Malady Of Modern Education

In the past few decades, the emphasis on education in India has been enormous. Everyone wants a piece of modern education. The result of this so called modern education is the spew of tons of so called skilled professionals.

But where has this modern education really led us to as individuals? Modern education has taught me what I need to know to get a good job, become a productive member of the society I belong to, earn a handsome income and lead a comfortable life and retire at the age of 58, and wait for the death to come. All this, just accounts for the survivability. Is survival the only goal of modern education?

Everyone of us have been encouraged to specialize in one aspect of education or the other. The engineers, doctors, lawyers etc. everyone rides on the bookish knowledge hoping that this will give them the required economic position. I do too. For long now, I have been abiding by the book to get to where I am. And my place isn't all too glorious ;). I have been following the techniques that was taught to me in my school and has helped me get a decent job, earn a decent income and live a decent life. My sincere thanks to the Modern Education. When I am 80 and in my rocking chair, I would look back and think if there was any thing else that I learned from this life other than living mechanically by the books. What else did this life have in store? Did I even make an attempt to break the conventions and listened to my heart which wanted to explore so many varied and beautiful things and try to be all I could ever be? The answer I am afraid is NO, a BIG NO!

Why? Modern Education has made me a "Learned" person, but it hasn't made me a "Knowing" person. In the "Count of Monte Cristo", the friar tells Dantes that learning mathematics, physics, history and language are the foundation of human knowledge. This goes to mean that these are just the basics and are require to begin the real education. The real education is the ability to identify what one loves to do and learn by doing it and applying the knowledge wherever and whenever required. The real education is one that benefits an individual from within and the society in some way.

Modern education has taught me to be ambitious and taught me techniques required to achieve that ambition. But seriously, I wonder what has ambition actually done to me. I am constantly struggling to be over the top of somebody else. I am continuously fighting to be somebody else, to earn somebody else's salary, to live somebody else's life. There is a constant fear within. I may not come across as a most frightened man, but that I actually am. I fear to make a mistake, I fear to take risk, I fear to fail. If I am what I am I shall be nobody, therefore I must become somebody, No?

My education has encouraged me to conform to society at all levels. It has trained me to strive for self limiting reachable goals. When I was young, I wanted to become a doctor, an engineer, a lawyer, I wanted to be in the defense services, in the army, then the air force and the navy, I wanted to be a locomotive driver. The very purpose of my education was to help me identify what I really loved to do. I am closer to half life now and I still want to do the very same things that I wanted to do when I was much younger. Why? Because my education didn't help me really figure out. It was just one thing leading to another to where I am today.

Being afraid of not being able to earn a livelihood and not being able to fit in this rotten society has always motivated my choices. The same is true for scores of people out there. You see a lot of examples where  a doctors son or daughter becomes a doctor just because his/her father is, same goes for lawyers and engineers. It is quite prevalent in India. My dad is an engineer and so am I! Not by degree though, but by profession, a Software Engineer!

The modern education has in fact created a mess of the world. While it hasn't reduced any miseries of the world, it seems to have contributed more to it. The divide between the rich and the poor is ever increasing, the ones wrangling with each other, fighting and killing are the ones who have had the luxury of Modern Education. In spite being educated and equipped, people have been killing themselves, why, because the Modern Education does not teach to cope up with the social, physical, emotional and professional pressures (Read my previous post).

There is enough knowledge to make optimal use of the available resources in this world sufficient to feed every hungry person on this earth, provide clothing and shelter to every homeless. Though the knowledge is good to have, "Knowing" how to apply this knowledge is still an unknown. Our education gives us knowledge but doesn't emphasize on application of this knowledge. It is up to the individuals own intelligence to figure this out, but then what can such a person alone do among educated foolish that this society breeds. The leaders of this world are all educated, they have the titles, the caps, the degree and the gowns, they are economists, lawyers, doctors and scientists and yet they haven't been able to create a world in which a man can live happily. We are all happy to be educated in the same old way. We are all happy to be making a mess of our lives.

The old adage that higher education is necessary for success is not true with the modern education. Most of the companies in the Forbes list, were created by high school and college drop outs, who dreamt of doing something that no one else has done and never let their schooling interrupt their motives and vision. It is high time we realized that creative, independent and free thought is more important to be taught and cultivated among other things at any school of modern education.