Importance of Positive Education

How to Develop such Education

The present age is being celebrated as the Age of Knowledge and Information. The revolutionary changes in Information Technology, the advent of the Internet and the Web, Cyber-technology and path-breaking innovations in telecommunication, in which India has played a pioneering role, lend credence to this categorisation of our present age. It would indeed seem that the present times are witnessing an explosion of education, with many new and diverse fields of education proliferating across academia.

While one cannot deny the quantitative strides of educational curricula, it is an altogether matter when it comes to the quality of education being dispersed. While we have many renowned universities, colleges and schools to cater to the needs of a vast number of students, the system of education and its content are increasingly a matter of concern. Though our country produces the maximum number of graduates in the world, very few of them can be said to be worthy of dealing with the problems of today's world in any worthwhile way. Put in a nutshell, this is the outcome of a highly negative system of education.

Education really speaking begins at home. Children learn to read at a very early age. In fact, this is a habit that must be inculcated in them at the earliest; the onus for doing do rests on parents. The unfortunate fallout of a fast-paced and modern lifestyle, especially the urban lifestyle is that children have been losing the habit of reading, thanks in no small measure to the onslaught of visual forms of entertainment, particularly the multitude of television channels and multimedia, Internet-based entertainment that offers a direct sensual connect.

This form of entertainment is directly responsible for making the mind restless, and is truer of the minds of children and the young, which are extremely sensitive and impressionable, especially to negative content and messages, which are always packaged in an attractive manner. Since this type of content is flashy and momentary by its very nature, it results in children seeing things practically at the speed of light. Naturally, the scope for any original thinking to germinate, sustain and further develop is practically nil. Moreover, modern entertainment is practically overwhelmed by debilitating forces like sex, violence and catering to the baser instincts of the human mind. The most vulnerable victims are naturally children, with tendencies of disobedience and aggression taking root at a very early age. Social research has confirmed this through many studies and analyses. We are therefore confronted with a very critical situation of the modern education system being unable to find an adequate antidote to this growing phenomenon. Equally, parents and children alike are extremely concerned about their future, but do not know what the future holds in store for them, as they are clearly unable to visualize what is that they want, other than material aggrandizement. One cannot deny that negative entertainment plays a vital role in bringing about this state of affairs.

Brahmacharj Brat Sanjam Nana, Dheeraj Dharam Gyan Bigyana
Sadachar jap jog biraga, sabhay bibek kataku sabu bhaga

The above Chaupai of the Tulsi Ramcharitmanas is a beautiful evocation of the desirable qualities of a student. Great memory, a stable and concentrated mind ultimately lead to the development of free thinking, guided by truth and positive knowledge called Dharma. However, these are not the products of chance, accident or mere desire, but require a sustained process, one we can aptly refer to as positive education.

Ancient India had its gurukul system of education wherein the student had to spend his entire learning life in the abode of his teacher, under his strict eye. This life of iron discipline might appear rigid and outmoded in the context of today's times, but had several positive attributes, chief among which was the inculcation of positive habits and discipline at a very early age, and the training of the young mind according to one's natural aptitude. Not surprisingly, this system of education, which had its roots in rigorous learning by rote produced students who were thorough in their fields of study and were generally to face the world by the time they stepped into adulthood. Though the resuscitation of the gurukul tradition is by no means easy in the present context, society clearly needs to refocus its attention and energies towards the reconstruction of its education system, in order to produce a healthy and sustainable society.

The process has to begin at home, by sowing the reading habit at an early age. It is the responsibility of parents to see that their children are provided with healthy reading material that stimulates the mind and releasers its creative potential. School curricula have to be of course, reoriented to include logical approaches to problem-solving and also positive discipline among students. Let us keep in mind the fact that the wonderful discoveries of science and technology and its benefits are not the outcome of mere luck, but the scientific applications of meditative and focused minds. One's student life is a precious period where all physical and mental energies must be focused upon and devoted to the pursuit of knowledge, which alone can deliver success in life. What has been discovered by the West years after the Renaissance had been contemplated upon by our rishis and munis ages ago after rigorous penance, meditation and analysis. Positive education also demands patience, which has to be imparted by parents and teachers. More over, education, in order to serve its purpose must focus on practices and courses that can promote these qualities in students. Thus, teachers and parents have a special responsibility to bring home the truth to their children and see that they imbibe the qualities of patience, reading (and study) and analysis. The simplest pathway to achieving this goal is through positive actions as well as practical demonstration for children.