India, Aug. 6 -- The National Council of Educational Research and Training is in the news again over the revision of the secondary school history syllabus. While the debate goes on over history and its (mis)-representation, here's a genuine nugget from the 19th and 20th centuries that led to a radical change in how classrooms across the country are administered to this day.

Remember class monitors in school? Those peers who were assigned special responsibilities, like ensuring the classroom doesn't make 'noise', or that a physical exercise or a parade is conducted well. Often, class monitors maintained discipline by threatening to write down the names of errant peers on the board for the benefit of the teacher, who could then 'discipline...