I am certain most of our parents have spent a nice amount of money for providing us with education. I am a junior in college. Most of the people I know consider themselves educated. To this, I say, OK. It is nice to consider yourself well to do in your field of studies. It is great to feel educated from within. But is it always fair to do so? Is this generation educated enough? Let's see what Google has to say about the verb 'educate'.
So, here in the main definition of 'educate' we have three major categories:
Intellectual
Moral
Social
My point of discussion is aimed at two of my beliefs:
A huge population of our society considers 'intellectual' education as the only form of education. I feel that they knowingly or unknowingly think that the sole purpose of education is to elevate one's intellect.
We imbibe our elders more than we think. More than we should.
If you don't believe these then ask yourselves or some student around you, this simple question, "What do you aim to achieve at the end of your formal education?" I wouldn't be surprised if I don't get a moral or social achievement in the answers.
One might say that formal education is supposed to focus primarily on students' intellect. Moral and social values can be a part of it but a major chunk of formal education cannot be dedicated to these. And these values are supposed to be taught primarily at home. What do you think?
Well, I accept it's true to some extent but then the entire system is haywire. Trust me. It is easy to observe. Just rewind your clocks a bit and try to think about a time when you might have heard some phrases like these.
Around some queue: There's a gap in the queue, go save us a place there.
On some public transport: Don't you dare to leave your seat for someone else.
After receiving an exam result: (S)he got this much % why couldn't you score as much as (or more than) that kid?
While making new friends: Stay away from those kids, they don't speak your tongue/ they aren't like us.
It doesn't matter if you are on the receiving end of such things or you are being asked to do so. If you possess a bit of sense, these would hurt you in a queer way. As I already mentioned parents often drain a lot of money for our education but then many of them choose to stay unaware, and in many cases indifferent, to the fact that offspring are supposed to be better versions of the parents.
Elders make sure that we don't repeat their mistakes. But, how many of them make efforts to prevent us from inheriting their moral and social flaws? Not many I guess.
Some students have learnt to bribe policemen. There are boys who have learnt to objectify girls. Some girls have learnt to objectify themselves. Some young women have learnt to stay home. Some young men have learnt to accept dowry (mostly taken in different forms) in the name of traditions. (I can go on and on)
Some say this generation is woke. I say nope. This generation has learnt the art of metamorphism. I believe we have learnt to bend the concepts enough, to call ourselves woke and still possess a reflection of our ancestral flaws.
Some might say change comes slowly but it does eventually. That's how the evolution of society works. I say ok. Consider these:
To bring a positive change we need more positive things than negative ones.
Assuming that most of the corruption in our country is being propagated through family generations. Being taught to the young ones by their elders.
Educational institutions are generally expected to impart intellectual knowledge and home is the abode for moral and social learning. So, kids are going to imbibe social skills more readily from their parents.
Who do you think is winning in this race of actual education? Schools or, Elders? I believe we all are losing. As a country we might be producing the best engineers, doctors, lawyers and more but are we producing the best people? It matters because we live among people not just professionals.
I have been trying to force these thoughts away but now I believe that we can't rely on our general definition of education. In general, we can't rely solely on elders in the family, to impart enough moral and social skills, for being better offspring. A better generation.
Parents do enough for us. Shouldn't we do more?
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This is a really nice article. Got me thinking and has given me ideas to further my plans towards my dream of a better society.