Are we EDUCATED?
One morning when I was on my
way to college, something wrapped in a paper was thrown out of a very
expensive car. In the college, after the last lecture everybody
rushed out of the class but nobody bothered to switch off the fans.
On my way back home, on ‘that’ particular spot as usual spotted
couples getting intimate on the roadside which is a public place. On
the same day at our dinner table after sharing lots of gags with each
other, we got lost in our so called ‘smart phones’. These and
many such incidents provoked me to think ‘WHAT
ARE WE REALLY DOING? AND WHY?’…. ‘AREN’T WE CIVILISED?’,
‘AREN’T WE EDUCATED ENOUGH?’
and I guess at least I started to look for the answers.
“We are all in the
gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”
As per the societal norms,
education means getting multiple degrees, highly paid jobs, plush
apartments, expensive cars, hi-tech gadgets, flying across
countries. That’s all, right? But tell me friends;is it enough to
call you educated? All these
questions made me define what
education should be
like. According
to me,an
ability to use
the
knowledge for the
betterment of us
and the that we live in
society will make us educated.
Teachers think that their duty
is just to
complete the syllabus in the specified time. Students think that
their duty is to write the correct
answer in the
examination. No one cares about acquiring knowledge. With one or more
degrees from a reputed institute will certainly make you a literate
human
being thus
increasing the literacy percentage of your country.
A teacher of mine once said to us in class “If you guys don't
study, it is your loss only. I will get my salary at the end of month
irrespective of how bad you guys perform.” Yes…
This is the story all around.
We Indians think
that “Schooling
and education are synonymous.
But there is a thin
line
between being ‘Literate’ and being ‘Educated’.Getting
acquainted to the facts and figures about the things
is being literate and applying this
knowledge for the betterment of our society is what we call being
educated. I think the time has come to redefine the education for our
generation.
“Mind is not a problem. Mindset is.”
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“Mind is not a problem. Mindset is.”
Today’s education system is
actually creating students who are only curriculum oriented, hungry
for marks, lack
common sense, materialistic. The system fails to teach the basic and
sensible things that are needed to be taught to a child by our
teachers, parents, guardians. Even if somehow we are guided,we tend
to ignore it. We think today it does
no harm
to me and ‘kuch
nahi hota’ ‘jaane de agli baar dekhenge’. We
do not think that small things ignored today will cost us huge
amount tomorrow.
If not us, certainly to our future
generations.
“Academics should be your
first priority, but not your only priority.”
Unfortunately, our
co-curricular activities lack
behind a lot which would actually produce a well developed
individual. We
end up being egoistical, self
centered, orthodox, jealous
individuals.
There is more
negativity than positivity in us.“Every
saint has a past,every sinner has a future.”
We often
make an opinion about a person on the basis of his/her earnings,looks
and their academic
grades rather than his/her
intelligence. “There
is never a better measure of a person than how
that person behaves with other
person who can't do any good for
him/her.”It
is just about the 'I'
thing. Always! We lack patience. We want every thing right now. We
are so very living the world of two minute noodles. “Patience
is not just waiting, but how you behave while you are waiting.”
As we know that the generation
has major issues to think of like climate change, disasters, nature
destruction, environmental degradation, water scarcity, lack of
energy resources, farmer suicides, corruption, and failure of
government policies. We need to address these issues as our first
priority. I personally feel that many of us are not even aware of
these issues.
Today we lack general
awareness. We never try to look into the issues around us. Until it
drags us or someone close
to us into a mess. We lack skills.
We are good at some but never try to perfect them.
We are happy with what we have today coz.
it is enough
to satisfy our
today’s needs.
The phrase ‘Jack
of all but master of none’
suits us very well.
We, the smart humans of
today know nothing
but just to be on the safer side or to be in so called ‘comfort
zone’. We
ignore these ‘choti choti magar moti batien’.
Even our parents always try to keep us in comfort zones but the real
lessons of life start when we come out of these comfort zones.
