Me, India, and Education
Again.. the following excerpt is from an email that I wrote... most of it repeats stuff that I've said in various places in the blog:
It's good to be here... but I'm trying to get some real projects that I can be responsible for, WHILE I also observe and learn.... but it's been difficult actually getting my hands on anything concrete, yet.
But, still... there's just so much uncertainty about what I'm doing with myself, and my future... that it's difficult for me to maintain a peace-of-mind... although, it's there ... off-and-on.
Sometimes... there's this urge - man, I need to do something now... there's so much crap going on in the world, in India... i want to get involved to fight against it. Then, every-now-and-then, there's this urge to return to my peaceful suburbian existence back in California.
But, overall... I feel alright here... =)
The one thing I do know... is that my future path doesn't involve very much money, nor do I care much for the green stuff (or multi-colored stuff here in India)... as long as I got food, shelter, water, and clothing... I'm good to go.
What are my thoughts bout India??? My thoughts are that each nation much follow its own path, just as each individual must.... yet India continues trying to trace the steps of the West (on the macro scale - politically and economically). India is a land of 1 billion people with 70% still living in villages. It has a higher percentage of farmable land than any country of the world, of significant size. It's in its best interest to maintain the sustainability of its villages... not sell-out its villages to multi-national corps and more comforts for the wealthy and powerful living in the cities. India post-independence... the "main-stream" systems in place are ruled by fear... politicians use fear to control, police use fear to control, and the school systems use fear to control. HOWEVER, there's a WHOLE nother world to India... that is only seen by those who seek it... and that's the India of complete freedom... complete freedom to do whatever you want... freedom to become a sadhu, freedom to start an ashram, freedom to get into whatever field you wish to, freedom to conduct whatever experiment you want to experiment, freedom to become a monk, etc. There's a freedom to think and believe whatever you want to believe... the freedome to seek Truth... and I think that's inherent in the "Indian" being... not a result of any political policy, any system, etc....
Education... my views... I don't know... there's practicality... and then, there's what the world needs... there's trying to acheice Truth. What's the goal of education -- teaching a child that x^10/x^4 reduces to x^6??? Or enabling a child to see the Reality of the world today... opening up the child's eyes to the world around him? For now... this is what I think the goal of education should be - I think the main idea should be to develop those skills, abilities, faculties of a child that will enable them to FREE their mind. Enable them to observe and learn on their own, think on their own, and through this to really get a vision of what Reality is.
What does it mean to "free" one's mind? It means to be able to be constantly aware of the conditioning that is bombarding our minds - from advertisements, to media, to even parents, and education! Once we are cleared of all this conditioning, we'll begin seeing the Reality of the world around us. (These skills of observation and awareness can be brought about through education) Once one realizes their relation with all human beings and with all of nature, they'll begin to care about the disorder of the world. (Sensitivity, the reality of our relationships with each other and with nature can be brought about through education) Once Reality is seen, once the disorder of the world is realized, one can then creatively come to solutions. (Creativity and problem solving can be brought about through education).
Or... we can just come up with better methods to teach math, science, english, history, geography, etc.. and just be happy with that. =) (sarcasm) I'm not knocking it... because I think these "better methods" are developing VARIOUS faculties of the mind of the child - multiple intelligences, different ways of learning, etc..... but, there's still something missing. Maybe it's the actual content that needs to be changed? Maybe it is the methodology... maybe we have to teach through things that are more REAL... not books, workbooks, chalkboards, toys, etc.
I don't know.... this is where I'm at right now.
Then, there's another side of me that says.. maybe I need to go teach somewhere for a year or two.... soo, I really know what it's all about....
It's good to be here... but I'm trying to get some real projects that I can be responsible for, WHILE I also observe and learn.... but it's been difficult actually getting my hands on anything concrete, yet.
But, still... there's just so much uncertainty about what I'm doing with myself, and my future... that it's difficult for me to maintain a peace-of-mind... although, it's there ... off-and-on.
Sometimes... there's this urge - man, I need to do something now... there's so much crap going on in the world, in India... i want to get involved to fight against it. Then, every-now-and-then, there's this urge to return to my peaceful suburbian existence back in California.
But, overall... I feel alright here... =)
The one thing I do know... is that my future path doesn't involve very much money, nor do I care much for the green stuff (or multi-colored stuff here in India)... as long as I got food, shelter, water, and clothing... I'm good to go.
What are my thoughts bout India??? My thoughts are that each nation much follow its own path, just as each individual must.... yet India continues trying to trace the steps of the West (on the macro scale - politically and economically). India is a land of 1 billion people with 70% still living in villages. It has a higher percentage of farmable land than any country of the world, of significant size. It's in its best interest to maintain the sustainability of its villages... not sell-out its villages to multi-national corps and more comforts for the wealthy and powerful living in the cities. India post-independence... the "main-stream" systems in place are ruled by fear... politicians use fear to control, police use fear to control, and the school systems use fear to control. HOWEVER, there's a WHOLE nother world to India... that is only seen by those who seek it... and that's the India of complete freedom... complete freedom to do whatever you want... freedom to become a sadhu, freedom to start an ashram, freedom to get into whatever field you wish to, freedom to conduct whatever experiment you want to experiment, freedom to become a monk, etc. There's a freedom to think and believe whatever you want to believe... the freedome to seek Truth... and I think that's inherent in the "Indian" being... not a result of any political policy, any system, etc....
Education... my views... I don't know... there's practicality... and then, there's what the world needs... there's trying to acheice Truth. What's the goal of education -- teaching a child that x^10/x^4 reduces to x^6??? Or enabling a child to see the Reality of the world today... opening up the child's eyes to the world around him? For now... this is what I think the goal of education should be - I think the main idea should be to develop those skills, abilities, faculties of a child that will enable them to FREE their mind. Enable them to observe and learn on their own, think on their own, and through this to really get a vision of what Reality is.
What does it mean to "free" one's mind? It means to be able to be constantly aware of the conditioning that is bombarding our minds - from advertisements, to media, to even parents, and education! Once we are cleared of all this conditioning, we'll begin seeing the Reality of the world around us. (These skills of observation and awareness can be brought about through education) Once one realizes their relation with all human beings and with all of nature, they'll begin to care about the disorder of the world. (Sensitivity, the reality of our relationships with each other and with nature can be brought about through education) Once Reality is seen, once the disorder of the world is realized, one can then creatively come to solutions. (Creativity and problem solving can be brought about through education).
Or... we can just come up with better methods to teach math, science, english, history, geography, etc.. and just be happy with that. =) (sarcasm) I'm not knocking it... because I think these "better methods" are developing VARIOUS faculties of the mind of the child - multiple intelligences, different ways of learning, etc..... but, there's still something missing. Maybe it's the actual content that needs to be changed? Maybe it is the methodology... maybe we have to teach through things that are more REAL... not books, workbooks, chalkboards, toys, etc.
I don't know.... this is where I'm at right now.
Then, there's another side of me that says.. maybe I need to go teach somewhere for a year or two.... soo, I really know what it's all about....
posted by Raj Kanani | 10:30 PM
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