-----------Education
Social development occurs due to a synergy of two things। 1) Individual competition। 2) Society’s Caravan approach.
In the competition model, an individual is free to forge ahead to the extent that the society permits him to, but in a caravan model it is binding to take along weaker individuals as well. A harmony between the two is an ideal system. The western model is far off from the caravan model and communism has no incentive for individual competitiveness. Prior to the nineties, India was devoid of any model of development. Post liberalization, we are running at breakneck speed on the competition model super highway.
Education is vital in the competitive model. An educated person is undoubtedly more successful in the material progress of himself, his family and his nation than an uneducated person, but this education has been more of a hindrance rather than of any help as regards to the issues of social order and justice. Education has no consequence whatsoever on the character of an individual. Education merely enhances skill and induces capacity augmentation.
If a criminally inclined individual attains higher education, he will be able to commit crimes with that much more finesse. Conversely, an individual inclined to be a keen watcher will become a policeman and and will investigate crimes in a better way on attaining education. Education is a weapon and its application is dependent upon the user weather for social purpose or anti-social.
Education expansion has undoubtedly helped India reach the top of the world order but simultaneously it has to be accepted that it has resulted in unbridled corruption, moral turpitude, and newer dimensions to crimes. If the credit goes to education, the blame too lies at its altar.
It is due to the effect of education that educated people have found out newer ways of labor exploitation and moreover amusingly, convinced the proletariat that this scheme is beneficial to them too. Education exhorts us to uni-directionally keep looking ahead, but sadly does not develop the tendency to look back and evaluate.
Tendencies are primes by genes, family atmosphere and social environment. Tendencies that develop as a result of these three factors are augmented by education. It is our misfortune that in independent India, we have never bothered about family structure and social environment. The Indian Constitution has not found words like family and society worth incorporating, leave alone assigning them their sphere of influence. Resultantly, the tendencies have steadily deteriorated and education has magnified the residual appalling tendencies.
Today, every sociologist, religious head and intellectual contains himself to criticizing the education system rather than discuss the truth regarding education. Some blame McCauley, others blame something else. Surprisingly, none advocate an ideal system. The simple reason is that nothing of idealistic consequence can be achieved by education itself. Education is not a seed as in agriculture. It is the manure and needs to be seen in that light. Manure cannot change the characteristics of a seed; it can only augment its original traits. If comparable education could not influence homogenous results in Duryodhana and Yudhishtira in Mahabharat times, it is futile to think it will do so today.
I am fully convinced that education has been successful in all the aspects for which it was intended for, but other results that we wish for is not a subject matter of education but rather a topic of tendencies.
If instead of depending upon education, we concentrate on family atmosphere and social environment, the tendencies so generated will be constructive and then education will automatically augment them to a higher level. For this to occur, the Indian Constitution will have to incorporate words like family and society in its vocabulary and allocate them certain rights.
The word “education” too has metamorphosed over time. In pre-industrial times, it was the training imparted to an individual over a lifetime by the triad of family, society and wise men. In post-industrialized vocabulary, education has become synonymous with regimented schooling. We need to distinguish between the two. Education widens an individuals’ horizon. Regimented schooling merely enhances his inherent traits.
