Education jargon deteriorates progressively
See what we speak often? Exams, marks, ranks and coaching centers etc.
We speak often about schools, fees and shut-down of government primary schools, new and expensive private schools etc. There is a rise in selfishness, materialism, grabbing money and places through right or wrong means.
Who are the culprits? The new money makers and the prosperous middle classes! Who else? The ruthless power seekers, the politicians and the shadowy characters! Who are the latest new classes? These are the thoughts that fill one’s minds whenever one thinks of education.
For a change get a copy of Plato or some other old thinkers. In any old book shop or on the pavements you can easily spot a soiled copy of Plato. There are so many such copies of the great man on our reading table. What do you get to know when you read Plato? It is a book of dialogues where the chief character speaking is Socrates.
That old man speaks all the time asking questions like: what is a good life? How to live a good life? And so on. The answers come recurring. You have to live an ethical life, a right life and be an active citizen, participate in the public good, in state affairs and so on.
What is good? What is justice? All such questions are asked and answered too. Fortunately or unfortunately, it depends upon who you are and what your motives are. In the current state of affairs, there is a new wave of awakening for the good. We are all pursuing new opportunities. There is a technological revolution on us, Google and Face book had liberated us. The power of the Internet is unleashed upon us.
There is globalization and a great deal of migration of people everywhere, including the unfortunate tragedies that we witness of the fleeing refugees on an unprecedented scale across Europe and large scale drowning in the treacherous seas across the Greek islands. With all the opportunities and challenges, it looks like man is becoming more and more of a selfish gene.
Good Mr. Richard Dawkins, you have given the world a new jargon, the Selfish Gene.
This selfishness is manifesting in education which is now destroying the character of the individual. The new educators, they seem to us, as ruthless exploiters, all sorts of people are now into this education business and exploitation. In education and also culture, culture is where men and women are polished as cultivated individuals; we gain sensitivity and acquire a new sensibility. Education is no education unless it teaches us some sensitivity.
But then it is the educators, unfortunately, these new educators come in all sorts of manifestations. There are very undesirable characters here. It is here, the new education jargon makes sense.
Education is neither all about money nor about corruption and making black money. It is the sheer illiteracy of the leaders who have come to corrupt democracy in its very roots. All the secular institutions, laws, courts and again the money power lead to the new phenomenon of education failure. Our education doesn’t give us character strength; it weakens our will to stand by some ideals and principles. It is this side of education that needs remedying. Let us teach philosophy and ethics in our schools.