The Loss of Education

An expanding economy and a growing middle class have left many of us confused here in India. The IIT’s thought to be the epitome of intellectual prowess in an aspirational country are generally in the news for all the right reasons. Many of the world’s foremost business leaders are from an IIT and they are celebrated as much as are their organisations; however that seems to have changed a tad yesterday. An IITian is alleged to have sent India’s cricket captain an e-threat where he allegedly threatened to rape Virat Kohli’s, year old daughter, for India having lost to Pakistan in a T-20 cricket game in the recent past. The sick man has since been arrested. Even considering the fact that the arrested person is very young the event is bothersome considering that the trigger was an innocuous event.

The point of discussion is why would an educated person carry out an act of lunacy such as this? We also have highly educated fraudsters and for that matter terrorists, which brings home the question, what is the purpose of education? Is acquiring a degree or two, education? Is there something else to sound learning and education and does it impact our lives?

The great thinker Jiddu Krishnamurthy, says that the purpose of education is to create an integrated human being or one who is well rounded with an ability to think originally. The issue as I can see it, in the present, is the lack of a well-rounded education with a broad latitude. Specialised learning offers more lucrative short-term returns, which makes it attractive to many in a country driven by pure aspiration for material well-being. Elon Musk once said "I hate when people confuse education with intelligence, you can have a bachelor's degree and still be an idiot". Krishnamurthy was of the opinion that many people fail to see the value of a broad and liberal education because their parents and teachers fail to do so, causing the rise of a generation of people who believe in an ideal life of well-being and happiness that only exists in the realms of fantasy and one in which originality of thought, ideas and action is missing. An idealists journey, in a world fraught with uncertainty and risk is one of pathos and doubt even as he/she chases that elusive idea at the expense of all else. An idealist fails to appreciate diversion points of view and this eventually leads to issues in a naturally diverse world which has been brought closer due to digitisation and various communication channels in use.

There is an urgent need to shift away from narrowly focussed education and move towards a more broad-based one. After all a recent study from the USA, suggests that those people with better social skills seem to make more money. That should be an incentive in a hard-nosed world. Mark Twain said “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” Maybe it’s time to reclaim our schools and colleges from overzealous specialists who are driven by the short and narrow. There are too many unhappy educated folk, in broken relationships, disgruntled in their jobs and burnt-out, for us not to take notice.