We always think what my small
action will cost? What my small action will change? Though the answer
is known to each of us! At
times we think that wasting a page of paper, a bucket of water can’t
do any harm but this attitude carried by millions of people like us
will definitely lead to loosing very scarce resources and we are
losing them day by day just because of our sheer ignorance.
We know the amount of problems the world is facing. Our current
attitude is not doing any good in solving these
problems but we are adding more problems to the
existing bunch.
“It
doesn't matter how attractive you look. If your heart is ugly, you
are ugly.” We
tend to spend most of our earnings
on apparels which make us look beautiful from
outside but
hardly have we spent on buying books which make us beautiful from
inside. We find reading as a hobby very rare in
today’s generations. When I say books, I am not talking about your
academic books, romantic novels, fictions.
I am talking
about biographies, motivational books, good blogs, editorials in news
papers etc. Watching documentaries on different topics and talks by
experts on specialized domains. We have a
large pool of documentaries
on the INTERNET
and talk websites like TED talks, Ink talks are great sources of
expert talks. These things will surely widen
the domain
of your thinking.[3]
“There is hardly any
difference between one who does not read and one who cannot read.”
Most of our time is spent on social media platforms such as whats app, facebook etc. , watching movies and television series which serves
to fulfill only a limited dose of knowledge. But have you ever tried spending some time on Quora, Reddit ?
These
are
also social networking sites
but have much broader community of sensible content creators. We
waste food while eating just because we can afford it easily. We lack
sensitivity. We are not sensitive enough to help a blind person cross
the road, to teach poor son or daughter of our maid, to make those
people smile who are suffering from fatal diseases. Why would we do
it? No profit at all in the process. No glamor anywhere.
We never try to find the truth
behind the issues. We have become blind followers. “Not
knowing is OK but not trying to know is unacceptable if you want to
call yourself educated.”
We instantaneously believe what is shown on a news channel, a post
shared with us on social media to be true without inspecting its
authenticity. Does our education system teach us these things?
The responsibility to bring
the change is shared at
different levels
of society especially
by teachers,
parents and us. I am not going to tell what you should do to change
the situation. If you
are educated, you would find a way out. This is an
attempt from my side to give you a 'Wake
up call'.
Time to act.
“Don't wait. The time
will never be just right.”
I am not stopping you from
dreaming and living a luxurious life. But the time has come to
redefine our dreams and luxuries. It is just that we should keep in
mind our responsibilities towards our country , our society and our
coming generations. We should change our approach from 'I' to 'WE'.
I would like to give a small
checklist to
find out the
category in
which you fall- a
literate or an educated? Judge
yourself !
- Do you know that even a single vote matters? After getting the right have you voted every time?
- Do you know the meaning of our National Anthem?
- Are you saving electricity by switching off unnecessary appliances wherever you see them?
- Do you turn off your vehicle at traffic signal coz it will save fuel and will reduce pollution?
- Do you bother to complain about damaged pipeline where liters of water is being wasted?
- How much time do you spend with yourself in a day? When was the last time you spoke to yourself?
- Do you know the importance of nutritional food and exercises for better health? If yes, do you implement it?
- Do you know the corporator, MLA, MP of your constituency and work done by them?
- Do you play at least one sport regularly?
- Do you take carry bags with you from home while going to the market?
- Have you appreciated someone’s hard work in last 7 days?
- Do you read newspaper daily?
Lastly, just want to tell you
that start living a Happy Life because it is the only thing that counts.
“
A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but
rather a person with a certain set of attitudes.”
Do visit following links. You will get to know what is going wrong with us and the system.
6. https://www.quora.com/Which-is-the-most-underrated-profession-in-India
7.https://www.quora.com/What-do-people-of-other-nations-do-very-easily-that-Indians-cant.
7.https://www.quora.com/What-do-people-of-other-nations-do-very-easily-that-Indians-cant.
