What is the purpose of education?

What is the purpose of education? Is it just knowing the already well-known facts and figures? Do our students need to spend so much of their precious time in knowing and memorizing only the facts and details, which are already available in the webs of information? Why are the authorities connected with formulating and monitoring such aspects not doing anything about it? Are they not interested in the future generation?

These are all pertinent questions that need immediate and plausible answers, if we have to make the future generation worthwhile and take the world to new heights. Gone are those days, wherein students were made to memorize everything, right from the multiplication tables to scientific and historical facts. Now every conceivable detail (be it science, mathematics, history, finance, economics, psychology….) is available at our finger-tips. There is absolutely no need to cram the facts in our brain. Our brain should be used purposefully and effectively and not to keep facts and figures (as storage), thereby making it less useful for the required purpose.

The aim of education is to instill the ‘thinking power’ in the students. Given the facts and figures, (from available sources), they should be able to dissect, analyze and understand the fundamentals. And they should start questioning the doubtful details. They need not take whatever is given in the text as ‘plain fact’. If they have doubt (after their careful analysis), they should question it and get the answers from the teachers. The teachers have to play a very crucial role in this. The teachers cannot simply recite from the text book and escape.

I am giving a few examples to illustrate my point. Several centuries ago, the earth was thought to be ‘flat’ (not spherical). The scientists who emerged later did not just believe that ‘per se’. They studied the details in depth and came out with the fact that the earth is not flat but spherical and they proved it. Even now scientists are doing research to find the extent of the galaxy. They keep exploring deep. Every now and then, new inventions come out of the labs. It is a constant process and there are innumerous things in the world, waiting to be found.

Even the sayings of great philosophers need not be taken at the face value. Of course, there are very great “quotes” by wise men. Bur, there is nothing wrong in questioning them. If we find them okay, we accept them. If we have some concern, we can certainly express it. The great Chinese philosopher Confucius quotes, ‘Learn avidly. Question it repeatedly. Analyze it carefully. Then put what you have learned into practice intelligently’. ‘The man who asks a question is a fool for a minute; the man who does not ask is a fool for life’.

Ironically, I have one of his (Confucius) quotes to question on. ‘Have no friends not equal to yourself’. Does that mean you have to look down on others who are not equal to you? This means that ‘people of equal merit and demerit only should flock together’. Does that also mean that many people are equal (to befriend)? Every individual is different. And what is the yardstick for ‘equality’? Is it money, position, knowledge…..? When you make friends with people of lower strength, you have the chance to bring them up and when you befriend a person of higher strata, you have a very good chance of rising up to that standard. Okay, this is my thinking. You can have your own take on this.

One of the greatest English scientists Stephen Hawking, who was affected by motor neuron disease (confined to his wheel chair) died in 2018. He was a known atheist. Though his contributions to science are greatly revered, one of his quotes states, ‘those who believe in God, watch this side and that side before crossing a road’. He implies that the believers (as they believe in God) should just cross the road and God should save them. What a nonsensical thought! God has given us eyes, brain and limbs to do the job (crossing the road). Just because he was a well-known scientist, whatever he said need not be taken as an axiom.

What I want to emphasize here is that the students should be molded and trained to study deep, understand it clearly, and if there is any doubt, to question and not just accept what is taught in schools and colleges. Only then, we can produce good citizens to take the world forward. The very purpose of education is to make the students to think and not just memorize the well-known facts.

Another important aspect that should be taught at school level is discipline, piety, humility, compassion etc. That is the purpose of education – to groom the students to become valuable persons in the society. They should be able to guide the people who have lesser knowledge. In this context, I wish to quote some excerpts from a letter written by a Nazi concentration camp survivor (addressed to teachers) - "Help students become human. Your efforts should never produce 'learned monsters', 'skilled psychopaths', 'educated illiterates'. Reading, writing, arithmetic are important, only if they serve making our children more humane".

Will this happen soon enough….?