1. The principles of education are based on the concept of life and the aim of existence directed by the nature of its structure and the prevailing conditions of the environment in which we live. 2. It is taken for granted, usually, on the basis of observation and experiment conducted through the methods of empirical science, that the universe is formed of physical, biological and psychological units, called things, entities or persons, which, when selected and studied in their isolated capacity, are known as individuals and, when taken in groups, their kindred characters go by the name of society. 3. The educational process has normally been a series of techniques in studying and gathering information on the objects of sensory perception and mental cognition, which are supposed to constitute the environment of man.

Opinion
   26/06/2018
            1289.

Sub :-

1. The principles of education are based on the concept of life and the aim of existence directed by the nature of its structure and the prevailing conditions of the environment in which we live.

2. It is taken for granted, usually, on the basis of observation and experiment conducted through the methods of empirical science, that the universe is formed of physical, biological and psychological units, called things, entities or persons, which, when selected and studied in their isolated capacity, are known as individuals and, when taken in groups, their kindred characters go by the name of society.

3. The educational process has normally been a series of techniques in studying and gathering information on the objects of sensory perception and mental cognition, which are supposed to constitute the environment of man.

Ref  :-
Education and Culture : Swami Krishnananda
Part-1.

I.

1. On the supposition that the units forming the human environment are outside the subject of perception and cognition, educational institutions have been including in the curriculum of studies such themes as mathematics, astronomy and physics; chemistry, biology and psychology; sociology, civics and economics; geography, history and politics. To these primary subjects of study were dovetailed certain accepted doctrines of ethics, philosophy, religion and aesthetics, founded on the assumption that persons and things are independent units contained in the cup of the universe, almost like pebbles filled in a bottle, heaped together in mechanical contacts with one another but individually enjoying absolute independence, each for itself.

2. This vision of the universe is practically the basis of modern educational philosophy and psychology and its implementation in the teaching field of institutions. We, thus, hear students being asked to choose a group of subjects among the several enumerated above and then obtain a pass or a degree after a course of learning how to add, subtract, multiply, divide or measure factors of computation in arithmetic, algebra and geometry, how things behave on observation of their bodies, how they act and react on one another – in short, what is the result of an empirical investigation of the visible structure and behaviour of perceived objects.

II.

1. The whole system of present day education may be called mechanistic in the sense that it takes the relationship of things among themselves in the light of physical contact of a permutation and combination of essentially dissimilar characters brought together into action by chance movements of things or by a pressure exerted by factors which are wholly external to their individual make or constitution.

2. All this naturally implies that we do not live in a world of any inner bond of friendly relationships but are basically formed of elements, characters and aims foreign to one another, which cannot ultimately be united into a real, vital fraternity of mutual relationship. We seem to be living in a billiard ball universe where things are scattered at random in space and they appear to be working in reciprocal contact, collaboration and cooperation either by mere accident or due to sheer selfishness which needs a certain kind of assistance from others for the fulfilment of their objectives.

3. Whether the world is ruled by chance or by the selfishness of its essential nature, it does not, on this supposition, appear to be anything more than a medley of soulless activities of ultimately purposeless motions of mindless forces with an unintelligible intention that seems to be lurking and struggling behind the deepest core of each individual unit, whether inorganic or organic, physical, biological or psychological.

III.

1. This would be, naturally, the picture of the universe with which modern science provides us, and an educational system rooted in the perspective of such a scientific analysis and deduction would obviously be mechanistic, soulless, nonpurposive and an altruistic camouflage of a basically selfish intention of every individual.

2. To put it more plainly, the form of the educational career can carry with it no other purpose in the end than to perpetuate a physically and egoistically comfortable existence – to wit, the acquisition of food, clothing and shelter; gain of name, fame and power, and the like – and where the purpose of education has been recognised to cover such fields as the welfare and protection of other persons than one's own self, it would be easily discovered that it is only an extension of these circumstances of the psychophysical individual, for an interest in others is seen to be conducive to an intensification of the satisfaction of these urges as well as to furnish better chances of their fulfilment.

IV.

1. This is really the unpleasant secret that comes to the surface of one's observation behind the so-called noble efforts of man, based on this educational wisdom, born of this view of the universe. This should also explain why man has always been feeling insecure in an unfriendly environment, irrespective of a love for others and a sense of brotherhood which he has been demonstrating and apparently working for externally, for these otherwise noble virtues are based on false values and cannot hold water for long.

2. An outward form of cooperation and friendly relationship founded on an essentially self-assertive and unfriendly attitude cannot be regarded as having any meaning, ultimately. The truth, when it is clearly put, would appear to be that we live in a world of love and cooperation that arise from an internal dislike for and irreconcilability with others.

