Editor’s note – The author argues about how, today, we are just manufactured to be standardized products while the true passion for knowledge that used to exist in the pages of history is lost with time.
Author’s note – When I see myself in mirror, I ask myself who is this person you see and how is he different from millions around you? Then I think and try to find out the answers, and I realize we all are same – manufactured and ordinary. Then I try to find out the reason for it and I walk in the dimension of time to get an answer. And this is what I realize…
When I look back and turn around the pages of history and analyze them, I realize that since Renaissance the love and obsession for knowledge has decreased gradually over the time. Today, in 21st century, everything is governed by ‘Profit’. Everything is commercialized- arts, sciences, religion, culture and what not. And the most adverse effect of this Commercialization process supported by the corporate sector and the governments around the world has been on Education in 21st century. Let me elaborate.
There was a time of Newton and Einstein, whose quest of knowledge and love for sciences has led us where we stand today. There was a time of Gibran and Russell, whose writings and philosophy found synchronization with the societal elements and has led to psychological development of the modern civilized world. All the major breakthroughs in the field of applied arts and sciences are rooted to that 'Golden Era' where profit was not the motive. The intention of scientists, philosophers and artists was to quench the thirst of their soul and to devote their life to it without thinking of any material gains. The painful rummaging through old texts, failed experiments, denouncement form society-nothing came between them and their love and passion for knowledge and excellence in their field. It was such a brilliant era.
In the Indian Subcontinent, this time was a millennium ago, when gurukuls served as the knowledge houses of the region and gave unparalleled gifts to human civilization in sciences and arts. These gurukuls made man a real man with his individuality, not a standardized manufactured product. They allowed them to explore the nature and world on their own terms and we see what those individuals’ endeavors have given to this world.
Today, the scene is just the opposite. Everything is commercialized. Nothing is taught or studied, unless it does not add in some value to secure a job. From the beginning, a child is taught to stress on achieving the results. It doesn’t even matter how you get to the results. And in this labyrinth, the children forget their identity, forget their individuality and when they come out, they are the same as everyone else who came out, a generic product, nothing more, nothing less. That fervor is no more, where a reader reads for days only to gain knowledge, where a scientist performs experiments without caring about the end results, where poets like Wordsworth and Tagore sit days and nights with nature to explore more about the relationship between man and nature. And, the reason is that a child is never allowed to develop that kind of passion. This reminds me of the movie ‘Taare Zameen Par’ and the protagonist child, who has to pass through a series of unfortunate events before his identity is recognized. In the same manner, we forget the individuality of a human being but we should remember that there is nothing common between us except for the fact that we are all humans. I mean to say we’re all very unique. Today, we have a great pool of doctors, engineers and even so called scientists but those scientists who nurtured science since they were children are gone. We have doctorates in arts and philosophy, who study Socrates and Kant but do not bother to follow their methods to discover the new dimensions of philosophy. We have poets who write for magazines and newspapers but the spirit to write for society has gone. Thanks to our ignorance.
We all are manufactured products of today's commercialized world, I am, and you are or would be; where result is decided before the endeavor even starts. It has become a complex mesh of degrees, all for the sake of a job and superior employability. Students are not given a chance to ask questions to them, to understand the depth of the subject, to experiment themselves what they study. They are over burdened with "Professional courses" and their content.
So where does this vicious circle end? How can these manufacturing units be closed? What are the measures to revive that spirit and enthusiasm to pursue the subject that you love? I can think of some measures, and it starts with the realization of the very persons who manufacture us, who think of nothing but money. But if they don’t, we all have to understand that there is something which is more important than money, above the mathematics of profit and loss, higher than the pursuit of wealth and that is the pursuit of Knowledge which is pursued for knowledge's sake only without caring about the results and more importantly, without deciding the results. The society needs to think upon these lines to find a way out of it. It is a struggle against the most powerful today but that should never stop us from achieving what we aim for – the Renaissance in Modern World.
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