THE CONSPIRACY CALLED EDUCATION
THE CONSPIRACY CALLED EDUCATION
This is the 21st century ... the age of freedom, democracy , lassiez faire and the rule of law . Not just the world but India too is on its way to the march of the nations , a march toward the supposed new era of knowledge .... And we hail the modern day education system . A system that holds the key to a knowledge which is proclaimed to set the human mind free , to break every shackle of mindset we have .
But wait ! Is it really so ?
By education what is being referred to here is the formal structures of education. Our schools , colleges , universities which are entrusted with the most precious asset of our civilization ... Our children .
And what do these so called 'bridges between the family and society' do . They raise workers , labourers .
How? By imposing on a child what can be called as the 'ideology of the ruling class' .
You might be a tribal , a villager but you are to to learn the ethos of Englishmen. Why?? Because a set of presumably intelligent people decide that a particular quality like obedience , competition etc are virtues ... That you need to excel at both chemistry and history , which are totally opposite subjects to be adjudged as intelligent or knowledgeable.
But does that imply a complete elimination of schools . Absolutely not ! What is implied is just that education system instead of being opressive and imposing be just liberating , extracting ideas rather that 'reproduction of skills' .
And this leads us to a second aspect of formal education - the universities. The universities or business houses selling degrees . To be very logical how can a piece of paper guarantee a person's real expertise or knowledge of a particular subject ? How can qualifying the NET exam guarantee that someone can be a professor fully capable of teaching as it ought to be ? If that may be the case then Socrates would be unqualified to teach political science because he isn't an MA political science !!
To attain excellence what we need is not a bunch of universities certifying knowledge.. What all we need is a LEARNING WEB . A group of people hungry for innovation ...innovating ideas and that's how legends are born . Marie curie, albert Einstein, Bethoven,William Shakespeare, Napoleon Bonaparte. Who of them confined themselves to 8 periods of maths, literature , art , music all stuffed in a lil brain . NONE
This can go on into a huge volume of a book but late upon a conclusion . There's no need to paint a rosy glorified hopeful picture of things but yet again the biggest trickery and mockery that has been so beautifully thrusted upon us and that we have not just accepted but but loved with all respect . And that is the RIGHT To EDUCATION. Isn't this a joke in a country where maximum child deaths occur due to malnutrition, that we provide that right to education as a fundamental right but not the RIGHT TO FOOD . Isn't this the biggest joke that we make of those millions of poor people treating them as guinea pigs for our so called experiment of about 14 years of education or better hungry education ... Of showing them the glittery sky of school n then landing them back in the mud ... In a much more frustrated n devastated state.
Give them food... For no amount of knowledge , rationality or spirituality would enter a man with a hungry stomach .
© Athena Coelho
THE CONSPIRACY CALLED EDUCATION
This is the 21st century ... the age of freedom, democracy , lassiez faire and the rule of law . Not just the world but India too is on its way to the march of the nations , a march toward the supposed new era of knowledge .... And we hail the modern day education system . A system that holds the key to a knowledge which is proclaimed to set the human mind free , to break every shackle of mindset we have .
But wait ! Is it really so ?
By education what is being referred to here is the formal structures of education. Our schools , colleges , universities which are entrusted with the most precious asset of our civilization ... Our children .
And what do these so called 'bridges between the family and society' do . They raise workers , labourers .
How? By imposing on a child what can be called as the 'ideology of the ruling class' .
You might be a tribal , a villager but you are to to learn the ethos of Englishmen. Why?? Because a set of presumably intelligent people decide that a particular quality like obedience , competition etc are virtues ... That you need to excel at both chemistry and history , which are totally opposite subjects to be adjudged as intelligent or knowledgeable.
But does that imply a complete elimination of schools . Absolutely not ! What is implied is just that education system instead of being opressive and imposing be just liberating , extracting ideas rather that 'reproduction of skills' .
And this leads us to a second aspect of formal education - the universities. The universities or business houses selling degrees . To be very logical how can a piece of paper guarantee a person's real expertise or knowledge of a particular subject ? How can qualifying the NET exam guarantee that someone can be a professor fully capable of teaching as it ought to be ? If that may be the case then Socrates would be unqualified to teach political science because he isn't an MA political science !!
To attain excellence what we need is not a bunch of universities certifying knowledge.. What all we need is a LEARNING WEB . A group of people hungry for innovation ...innovating ideas and that's how legends are born . Marie curie, albert Einstein, Bethoven,William Shakespeare, Napoleon Bonaparte. Who of them confined themselves to 8 periods of maths, literature , art , music all stuffed in a lil brain . NONE
This can go on into a huge volume of a book but late upon a conclusion . There's no need to paint a rosy glorified hopeful picture of things but yet again the biggest trickery and mockery that has been so beautifully thrusted upon us and that we have not just accepted but but loved with all respect . And that is the RIGHT To EDUCATION. Isn't this a joke in a country where maximum child deaths occur due to malnutrition, that we provide that right to education as a fundamental right but not the RIGHT TO FOOD . Isn't this the biggest joke that we make of those millions of poor people treating them as guinea pigs for our so called experiment of about 14 years of education or better hungry education ... Of showing them the glittery sky of school n then landing them back in the mud ... In a much more frustrated n devastated state.
Give them food... For no amount of knowledge , rationality or spirituality would enter a man with a hungry stomach .
© Athena Coelho
Came across your blog by chance. Liked what I read. Especially your older posts. The one on "Worried for India". Would have commented but can't. This is another post that I found interesting. In the first line you say "This is the 21st century ... the age of freedom, democracy , lassiez faire and the rule of law". Are you sure? What about the RIGHTS you speak of?
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