Hustle.edu
A systemic gigamap of hustle culture in education
KEYWORD
Abhinav Ullas, Mayank Bhavasar, Shreya Maurya, Sukhada Bhave, Ved Patil
National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, India
ABSTRACT
Hustle culture has shifted from survival and stability toward constant performance, comparison, and achievement. We explored how this mentality manifests in Indian education through pressures from families, schools, peers, examinations, coaching, economic conditions, and society. Through research, workshops, school visits, and system mapping, The Great Indian Education Show emerged as a gigamap using Indian puppetry to visualise distributed control. It reveals how these forces shape student agency and narrow possibilities over time, opening pathways toward curiosity, wellbeing, holistic growth, and agency.
#education #curriculum
#grind mentality #overwork
CREATIVE PROCESS
We traced hustle from survival to an aspirational identity, then entered education to understand how pressure travels across students, parents, peers, teachers and institutions. Through field visits, conversations and participatory activities, we mapped these relationships into The Great Indian Education Show. The map revealed leverage points, leading to interventions around curiosity, wellbeing, reflection and holistic growth.
IMPLICATIONS AND NEXT STEPS
This work shifts the focus from fixing students to examining the systems that shape their choices. It opens opportunities for interventions involving students, parents and educators, with the next stage focusing on testing these interventions and exploring how small changes in communication, reflection and assessment can contribute to healthier, more sustainable learning environments.
References
Bellini, A., & Lomazzi, V. (2024). Changing work values beyond hustle culture. Slovak Academy of Sciences. The effect of hustle culture on psychological distress with self compassion as moderating variable.
Putri, E. R. (2023). The impact of hustle social culture on employees’ mental health and work-life balance in millennials. Institut Teknologi Bandung.
Tselepis, T., & Lavelle, J. (2023). Generation Z and the hustle culture: Making it work or making work?
World Health Organization, & International Labour Organization. (2021). Long working hours increase deaths from heart disease and stroke.