Are we educated? Really? What is really Education? Why do we run after schooling? For education?
This so called education gives us one new vision to see everyone else not schooled like us as illiterate. Right? That is what I see in interactions of urbanites and villagers.
So here is the medicine to cure this दृष्टि. I hope it will cure many of us who has ‘Being educated’ notion.
Read this Illiterate’s declaration. Must not miss.
Posting excerpts here:
“Listen to me O’ Preacher, Campaigner of Literacy and School Education! Listen to me O’ Liberator, Benefactor of the down-trodden, poor illiterates and the uneducated.
If I understand your basic mission, you believe that we are ‘illiterate’ and ‘uneducated’ – a ‘black spot’ on the nation. And because of this, you are deeply ashamed of us.
Please take note: I too write the alphabet, but not on a slate or on a piece of paper, as you do. I write my alphabet on the surface of the fertile soil of my fields – my spade is my pen. The fruits of my alphabet quell your hunger. You gobble them up happily and without complaint.
On the other hand, you hold a pen in place of a spade and dig your alphabet on paper. What is produced by this paper farming of yours is a mystery to me. Do you even know what grows there? ( 😀 )
You always maintain a clear and deliberate distance from the milk-yielding cows, she-buffaloes and she-goats, but at the same time, you find it difficult to resist consuming dairy products such as milk, butter and curd.
There is a marked difference between our life styles. While I am engaged in productive activities all day and night, you are engaged only in consuming what I produce. Yet I lead a more peaceful and content life, while you constantly complain and create trouble in society with your insatiable discontent.
My activities and my interactions provide me with rich learning opportunities on a daily basis. On the other hand, you are unable to tread the path of education without direction and coercion from your classroom teachers.
Whereas your education is restricted only to your books, my whole existence is a rich garden of learning.
Your school is by no means a source of real learning. Your school is nothing but a trader in the commodity of education. The real source, or the mine for learning, is the WORK in which one is engaged and whose company I constantly live in.
Since you are not aware of my educational achievements, let me tell you that I am a specialist in agriculture, I am an expert in dairy work and I am a scholar in my local dialect.
My learning is apparent and authentic in itself. I do not worry about being awarded any certificates to prove this.
Mother learning is not a captive in the prison of the schools. Nor is the basic knowledge of life contained in and restricted to the jumble of the alphabet and numerical figures.
Like the all-pervasive God, learning is present in every atom of this universe. Learning is an unstoppable or ceaseless activity of devotion.
Learning, in its infinite forms, is a universal phenomenon. The stereotyped, monotonous and uniform pattern of education in your school is not suitable for supporting the multiple faces of learning.
Dawn and daybreak take place, even where there is no cock to crow and announce the morning. In the same manner, learning takes place and goes on freely, even where you do not start and run a school.
Yet I would not be so arrogant as to deny my need to further my education. But how can I agree to your claim of deserving to be my teacher? In my mind, you are not properly equipped to take on this role.
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In ancient times, when child reaches age 7, he goes to jungle for education. He performs cowherding, farming, cooking and other basics before anything else begin as a part of formal education.
Do our kids receive such education? If not, we should force schools to alter their pedagogy.
Now on, learn to give high respect to illiterate but learned around you. There plenty such examples in society. Respect.
Second photo with this post depicts real school. Children learning at school. 🙂
