Acharya Tulsi
Man is a wise being and possesses the ability to differentiate the good from the bad through his wisdom. Good is seldom differentiated from the bad when the cultivation of wisdom falters. Earlier character was valued in human life, but today the values have changed. Wealth defines the values today giving birth to unwanted issues in the society. The lust of wealth is so attractively influential that it makes us lose our eternal path. This lust of wealth is so humongous that it has also engulfed education. The ultimate aim of education has now become to build enormous wealth. At the grass root level education has only two objectives - Development of Life & Self Awakening. If these objectives were to be clear with the educationists, and if they would have imbibed them into their lives, then education would have been free from chaos & corruption.
Elements of Development
Development of life is structured into three elements - Dedication, Knowledge & Character. Development finds new horizons when all the above mentioned elements converge. The first element is dedication. The one with right dedication firms the ground of his/her development. The rightful knowledge can only be gained by rightful dedication. If the thought process of a person is incorrect, then he cannot differentiate between the acceptable & the unacceptable. Hence, it is important to pay attention towards purification of thought prior to any other activity.
Between the banks of right knowledge & right dedication flows the beautiful river of conduct that enriches life and lays the foundation stone of a healthy life. It is important for all students to understand these elements in detail & imbibe them into their lives paving the path of development for themselves. It is necessary that all knowledge seekers possess dedication, knowledge and conduct in optimum proportions for the creation of a healthy society.
Responsibility of Value Formation
The primary years of education are the golden years of every student’s life. During this period, whatever direction the student is subjected to, his life shapes up accordingly. But the question that arises here is "Who must shoulder the responsibility of directing the student, parents or teachers?” Parents relax after admitting their children to schools understanding that the teacher bears responsibility of educating & inculcating values in their wards. Teachers feel that they have very short period with a student for value formation, as they spend only 5-7 hours with them to teach them lessons from the books. They also consider value formation in students not a part of their responsibility.
After schooling hours a child is influenced by the environment, he/she is subjected to at his/her home. What will be a child's learning if he witnesses smoking, drinking, use of abusive language, quarrels, betting on cards etc at home? What impact will this have on a child's psyche? In such environments, a child's education is lost in the clouds of evil.
In ancient times, a child had to study and learn about life at isolated Gurukul located in remote areas, far from the ease of city life for a period of over 12 years. This used to keep them isolated from the environments at home. Their teachers used to be of extremely strong character and used to be the source of everything a student would require. Students used to idolize the lives of their teachers and learn to struggle and realize independence in their lives. Students were also facilitated with sports & entertainment activities. Most importantly, attention was paid on the holistic development of conduct & character. A student with an excellent conduct & character is an asset to his family, society and nation.
A father's letter to a teacher
With the advent of hostel facilities of school and colleges, the Gurukul system is getting diminished even though there are enormous differences between a hostel and a Gurukul. One receives complete training on lifestyle & skills in a Gurukul. Patience, Discipline, Hard work, Self-Dependency, Co-operation, Service, Tolerance etc, are virtues a student imbibes during the trainings at Gurukuls. A hostel does employ certain disciplinary regulations but falls short on life improvement skills & their application. Abraham Lincoln, Ex-president of America expresses the necessity of these virtues in life through a letter to his son's teacher. Following are the excerpts. "Dear principal “(Original letter from excerpts)[1]
Education Begins At Home
Shri Jayshankar Prasad, a renowned Indian poet considers the role of parents and guardian in crafting the life of a student, extremely important. He opines that schools provide for literacy education but questions the nurturing of values in students. Those who believe in a beautiful future for their children in schools, do they follow how their dreams are being sculpted? For literacy, education schools are worth but for nurturing value-based education, homes are the best bet. However, do we have any such provision? Most of the parent/guardians pay attention to only two aspects of education - homework after school and result at the end of a year.
According to Shri Jayshankar Prasad, parental non¬compliance is observed if the psychology of students is understood. Parents find of relieving by just sending their child to schools. In such scenarios, it becomes impossible to design the future of a child. Parents usually behave with their children in complex manner rendering them rebellious and non-compliant by the time they reach majority. The blame is usually placed on system, education (syllabus & environment) for misleading a student but parents never accept the fact that they themselves have burned their own fingers.
Childhood is like wet clay that can be molded into any desired form. But once the clay dries up, it becomes tough to give it shape. Children can be sculpted in every way during their childhood by their parents and teachers. Books provide for mental knowledge. Humility, tolerance, honesty, patience, co-operation etc are virtues that can be learnt through the lives of parents & teachers. It can be debated that students do not spend enough time with either of them to influence the wards with their virtues. The argument is perfect but in context to the same, it must be known that when we pull out water from a well, we do not hold the complete rope at once. We pull it bit by bit, yet we have both the complete rope and water. Similarly while flying a kite we only have a bit of the string in our hands through which we control its flight. Hence, how much ever time a student spends with their teachers & parents, the latter must maintain their behavior at a qualitative high to train the former. The resulting fact is that knowledge from books alone is not enough, actual knowledge is received from the lessons of life. Hence, if environments at school & home are healthy and well maintained by teachers & parents respectively, it will not be necessary to train students especially on any particular topic.
