Education is an ongoing experience. It is achieved over a lifetime. But the base of how you will receive it for life, is laid in the very grounding years of youth. Precisely in school. That experience sets the base agenda for your interest in learning. Period. Tunes your inquisitive instincts for life. Thus the school you attended, your kids attend, the environment more precisely in which they will learn is more important than we probably imagine it to be. It has very far reaching implications ... not for the brand name your kid incurs, the infrastructure he will be exposed to, or the teachers alone.... but for the term called CONDITIONING> for life.
Once the tone is set, the kids can pick on. But how the tone is set, the way it is set, what it encourages, what it discourages, is so critical. I think about it as a 32 year old adult and I realise how those small little things in school build up to define ones character. Character is a direct result of response to exposure. You can control the exposure you want to provide to your kid.
And I cannot stop myself from getting worked up here, when i realise how the basic concept of education in India, teaches kid to study only so that they can get a job. Become a doctor, engineer and more recently added to the list, IT professional. Don't get me wrong, I am all for the contents of the Indian schooling system. But I am against what it instills. A blind copy mass approach to just study to get a job. Instead of an alternative approach to study to learn, to enjoy the experience of knowledge.
Aristotle was asked, " What is the difference between an educated and an uneducated person?"
His response, " The difference between dead and alive."
Taking the concept further, Alive, yes, but alive to experience, to then reason, think, enjoy, learn more and imbibe, Realise your potential and exploit it by learning to make educated informed choices.
The Indian education system instills - Study to grow in your career, pick up a secure job, end up with a big
house and a flashy car. End up with a job you can talk about and feel good about. But what works for one individual, doesn't work for the other. You could be a good dancer, decorator, musician, artist, architect, scientist, writer. But the chunk just ends up as graduates in BE, BA, BSc, B.Ed and the even MA, MS, ME and they study and then study more and yet, all this to just pick up a better job, another stamp for the resume. Even 10 years into post school study and the young adults don't know what they want to do. What a serious condition ? What could be a bigger indicator of the failure of the education system in India ? It is extremely frustrating and the cycle doesn't change or seem to alter for decades now. We continue to produce highly educated people with degrees to their credit, but ask them at 25 about what they want to do, and they don't know. They are at the mercy of the job market to pick them up and start them off. Some could be lucky to be doing what they like and the rest continue to spend 8 hours a day for the next 4o years of their life doing things they were never meant to do. What a bloody mockery of the word education.
Education that is supposed to liberate you and help you realise your potential to exploit and enjoy, it what now binds you into a maze of materialism, insecurity and a set path on what has worked for other people. I do not imply following others people is wrong, but following other people without analysis of what works for you and what dosen't is wrong. And education was meant to liberate, not just conform.
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