EDUCATION: FREEDOM OR CAPTIVITY?
"Education is not about molding children the way you think they should be. Education is about organizing the natural longing in a human being to know"
- SADHGURU
Education, a process everyone has the right to enjoy. Education should be the activity of learning new skills, values and gaining knowledge but the education system and the society has made it more like a competition and a race.
Sadhguru in one of his interviews in the London School of Economics was questioned on the part of competition in the modern day education and on the race of being the first in the class. He answered in the most sensible way possible as, "Being better than someone, if it's a pleasure for you, I call that sickness, it is not success".
Competition is a subject that has divided opinion for years. Some argue that it encourages a child to excel in today's fiercely competitive world where we compete for everything be it a job, a partner or a house. Others say it can destroy self-esteem and lead to resentment. Believe it or not but both the sides sound equally logical and justified.
If thought practically, there is no such thing as "HEALTHY COMPETITION". In a competitive culture, a child is told that it isn't enough to be good. He must triumph over others. But the more he competes, the more he needs to compete to feel good about himself. Does winning actually builds character or it just lets the child to gloat for the time being on the temporary success?
If taught co-operation in it's true sense, it is marvelous at helping children to learn to communicate effectively, to trust each other, to build friendships and to accept those who are different from themselves. Children would feel better about themselves when they work with others instead of against them. Most importantly they don't judge their self-esteem based on winning a competition.
These are the effects of competition on a child but on a teenager it's even more dangerous and highly violent. Even though they know the difference between right and wrong, teenagers sometimes lose faith in themselves and turn towards brutality seeking the solution of the failure they just encountered.
Who considers a person to be a failure? The society? Who are they? Do they even matter? It's your life. Do whatever you want to do. These things are easier said than done. The Indian society molds a child to care about what the people will/are thinking about the actions taken by them. If a child does not fulfills the expectations of the society, they are going to consider him a failure. This fear of being unaccepted by the society does not let a student focus on things they love.
Being considered a failure, a student looks for things to calm themselves down. As a result they find themselves exposed to drugs, alcohol and tobacco. This is the situation of the luckier ones, the ones who are unable to stop overthinking unfortunately move towards suicidal tendencies. Reports show that in 2018, 10,159 students died by suicide, an increase from 9,905 in 2017, and 9,478 in 2016. Almost one student every hour.
Why does this society has the mindset of considering toppers as winners and failures as losers?
How can they expect everyone to excel in education?
How can everybody be at the top of their class?
With that being said, the world also needs to fight against GRADISM amongst fighting against racism and sexism.
https://youtu.be/tyrqUlTQHos
This is the video reference of the Interview I mentioned above. Hope you like it.(long press)
- SADHGURU
Education, a process everyone has the right to enjoy. Education should be the activity of learning new skills, values and gaining knowledge but the education system and the society has made it more like a competition and a race.
Sadhguru in one of his interviews in the London School of Economics was questioned on the part of competition in the modern day education and on the race of being the first in the class. He answered in the most sensible way possible as, "Being better than someone, if it's a pleasure for you, I call that sickness, it is not success".
Competition is a subject that has divided opinion for years. Some argue that it encourages a child to excel in today's fiercely competitive world where we compete for everything be it a job, a partner or a house. Others say it can destroy self-esteem and lead to resentment. Believe it or not but both the sides sound equally logical and justified.
If thought practically, there is no such thing as "HEALTHY COMPETITION". In a competitive culture, a child is told that it isn't enough to be good. He must triumph over others. But the more he competes, the more he needs to compete to feel good about himself. Does winning actually builds character or it just lets the child to gloat for the time being on the temporary success?
If taught co-operation in it's true sense, it is marvelous at helping children to learn to communicate effectively, to trust each other, to build friendships and to accept those who are different from themselves. Children would feel better about themselves when they work with others instead of against them. Most importantly they don't judge their self-esteem based on winning a competition.
These are the effects of competition on a child but on a teenager it's even more dangerous and highly violent. Even though they know the difference between right and wrong, teenagers sometimes lose faith in themselves and turn towards brutality seeking the solution of the failure they just encountered.
Who considers a person to be a failure? The society? Who are they? Do they even matter? It's your life. Do whatever you want to do. These things are easier said than done. The Indian society molds a child to care about what the people will/are thinking about the actions taken by them. If a child does not fulfills the expectations of the society, they are going to consider him a failure. This fear of being unaccepted by the society does not let a student focus on things they love.
Being considered a failure, a student looks for things to calm themselves down. As a result they find themselves exposed to drugs, alcohol and tobacco. This is the situation of the luckier ones, the ones who are unable to stop overthinking unfortunately move towards suicidal tendencies. Reports show that in 2018, 10,159 students died by suicide, an increase from 9,905 in 2017, and 9,478 in 2016. Almost one student every hour.
Why does this society has the mindset of considering toppers as winners and failures as losers?
How can they expect everyone to excel in education?
How can everybody be at the top of their class?
With that being said, the world also needs to fight against GRADISM amongst fighting against racism and sexism.
https://youtu.be/tyrqUlTQHos
This is the video reference of the Interview I mentioned above. Hope you like it.(long press)
THANK YOU
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"Its not the failure we fear, its the fear of facing everybody after that failure"...
ReplyDelete-Indian Student.
The very thought of facing the society after the failure makes you fear failure
DeleteDon't you think?