"It is often asserted that the purpose of education is to free the mind and the spirit. In reality, however, formal education tends to restrain our minds and spirits rather than set them free"
I completely jibe with the statement that formal education does tend to restrain our minds and spirits rather than set them free, when its purpose is just the opposite.
Education is supposed to provide the much needed impetus to mankind to strive for achieving newer heights instead of just being didactic. It should be able to instigate the human intellect to think what has not been thought till now; to express in a way never seen or heard of and to reach out to what has been elusive ever since. It won't be incorrect to state that formal education has been quite doctrinaire in its approach. This dogmatic tendency forces an individual to walk down a pre-laid, predetermined path - severely whittling the ways of the unrestrained human mind and spirit.
Numerous examples dot history which conform with this statement fundamentally. Thomas Alva Edison would probably be the most famous instance. Someone who was never interested in social sciences and even mathematics in school, essentially a drop out, is now known to have more than hundred patents to his name which includes the electric bulb - something without which even getting formal education in a classroom might be difficult. Even Einstein wasn't a great student at school and did miserably in subjects including science. He even acknowledged the fact that he did not like studying the way he was taught at school. These and others are countless examples of people making a name in the world of science after having rejected by the society for being unsuitable to get formal education. This only goes on to show how formal education tends to manacle our mind and spirit hardly leaving any room for creativity. It's infact ironical that those very people who never received formal education should form an important component of formal education of future generations.
Go on to the social world and there have been figures like Dalai Lama and Swami Vivekananda, who have actually tried to show the world what the axiom "Education leads to salvation" implies and have gained exalted status due to their approach. Not that they themselves did not undergo formal education, infact Swami Vivekananda was a great scholar, but they always stressed on their view that one needs to free their mind and spirit to experience redemption and this is not possible by the formal education system. These are examples who broke away from the structure of education in search of their souls.
Art, Industry, Literary - you name it and you'll find innumerable instances where formal education has mostly served to pare the wings of young minds and restrained their ebullient creativity. This has been reactionary to the human progress and it would do us a lot of good if we break out of our reverie of formal education being the best thing that ever happened to us. Evidently, formal education does tend to restrain our minds and spirits rather than setting them free.
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40 minutes exactly. 491 words - ehh .. considerably less than last time. I kept restricted myself to 40 minutes instead of 45 because writing an essay sitting in the comfort of my room cannot possibly match the pressure of writing in an examination. My personal feeling just after completing is that I wrote really badly. Infact, somehow I feel I might have digressed from the topic also. Do let me know if you feel that too.
PS1 - #200 in GRE list - again, my bro :)
PS2 - mmmm, maybe you could just leave your comment instead of all the rating thing
PS3 - Tomorrow, viva voce for design lab ... :(
Education is supposed to provide the much needed impetus to mankind to strive for achieving newer heights instead of just being didactic. It should be able to instigate the human intellect to think what has not been thought till now; to express in a way never seen or heard of and to reach out to what has been elusive ever since. It won't be incorrect to state that formal education has been quite doctrinaire in its approach. This dogmatic tendency forces an individual to walk down a pre-laid, predetermined path - severely whittling the ways of the unrestrained human mind and spirit.
Numerous examples dot history which conform with this statement fundamentally. Thomas Alva Edison would probably be the most famous instance. Someone who was never interested in social sciences and even mathematics in school, essentially a drop out, is now known to have more than hundred patents to his name which includes the electric bulb - something without which even getting formal education in a classroom might be difficult. Even Einstein wasn't a great student at school and did miserably in subjects including science. He even acknowledged the fact that he did not like studying the way he was taught at school. These and others are countless examples of people making a name in the world of science after having rejected by the society for being unsuitable to get formal education. This only goes on to show how formal education tends to manacle our mind and spirit hardly leaving any room for creativity. It's infact ironical that those very people who never received formal education should form an important component of formal education of future generations.
Go on to the social world and there have been figures like Dalai Lama and Swami Vivekananda, who have actually tried to show the world what the axiom "Education leads to salvation" implies and have gained exalted status due to their approach. Not that they themselves did not undergo formal education, infact Swami Vivekananda was a great scholar, but they always stressed on their view that one needs to free their mind and spirit to experience redemption and this is not possible by the formal education system. These are examples who broke away from the structure of education in search of their souls.
Art, Industry, Literary - you name it and you'll find innumerable instances where formal education has mostly served to pare the wings of young minds and restrained their ebullient creativity. This has been reactionary to the human progress and it would do us a lot of good if we break out of our reverie of formal education being the best thing that ever happened to us. Evidently, formal education does tend to restrain our minds and spirits rather than setting them free.
_____________________________________________________________
40 minutes exactly. 491 words - ehh .. considerably less than last time. I kept restricted myself to 40 minutes instead of 45 because writing an essay sitting in the comfort of my room cannot possibly match the pressure of writing in an examination. My personal feeling just after completing is that I wrote really badly. Infact, somehow I feel I might have digressed from the topic also. Do let me know if you feel that too.
PS1 - #200 in GRE list - again, my bro :)
PS2 - mmmm, maybe you could just leave your comment instead of all the rating thing
PS3 - Tomorrow, viva voce for design lab ... :(
1 Comment:
i am having diffifulty in understanding the word restrain in "formal education does tend to restrain our minds and spirits rather than set them free, when its purpose is just the opposite."
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