Actual Meaning Of Education

What is education? A parcel of books? Not at all, but intercourse with the world, with men, and with affairs.

____ Edmund Burke

The great task of education is not merely to collect facts but to know man and to make oneself to man.

____ R.N. Tagore

The modern philosophers and educators regard education as of prime significance, which is central to the transformation of the human mind and the creation of one universal culture and religion. Such a fundamental transformation can only take place when the child, while being trained in various skills and disciplines, is also taught the processes of his / her own thinking, feeling and action- all independently. But the present system of education in our country is such that in a school the mind is crammed with bookish knowledge and facts before it knows how to think. Swami Vivekananda has, therefore, said-

"Control of mind should be taught first. If I had any education to get over again and had any voice in the matter, I would learn to master my mind first, and then gather facts if I wanted them."

Truly, if we knew how to think and how to control our mind we would be masters of both the internal and external worlds.

There is a growing realization that the present day education has become soulless in that most of the people who are working in the government sector and most of the politicians who are supposed to be torch-bearers are setting bad examples for the younger generation. When moral values degenerate, corruption sets in. An education that does not inculcate basic values in us is worse than ignorance and illiteracy. At a function held in Gandhinagar (Gujrat) in February, 204, our president, Dr. A.P.J.Abdul Kalam conceded that "no amount of laws would be able to wipe out corruption in public life unless education was made value-based." Stressing that "charity begins at home", he said, "only the parents and the elementary school teachers could teach the children the of value system in life."

Read more here:Learning To Build A Bright Future By Radharaman Agarwal