Wednesday, July 20, 2011

If Education Was…

Benjamin Franklin once said, “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” The profundity of this thought reflects upon the significance of knowledge and self-expression. For centuries, education has been an uplifting attribute of self-awareness. Education leverages one’s personality, character, and moral consciousness. As a spearhead to extricate the self from dogmas and nuances of fear, education has been the handbook of insight that edifies positive behavior, indoctrinates intellectual expression, and stimulates self-exploration. But what happens when education is no more than a paper qualification? Or when an educated mind is stormed by pseudo effect that supersedes logic by bigotry and narrow-mindedness? Most people identify education with know-how and erudition, a mechanism that benefits them with employability and professional development. However, education is rarely taken as a supplement to enlightenment, open-mindedness, and refinement of the self. Had education been the core of mastery in life, man would have been much wiser and content than he is today. Negative thoughts, sulking behavior, greed, jealousy, anger and betrayal would thus have been replaced by joy, good nature, and peace of mind.

Moreover, violence, carnage, and abuse would have been infinitesimal currents in the life’s oceanic expanse had education been the force behind life’s flow. But the truth is that it is not. Perhaps it is one reason why many educated professionals live a duplicitous life where they perpetually craft ill means to put down others. For instance, many cases of dowry harassment and assault in India involve in-laws who are educated professionals, but have still made their daughter-in law’s life a living hell. Being educated and belonging to respectful families, these in-laws forget to be loving and respectful to their son’s or brother’s wife. They apparently forget that education does not teach them to suppress someone’s belief system, curtail their aspirations, or command their life. In such unfortunate and indeed unexpected circumstances, delicate relationships go haywire. Education also does not preach double standards where there are contradictory principles set for family members, such as privileges for the daughter and boundaries for the daughter in-law. The situation worsens in cases where an educated sister-in-law (who is a year younger to the daughter in law) acts as the second mother-in-law with her list of pretentious demands. The relationship decays when the same sister-in-law (aka junior mother-in-law) with her obsessive personality meddles in the day-to-day affairs of the married couple. The sister-in-law’s excessive intrusion of the married couple’s privacy puts the couple’s life on the edge. What then is the purpose of being educated if we do not learn to be progressive in our thoughts, or learn to be less self-indulgent and give time to new relationships? It’s like bringing a budding flower from someone else’s garden to replant it in your soil and expecting it to grow without any nurturance. The same flower may survive thinly for a couple of days in your garden, but without love and open air it would ultimately perish. Having the depth to understand such sensitivities in relationships is not just a matter of degree, but a matter of maturity and mindset. 

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26 comments:

  1. Appreciate your views on education . How true .

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  2. "The same flower may survive thinly for a couple of days in your garden, but without love and open air it would ultimately perish."

    ~ Wonderful thought, wonderfully accomplished. It is education that teaches how to survive and preaches how to make others survive.

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  3. When we are young insecurity about future and job are more dominating, but now when job is longer a worry, I can actually learn for enlightenment. Internet is a great place for that, including blogs :)
    Sometimes, people are petty because this is how they have learned to be. Sometimes, interactions with others can change the way they think!

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  4. well said
    education needs to be redefined

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  5. The quote by Benjamin Franklin sums it up so beautifully! Wonderful thoughts and so Immaculately presented. So true, each word of it...

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  6. Well said Barkha..it is indeed a matter of maturity...and mindset...there is also the upbringing factor involved as sensitivity is not something that one can grow overnight...

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  7. You write... a very serious topic is articulated in a very concise manner!

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  8. very well said. Barkha ji. very enlightening illustration

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  9. i hope that what lies within for all of us is also more beautiful, not only for us and our loved ones but also for the rest of the world...

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  10. What an excellent write up.I totally agree, most of us have double standards- one for our child the other for outsider who becomes part of the family.Unfortunately our mind-sets are such that it happened with our mother, but she forgot and repeated with her daughter-in-law and so this goes on.Rarely do we assess our actions and thoughts. Our evil mind prevails most of the time-very sad. I share the pain and anguish of your thoughtful and heart rendering write up. I can only wish that good and compassionate sense prevails. Sooner it does the better it would be for a happy and satisfied relationship mind.Let each one of us take a vow that we try to come out of this behavioral imp ass sooner, then only our prayers to God will manifest in to happiness and blissful. Otherwise we are fooling ourselves and God takes a note of our thought process and action.I have been going through your various posts-You seem to be a creative and passionate writer. Be blessed

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  11. I think you are addressing a very interesting topic all through your blog! The society and the social changes are very complex and in this new busy era humanity has no time to stay still for a while and look back into these issues.

    Thanks for visiting me and the wonderful comments in the Cruise Pictures blog

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  12. Hey Barkha, excellent blog, great job!

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  13. an inspiring post.beautifully penned....
    we need such posts to awake inspiration

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  14. Thanks for your comment Dibakar. Education is a critical element of broadening our horizons. And if we do not inculcate such cognizance in our thinking and doing systems, then we have not mastered the act of life.

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  15. Thanks Sunil for stopping by. I agree, learning to live and let live comes with maturity and enlightenment. Our upbringing certainly is a crucial element of the ways we think and act wit others.

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  16. Thanks Arti for your kind words.

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  17. Thanks for the comment India’s no. 1 blog. You prudently and thoughtfully resonate that mentality and personality are important factors of who we are, and that our upbringing certainly forms a substantial part of this process.

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  18. Yes, Webbie lady. This thought by Ralph Waldo Emerson applies universally.

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  19. @ Anonymous (Sir/Madam), I wish I knew your identity. This would make the whole responding process better. Anyways, thank you for your kind, compassionate words. Your thoughts express your intellect and wisdom. Indeed, you are right that if we learned that what happened with us should not happen with others is a big realization. It’s like shutting off the cycle of abuse (whether physical or emotional). Your benevolence and consideration for other’s pain and anguish is not only admirable, but it also exhibits your humility and humanity. Lastly, yes god does note our deeds and actions. Fasting or lighting a lamp before the almighty should be a gesture of vowing to change ourselves, and not fool others by quirkiness or faking of how pure or good we are! Dear anonymous thank you for your blessings.
    Love & Hugs,
    Barkha Dhar

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  20. Thank you Sailor for stopping by. Social change is a long drawn process, but it’s like every small effort sums up and counts in the big pool of change. I hope and believe that with addressing important issues, we are open to resurrect our thoughts and actions.

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  21. @The Madrasi,
    Thank you for your gracious comment.

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  22. Barkha, i love the first quote in this article, goes to show how we could improve indian education system ..instead teaching the kids by "telling" them if we could involve their minds

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  23. Thank you Shilpi. I love the quote too, and yes catching them young is just what we need.

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