly raising readers. But are they accidentally raising weak kids?
That’s the uncomfortable question Rajiv Khati, Founder and MD at TashTam Group, is asking in a viral LinkedIn post that takes direct aim at India’s “toxic learning culture.”
Khati writes: “Parents celebrating their child’s digital bookshelf instead of their real-world courage.” His core critique? We’ve glorified consumption—books, courses, certificates—while abandoning the discipline of real-world mastery.
“Our kids are plugged in, but tuned out,” Khati says. “Once upon a time, knowledge was power. Today, it’s paralysis.”
Despite endless access to online skills, motivational books, and life hacks, India’s urban children are becoming “hyper-educated and underprepared.” They freeze in real-world situations, overthink instead of act, and scroll through success instead of building it.
At the heart of this crisis, he says, is a dangerous illusion: “Information ≠ transformation.”
Khati calls out the performative obsession with books: Top 10 lists posted online, kids reading about grit while avoiding discomfort, and audiobooks played endlessly without applying a single idea. “Reading without context, reflection, or action is intellectual masturbation,” he writes.
And the root is cultural. “India is importing a toxic learning culture,” Khati says. Mantras like read 100 books a year and take five courses at once have replaced actual experience with dopamine-driven overconsumption.
The result? “Fluent in theory, frozen in reality. Great on paper, useless in a crisis. High IQ, low resilience.”
His call to parents is clear: stop counting books. Start counting real-world experiences.
“What have they built?” he asks. “What have they failed at? What hard situations have they faced without your help?”
He urges parents to stop insulating kids from discomfort. “Let them experience pain. Let them navigate conflict. Let them figure things out without Googling everything.”
Khati’ pushes for a different kind of intelligence: “Raise kids who can walk into chaos and stay calm… who can take a punch—mentally, emotionally, physically—and still move forward. India doesn’t need more smart people. It needs strong people.”
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