Some Aspects of Education

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet – Aristotle.

Etymologically, ‘education’ originates from the Latin root ‘educe’/‘educare’ and means ‘bring out or develop from latent or potential existence.’ It has a close association with ‘elicit’ which means ‘draw out’ or ‘evoke.’ However, the popular meaning of education is ‘systematic instruction’, although there is another meaning for the word viz. ‘development of character or mental powers’.

Some simple-looking words that are used very frequently in every day lives defy our efforts to give an apt definition: they mean different things to different people. Will Durant opined that ‘education is a progressive discovery of our ignorance.” In the words of Robert Forst, “Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.” According to Emerson, “The things taught in schools and colleges are not an education, but the means of education.” To Tagore “The great task of education is not merely to collect facts but to know man and to make oneself known to man.” Indira Gandhi said, “Education is a continuing process from the minute we are born until we die.” The list is only representative and not exhaustive.

Education is not the amount of information that is ‘pumped’ into one’s brain. Answers to posers like, ‘the highest mountain’, ‘the deepest ocean’, ‘the longest river’ etc. may serve the purposes of facing quiz programmes or taking an examination in General Knowledge. If education is identical with information, the libraries would be great sages and savants in the world.

Vivekananda’s conception of education is far-reaching and all-comprehensive: “We want that education by which character is formed, strength of mind is increased, the intellect is expanded, and by which one can stand on one’s own feet.”

Societal values have undergone an amazing metamorphosis. Professional studies like Engineering, Medicine, Business Administration, Computer courses etc. are sought after because they are highly lucrative. Most of the parents exercise undue domination over the educational career of their children, little realizing that it destroys the free scope of growth in children. The child’s inherent inclinations are ignored. The consequences of such a method are quite disastrous. The ‘rat race’ and the ‘towering tension’ involved in the process have brought about terrible tragedies in some cases as reported in newspapers.

According to the ancient Gurukula system of education, acquisition of knowledge was compulsory for every child of school-going age. Social environment creates a thirst for learning. The pupil lived with an enlightened teacher and learnt all he could teach. Education meant not merely stuffing brains with facts, but the application of them into one’s life so that life became better at individual, social, secular and spiritual planes.

Knowledge was imparted at two levels. At the lower level (apara-vidya), education concerning all the known sciences, humanities, arts and crafts of the times was given. Quite distinct from this is the higher knowledge (para-vidya) which taught about divinity. Education was considered incomplete until both the stages were completed.

It was not enough if the student knew only about sciences, technology, arts etc. True it is this knowledge gave him control over things and powers of nature. The control system in man is his character and culture which he acquires through para-vidya or higher knowledge. Hence love, compassion and service to humanity flow as a natural character of a really educated man. Such a person would never use an atom for destruction of innocent people. Hitler adopted the principle of ‘lebensraum’ i.e., ‘enough room to expand’ and brought about colossal devastation. A man of real knowledge acquires values like concentration of mind, straight forwardness in thought, word and deed (‘trikarana suddhi’), honesty, simplicity, orderliness etc. These values in education alone can save mankind from the ‘spiritual death’.

Owing to plurality of reasons, the ancient system of imparting education no longer exists. Classroom instruction is examination-oriented. Unmanageably overcrowded classes engaged in ill-ventilated rooms are not conducive to concentration of mind and assimilation of ideas. Students require individual attention and this is possible only if they are in smaller groups.

A few words about the teacher and the taught are quite relevant in this context. “A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops” (Henry Adams). He should inspire the pupil with a desire to learn. In fact, the art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery and the object of teaching a student is to enable him to get along without his teacher in later life. Knowledge – secular or spiritual – is inherent in man. The knowledge in a child requires awakening and that is what a teacher is required to do. Only positive ideas should be taught for negative thoughts produce undesirable consequences. In ‘Jnana Vasista’ it is said that pupils who adore the teacher are elevated by him to his own level of attainment. A pupil’s relation with the teacher is the same as that between an ancestor and his descendant. Without faith, humility, submission and veneration in our hearts towards the teacher, there cannot be any growth in us.

Aristotle was asked how much educated men were superior to the uneducated. “As much”, said he, “as the living are to the dead.”