REVAMPING OUR EDUCATION

Revamping our education: Striving for excellence by Dr. Baptist Croos F.S.C.

The eminent Greek Philosopher wrote, "Education is what remains, when whatever else learnt is forgotten." If what remains is praiseworthy and constructive, it is certainly admirable; we are on the right track. But is what remains is only vandalism, intolerance, indiscipline, destruction and devastation, then it is high time to get alarmed. It’s time to ‘gird up the loins’, to reckon honestly and take effective measures to arrest the decay!


Quality education.

The oft repeated and true to life axiom, "Only quality people can produce quality goods," needs serious consideration. This time-tested and highly esteemed quote in business circles, must be forcibly applied to education, if we want to have excellent results. It is true, "Only quality people can produce quality goods." If I want to improve the quality of my goods, then I have to improve my own quality, my own class, character and personality. In the same vein, we can say, "Only a quality teacher can produce quality students." "Like father, like son," they say. "A chip of the old block, for that matter!


Importance of training:


Any profession requires sufficient training, skills and experience. For example, priests and religious have years of holistic formation and they are thoroughly screened before they are entrusted with various missions and they make a solemn vow or promise for that purpose. A doctor or a surgeon needs adequate training and expertise, before he or she is employed in a hospital. We are aware of the innumerable life-threatening hazards when ‘quakes’ and half-baked professionals take over. In the same way, a teacher worthy of his or her name, must be fully trained and armed with skills and techniques, should have a fair knowledge of pedagogy and psychology, before he or she can handle children. An English proverb says, "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing." If a person is not efficiently formed, then it would be like (to use a crude expression) sending a bull into a China-shop!

Take for example the case of a potter. He takes a lump of clay, moulds it and gives it a shape, say, a flower vase. Then he leaves the flower vase in the sun to dry. When it is dry and hardened, it will retain the shape or the design that the potter had given it! No one can change it. In like manner, a teacher is like a potter and children , the living clay. A teacher forms, shapes and moulds a child who acquires certain characteristic traits and it would not be easy to change them, as it is clearly explained in the following exquisite poem;


I took a piece of living clay,

And gently formed it day by day,

And moulded it with power and art,

A young child’s soft and yielding heart.

I came again when years were gone,

It was a man I looked upon.

He still that early impress bore,

And I could change that form no more!


Example is better than precept:

Children usually learn through examples. If adults are men and women of quality and calibre, children will tend to imitate them and acquire certain virtues and values that will stand them in good stead in the future. If given proper direction and guidance, they will develop their inborn talents and unique personality. For example, a parliament ,for the citizens, is considered the most sacred place, the sacro sanctum, the holy of holies! Because that’s where laws are promulgated after serious debates, weighing the pros and cons – all for the welfare of the nation. Sometimes the proceedings are broadcast or televised. If some of the members of the parliament engage in verbal abuse and use ‘un parliamentary’ words, ending up in fisticuffs, it’s not becoming at all, because they are our leaders, elected by the people, highly respected and entrusted with authority for the well-being of each and every individual. If they misbehave, then what could one expect from the citizens!


Meaning of literacy:

Literacy means more than the ability to read and write. Literacy means discernment, lucidity, insight, the power to reason and arrive at a sensible conclusion. A literate person will be able to distinguish between right and wrong, truth and falsehood, justice and injustice and help his fellow human beings to live a life of peace and harmony. All our learning, research and formation, both religious and secular, should help us become more human, more understanding, tolerant and forgiving. The renowned Russian author Leo Tolstoy, in his masterpiece, "War and Peace" wrote, " I am born a man, now I must become human." One of the foremost Greek Philosopher Epictetus wrote centuries ago," Vain is the discourse of Philosophy, by which no human heart is healed." The principle of education should lead a person to his ultimate conversion. Information leads to formation which in turn leads to transformation.

INFORMATION (Teaching minds) FORMATION (Touching hearts) and TRANSFORMATION ( Transforming lives) While transforming ourselves, we shall be able to transform others as well. One of the aims of education is to cultivate respect for human life, to respect a person made to the image and likeness of God. "Live and let live" should be the guiding motto. You live a good life and help others also to live a good life! So that all of us can live with human dignity and freedom, based on the solid rock called justice!


Knowledge is power:

Some years ago, CNN used to carry a slogan, "Knowledge is power, greater than the force of gravity, lifting us all on wings of technology." At the present juncture, in this modern electronic age, knowledge is at our finger tips. We have only to touch a few button and browse the internet and there is wealth in abundance, an avalanche of information in minute details. Gaining information is not a problem, but shifting through it and getting the correct information needs skills and expertise. That’s where a teacher’s role becomes pivotal. The modern children are screaming at their teachers and elders, "Don’t teach us what to think, we have got our brains, But rather teach us HOW to think and we’ll hitch our wagon to a star!


The urgent need for inspection:

As children we used to wait for our "Inspection Day", because the inspectors were erudite, scholarly, very positive in their approach, efficient in their dealings and very encouraging indeed! The principal, the staff and students looked forward with eagerness, because the inspectors usually paid compliments on our school’s achievements and performances. New methods were taught by those imaginative and lovable inspectors; they used to check the notes of lessons, time-tables, class arrangements and offer useful suggestions. On the whole it was a profitable experience.


Righteousness is the key:

The key to success in any field is righteousness, which means doing the right thing always. Patriarchs and prophets insisted on righteousness whenever and wherever they preached and they were fearless is saying so, because they were men of integrity and decency. About 2300 years ago, the illustrious Chinese Philosopher, the greatest teacher in China summed up his teachings in a sure -formula for peace, based on righteousness. This is called the Confucian principle:


"If there is righteousness in my heart, there will be beauty in my character.

If there is beauty in my character, there will be harmony in my home.

If there is harmony in my home, there will be order in the nation,

If there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world."

300 years later, Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount, proclaimed, "Seek ye therefore first, the Kingdom of God and its RIGHTEOUSNESS and everything shall be added unto you."

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