Education

‘THE WHOLE PURPOSE OF EDUCATION IS TO TURN MIRRORS INTO WINDOWS’

Education has and will continue influencing the lives of human beings. There have been many educated scholars in the past who still continue to impress us by what they said or did. Not only that, there are also the so called ‘not qualified’ who have achieved splendid breakthroughs both in our current times and in the times past. Some of them are Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and Sachin Tendulkar.

            On a personal level, the term ‘Education’ brings the picturesque image of a banyan tree where education in the olden days used to take place. Even now, I feel that, that method of education should be implemented because according to my experience we learn more by observing and doing things by ourselves rather than by following a strict syllabus and giving loads of exams. The only thing that matters here is the amount of degrees or certificates one has to ones name. Sometimes this struggle for a degree ends up with the student being frustrated which eventually leads to suicide.

In his book Emile (1762) Rousseau says that children are naturally good. During their earlier years they should be trained in the class of nature and be kept away from the stifling influence of books. What he means to say is that education is basically a matter of the heart more than the mind. To add to what he says, I feel that education is at its best when the initiative is taken by the student himself/ herself to learn. Here the student takes responsibility and personal interest; hence education becomes much more meaningful and interesting. I can vouch for the fact that the many discoveries I made are still very vividly fresh in my mind. These discoveries have a great significance in my life because I was personally involved in them. In the same way I think that when there is personal involvement and effort there is greater production.

According to the American philosopher John Dewey, education should help students develop effective problem solving methods and skills for social interaction. Education must place its focus on the process rather on the content. The best thing that can happen is students finding truths for themselves. He believed that after a certain amount of time human beings could solve social problems using their experience and intelligence and through inquiry.

            In reality it is difficult to comprehend the power and force that education has and can produce. Education is not only about reading and writing or being able to grasp concepts and simplify them. Nor is it about the way we live in society or about mannerisms. Education is that which transforms a boy into a man or a girl into a woman. It transforms our whole attitude to our own selves as well as towards others. It helps us to come out of our narrow thinking, ego based judgments and selfishness and be more open minded, slow to judge and selfless.

William Butler Yeats rightly says “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” I wholeheartedly agree with what he says. Sometimes it so happens that we think education is like gold which has to be filled by us in our own individual buckets. This is absolutely wrong. Quite the contrary William speaking in line with Sydney. J. Harris says that the main purpose of education is to light a fire in the heart of a student so that s/he may spread the fire to others. The focus of education is to make us other centered beings. However if this doesn’t happen the whole purpose and meaning of education is lost.

            I admire the quote of Sydney. J. Harris ‘The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.’ I personally feel that what he said is quite apt for our current times. Firstly, education today seems to be like a rat race where all students are pacing at the speed of light to get the highest possible grade or percentage. Secondly, it seems to me that those who claim or in reality have ample amount of degrees attached to their name are the ones who are more educated. Hence, the final aim of education here seems to be to get more honour, prestige and of course money. Such an approach to education according to me can be termed as ‘degree education’ where the only aim is to accumulate degrees. Quite the contrary is the aim of education. Education prepares us for membership in the society. I particularly like the link between the two words namely education and society. The context or the background here is very significant. Education here makes sense or has more meaning because it teaches us how to relate with others.

            At the end of it all, I get a feeling that the poor man is a couple of times more educated than the ones who are actually educated. I say this because I imagine a poor man offering his seat to resolve the conflict between two educated businessmen quarreling over the issue of who should sit or whose seat it is. Education according to me should help us to live in harmony and peaceful co-existence and not fuel the fire of our ego.

            Education makes sense when the other is taken into consideration. This is what I feel Mr. Sydney wishes to convey by the use of the word ‘window’. However before this takes place, one needs to know oneself and actualize one’s potential so that reaching out to others becomes easy. For this, the mirror is necessary. What Mr. Sydney says is that we shouldn’t get caught up with the mirror i.e. with ourselves. The end product of education should make us other- centered rather than self- centered according to Mr. Sydney. Reaching out becomes possible only when one has reached within and this is possible only by having the mirror before oneself.

            Both the mirror and the window are essential in the process of education. The mirror helps us to look at ourselves and accept reality, while the window enables us to look at the world outside, people and many other things. Mr. Sydney lays emphasis on the shift from looking at ourselves to looking at others and relating with them. Just as a candle is lit not for itself but to light up the path for others, so also education is at its best when it is done with aim of enlightening the lives of others.