I don’t know why i always think of writing about, is it b’coz of the poor condition of our current education system or is it me? what ever may the reason, i guess no one would argue about the fact that it is education business rather than education service which is going on. Everyone is busy gluing long degrees to their names. Now a days one can’t even say that it is education that we are getting from schools and colleges it is certificates and degrees. Our government is experimenting with the education system, they have no idea which scheme to settle with. Today one of the main aim of basic schooling has become learning English language, everything else is secondary. But it is worth mentioning that some of our states have attained excellent result by luring children to schools and have basic education, the problem that overshadows this achievement is the quality of the education. A child lost at this stage is lost forever. B’coz at lower level children should get quality education as it is at this stage they start to figure out things by themselves and start developing character. Our government spend more than 50% of budget’s children related provisions on elementary education.
What could be the possible Problem?
The main problem with our education system as everyone knows is we have a rote learning method (memorisation). i think we follow this kind of learning method from the very beginning of our civilization. As we know at first most of our Vedic teachings were passed through generations orally hence memorization was important. Most of the religions prefer this rote learning as divinity is the ultimate knowledge you only need to follow those steps to reach there. But there is a huge difference between memorization technique and learning by ear or by hearing. In the latter you are the one who are supposed to decide which is right(good) and which is wrong(bad), in which case you need to think. Our foundational knowledge in Vedas and Upanishads made us like parrots, who just happened to repeat those teachings by our great philosophers. We never tried to cross examine their views and teachings. They gave us what only they could have given, they led us to the path of knowledge. They exalted the ideal of “Vidhyarthi”(Vidya – knowledge, Arthi- those who seek), never stop at anything, continue to learn and question everything.
Our education system demands nothing more than memorization from us and they test our memorization ability using exams. How many teachers would be there who feel responsible to their profession. We are in dire need of responsible teachers who took their profession seriously rather than those who take it as a medium of a pretty good earning. Teachers also are not ready to accept the huge responsibility of shaping our future. Some say good remuneration would attract eligible candidates as teachers. It is right to an extent but i can’t agree completely. Big money flow increases the scope for corruption. The only remedy against a violent and corruption-free country is the realization or awareness of our social responsibilities, which we can attain through proper education.
| Real education consists in drawing the best out of yourself. What better book can there be than the book of humanity?
-M.K. GANDHI
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We can do great, all we need is a proper stage to prove ourselves. We don’t want to be like books printing out from some press which is filled with the views of the other person. We should be able to think of our own. We must have our own views and versions which defines our character and ourselves.
It doesn’t matter where you are “East or west”, education means the same everywhere, the word education derive from Latin word “eductio” which approximately means “to educe or evolve” and Swami Vivekananda’s definition of education is, what ever is “man-making” that is education. According to him all men are perfect, all you need to do is to bring out that perfection within.
There is much controversy generated over the move to do away with exams. Your post very accurately observes that the education system as it exists has failed. All the people who are responsible for the mess our society, government and economy is in today are products of that education system. What is more worrisome is that more of the same is waiting to come forward and continue the "good work." What we need to do as responsible citizens is to empower the future generation to find the truth within themselves, as you pointed out with your reference to Vivekananda. Probably one way is to reject the system and switch over to homeschooling and helping the next generation to seek certification and validation through open schools and universities. We need to show the kids that we are ready to take responsibility for the mess we have created, and are ready to do ALL that is needed to help them overcome their handicap (the ones gifted to them by us), and this will not be possible by subscribing blindly to the existing system. Became a long comment, but loved your post and thought you should know that.
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