What is education for? Why is education necessary? Answers to these questions are both plain sailing and baffling. These answers can lead to unending debates, bitter arguments and like-minded agreements. From the age of a tot, we have been stressed upon the fact of education. Education is the the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university.
In the medieval age education had an all together different meaning. Education in that era meant empirical training, adroitness capability and life ethics. At those whiles’ education was more insightful. The students were taught to handle realistic hassles. The relation between the Guru(teacher) and the Shishya(student) was one of spiritual reciprocity. The guru provided guidance and knowledge on the spiritual path and the shishya reciprocated with obedience and devotion. The students did not have elegant houses or snuggly beds. Discomfort was deemed as the path to success. The students had to leave their families at an early age and live in the Gurukul with other fellow mates. The Gurukul wasn’t a prodigious extravagant building. Gurukul was located amidst the serene lap of mother nature. However, if we disregard the advantages for a moment, we get to realise the bad aspects. Disadvantages like barred entry for females and lower caste. The Guru was like the law book and nobody could argue with his preaching. While we compare the Gurukul system with the modern education system none of them are perfect. Each of them has their assets and liabilities.
I quote Bill Keane “Yesterday’s the past, tomorrow’s the future, but today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present.” We need to understand that gurukuls were suitable and acceptable by the society in those times. Today the world has evolved. The society has broadened the orthodox frame of mind. Currently education has become an indispensable aspect of every person’s life. Education has one principle and that is to prepare pupil for life. Life throws at us various challenges at every turn. “What if I had chosen the other path?”, a question which inevitably arises in everyone’s life, but as it does, the choice of making the decision is long gone. Wouldn’t Robert Frost agree if I assert that one cannot retrace their choices. The dilemma of selecting the right is an integral conscious decision, which comes with enduring consequences. The answer to such an irrefutable question comes with familiarity to hindrances. This is why education is highlighted and given the spot light. Education brings us up in a methodical manner. This way the students are able to learn and reciprocate better to encounters. The meaning of a word does not stay static. It’s meaning changes over time. Same way, the meaning of education has advanced with technology. The times when leaves and tree barks were used to write is long gone. Now the period is of smartboards and virtual teaching. Indisputably even today’s education system has about blemishes and errors, but it is most suitable for the advancing age.
Education is often synonyms to a settled life, a good job and a conventional comfortable lifestyle. I have habitually heard parents underlining the importance of schooling as a job or an easy go in a university. This form of education is not primarily for empirical learning but a job and a settled life. There’s a huge difference between educated and literate. “Literacy”, the ability to read and write, is often equated with “education”, but is not the same. Literacy is a step to education. For me, education is the complete development of a person in terms of knowledge, sensibility and most important, behaviour in different situations. Being educated means we are literate, while being a literate doesn’t imply that we are educated. In terms of life confrontations being literate is not amply. To cope with the real-life challenges, one needs to be experienced. This is when pragmatic knowledge finds its way in. Experience comes with age as it is said. Although experience comes with the use of education. The more the proficiency, the more it gets easy to tackle circumstances.
The real meaning of education is acquiring knowledge to live an untroubled life. Education is frequently bounded to age. Schooling is a process that keeps on till death. This is the “School of Life.” Not only young children but mature adults keep learning with life. Every challenge in life is corresponding to a new learning stage. In today’s the world there has been consistent attempts to include skill training and realistic learning is the school curriculum. Education is not a degree; education is not grading. It is way beyond that. All we need to do is to open our thoughts to a free-flowing abundance of knowledge.
Education is undoubtedly important. However, limiting it to age, scores a good degree is where we become wrong. Education helps in securing –
1. A job
2. A good lifestyle
3. Helps the economy
4. Makes us knowledgeable
5. Equal opportunities and many more.
Education is momentous but not a qualification. We need to allow ourselves to accept today’s dynamic society. We should be a good observer and an avid learner. If you are ready to learn, you are ready for life because that’s all life’s about.
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