The
modern trends in education centre on individual development. Today, education
is commonly viewed as a tool for individual growth, welfare and prosperity.
Educational institutions are generally seen as stables wherein well-groomed
students, market ready, are produced. These students, on their advent into job
market labor hard focusing purely on their individual dreams, such as, lavish
lifestyle, sophisticated living and amazement of wealth. Thus, Education has
mostly lost its right of being the end and is rather perceived as a means to
the end called ‘Luxurious Living’.
It
can never be denied that the current global market is extremely competitive and
‘Survival of the Fittest’ is the only ground reality. But at the same time, it
is indeed important that one needs to bear in mind the adage ‘No man is an
island’. An individual on his race towards personal progress runs on the field called
‘Society’. Life of one necessarily impacts the life of the other. Despite the
differences that prevail in social, economic, cultural and religious spheres,
every many is dependent. One man’s rise and fall essentially affects the rise
and fall of the other. This inter dependency is an inevitable aspect of human
living.
It
is easy to argue, I am responsible for my individual life and those of my
friends and relatives. Why should I shoulder the responsibility of some others’
life? The answer is simple. For instance, if a man insists on violating the
traffic rules, does it prove detrimental only to his safety or to all around
him? If the answer is the latter then it is proven that one man’s weirdness has
a sure impact on the peace of all around him. Such scenes are very common in
morning wee hours on our roads. We may quote various such instances from our
day to day living. Being educated, if a man purposely chooses to violate rules,
despite knowing its consequences, does it not trigger a question regarding the
aims and purposes of education?
A
closer survey of modern educational practices causes an alarm. The modern day students
are born of one same mould, i.e., ‘Mark Machine’. Incessant coaching, slip
tests, revision exams, remedial teaching, etc., completely drain the
individuality of students. Students are forced to master Math and Science,
regardless of their individual preferences and interests. Excessive emphasis on
Math and Science makes students as things on conveyor belt moving towards a
cause unknown and non-preferred. The ultimate end in the process becomes mark
accumulation and not knowledge accumulation.
Similarly,
there is an exaggerated nationwide emphasis on language efficiency. Craze for
language, especially English, has resulted in the mushrooming of Language
Institutes that cater English on the platter as instantly as fast food.
Students frequent these institutes with an aerial aim of mastering a language,
a few centuries old, in a few days. Thus, the entire course of education for
the modern day students becomes a routine activity, remote to personal
interests and intercession.
After
all such fuss and race, the modern education system produces products that are
completely wielded from the ground reality. It is a common scene that parents
often complaint of their children’s inability to rise up to an occasion and
respond intuitively. Decision making is a nightmare to most of these mark
machines. They are not confident enough even to desire and dream of a future
but are completely reliant on their parents to decide for them.
The
result of such forced and self-centered education has its reflection in the
perils that surround us, such as, Global Warming, Pollution of various forms
and intensity, worsening civic awareness, dispersion of anti-social trends and
tendencies, etc. Treading the bottom line of Lord Buddha, “Desire is the root
cause of all evil’, “Individualist tendency is the root cause of all perils
that threaten the peaceful social structure”.
It
is high time that we critically analyzed and evaluated the pros and cons of our
educational system. Students cannot be blamed at any cause for they move with
the current. Hence, we need to channelize the current in the constructive
direction. Education definitely requires giving its takers something more than
rote facts and figures. Inculcation of ‘Social Consciousness’ in Education is
the compelling need of the era. It is high time that we stopped making mark
machines and focus on making ‘Thinking, Social Beings’.
A
society based curriculum can alone be the rightful step towards the required
educational innovation. Any addition to curriculum, we are aware, would bring
about mixed responses. The teaching fraternity might think of it an extension
of their existing work load; the student community would consider it an
additional burden and the parents might consider it an added strain in
monitoring their children.
But
here the emphasis is not on adding to the existing curriculum rather reconfiguring
the existing curriculum. Students do have a subject called Social Science up to
secondary education. But it is unfortunate that this subject is historically
limited to rote memorizing of facts and figures related to history; soil types,
climate changes and topographical features in geography. Though there is a part
called ‘Civics’, it is not intense enough to trigger the social humaneness in
students. The vision needs to be calibrating this syllabus to make it encompass
the rudiments of the art of social living.
The
syllabus can include in linear progression from the lower level smaller units
of the following Human Sciences:
·
Anthropology
·
Demography
·
Criminology
·
Human Geography
·
Philosophy
·
Political Science
·
Psychology
·
Sociology
Subjects like Criminology and
psychology would come handy in handling adolescents, an area the modern
teachers find it extremely nerve wrecking. An introduction to psychology at the
school level would definitely help the students to have a closer look at his
individual self, to meditate on the varying physical and psychological phases
that one traverse through and to seek help and guidance at times of emotional turbulence.
Anthropology, Demography and Human
Geography will get the students acquainted with the race that they are part of.
A wider understanding of human evolution that spans to millions of years will
make the students realize how insignificant and meager his/her role in the
entire human history. This knowledge would trigger in them achievement
motivation, a fire to stamp their presence during their short span of stay on
this earth.
Philosophy, Political Science and
Sociology will present the students with a panoramic view of the wider social
spectrum that encompasses them. Politics Science here indicates giving the
students knowledge of the human governance and the existing hierarchical structure
in the societies across the world. Sociology can be the efficient tool in
making the students aware of the complex social evolution that the human race has
been subjected to. Sociology can help students perceive the similarities and
differences in the social structures that exist in the world. It is mandatory
that the students get familiar with the numerous trials that have moulded the
human race to its current sophisticated form.
The recommendation here is not to
incorporate these sciences in volumes and extend the burden of school going
children. These sciences need not be preached to the students in their
theoretical, complex structured form. But the essence of these sciences needs
to seep into the lessons that are prescribed for the syllabi that the children
study in the tenure of their school education. Just as a drop of milk changes
the texture of the black tea, knowledge of these human sciences when blended
with the curriculum of the students would surely result in the emergence of a
generation that is purely social friendly.
If one of the primary goals of education is to
create mature social beings, it is not possible without the inculcation of
these sciences in the syllabi. The ultimate intention of education is to create
a society; devoid of disparities, free from war, clear of anti-social
tendencies, relieved from poverty, devoid of corrupt bureaucracy, etc,. It can
become a reality only when education enables man to understand, appreciate,
admire and acknowledge the rightful presence of every fellow human being. A
curriculum that promotes such a social cordiality can alone meet the social
challenges of tomorrow.