3. Such is the world, such is life, and such is man's fate, when such is the structure and aim of our general attitude and our education. One cannot expect students and teachers to behave in a way that is not demanded by the essential nature of things. This is modern education in its plain colour, when its foundations are probed adequately.

V

1. As interest, love and cooperation are characteristics of the soul, these qualities cannot be expected from any soulless system of education based merely on the mechanics of a physical observation and study of inorganic matter, even if it be the study of the solar and stellar systems and the electromagnetic core of atoms, which, science tells us, are the building bricks of the cosmos.

2. If science is right in its proclamation of such results based entirely on the association of dissimilar entities forming the ultimate fact of creation, man can never hope for peace or gain freedom worth the name.

VI.

1.But is this true? The untiring hopes and aspiration of man are a standing refutation of these deductions devolving from a reliance on materialistic science and behaviourist psychology. Human longing has always been for the achievement of absolute freedom and perpetual peace, with a consciousness of this achievement which implies that consciousness must be capable of reaching a state of absoluteness which must be one of immortality and non-exclusive universality.

2. Minus these profounder implications of the aims of life, which are amply manifested by every man in his everyday life, human endeavour would be a blatant futility at best a perpetual self-deception, heading towards one's own doom. That a unitive, non-mechanistic, universal purpose is at work behind the mechanised urges and relation, of men and things is proved by the very existence and irrepressibility of aspiration.

3. And, that the educational process has to be re-oriented and transformed into a process o vital evolution of a soulful aim of every individual come naturally to high relief. There is in life a divine core of basically spiritual reality, hiddenly present in all things.

VII.

1.That the universe is primarily a 'Kingdom of Ends', wherein every individual unit is an essence of selfhood rather than a means of utility or exploitation for other individuals that this aim of a collective organisation of 'ends' and 'selves' is the basic ideal of all pursuit of knowledge;

2. that education is a systematised process of unfolding gradually this essential fact of all life; that it calls for a parallel advancement along the lines of greater and greater unselfishness and inclusive consciousness of existence tending finally toward the realisation of a Universal Selfhood;

3. that material amenities and economic needs and the satisfaction of one's emotional side are permissible only so long as this law and order of this eternal truth of the liberation of the Self in universality of being regulates their fulfilment; and that, thus, the whole of the life of an individual is one of studentship and learning in the light of broader and broader outlooks in life which lie ahead of oneself at every stage, are to constitute the vitality and meaning of the educational process.

4. Education is the creative evolution of the total man towards the realisation of his cosmic significance, passing through his personality, the society and the world.The educational process, therefore, has to begin with the external world of observation, Nature and society; then go deeper inward into the conditioning factors of mind and consciousness in the observation of the outer world; leading, in the end, to an enlightenment in the universal purpose ranging beyond and determining both the world and the individual.

DARK NOTE :-

1•According to a study by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council, 90% of the colleges and 70% of the universities that the council graded were of middling or poor quality. The standard of school education has stagnated too. In rural India, there is no teaching activity on about 50% of the working days in the primary schools.

2•There is an endemic shortage of teachers with even the IITs reporting a 20% to 30% shortfall in faculty. Indian universities, if one goes by average, revise their curricula only once in 5 to 10 years but by then they get defeated in both letter and spirit.

3•Corruption is the by-word in higher education having become rampant and institutionalized due to over-regulation by the government and multiplicity of education agencies leading to what else but stagnation in this very vital sector of education.

4•The lack of good institutions has seen cut-off percentages for entry into good colleges soar to almost impossible levels (at Delhi’s SRCC college, this percentage was as high as 98.75). There is an undue pressure to do well in the secondary board exams because of which the suicidal tendency has grown alarmingly.

BRIGHT NOTE :-

 Almost 50% of the country’s population is below 25 years. Almost 10% of them or 120 million are between the ages of 18 and 23. Let them have both knowledge and skills; they could surely drive India’s competitive and entrepreneurial spirit and transform it into a major global power. 

CONCLUSION :-

Preference for good marks/grades over being knowledgeable, lack of encouragement for thinking out of the box (asking questions in the class is considered rude and seldom encouraged;

Almost non-existent practice of extra reading; education restricted to prescribed textbook and help/guide books, and that too limited to 24 hrs. before the examination day!), rigid and outdated syllabi/curriculum, heavily underpaid professors/teachers (bright minds stay away from this career;

Professors don’t show much zeal for teaching, they just “go through” the motions), only a few colleges with good quality of education where you have to be in the top elite to gain admission besides there being a lack of passion for education in the real sense (most students go for engineering/medicine on the advice of “elders”

JAIHIND
VANDEMATHARAM