Education Dilemma

Where is our education system going today? Sometimes I question my purpose and roles as an “educationist”.  Educational institutions today including the Ivy League Universities have become  manufacturing houses, churning out graduates with various degrees. Employers expect industry- ready graduates, so the burden falls on the educational institutions. Thus begins the “vocationalization” of tertiary education. 

Extensive research has been carried out in teaching and learning methodology since, but the focus has been towards breaking down the process to facilitate ease to the learner. Tertiary courses and subjects are broken down comprehensively to be specific in dealing with specific industry tasks. Thus tertiary education is designed to be job specific.  But somewhere along with this approach the concept of “thinking” appears to have got lost. Which boils down to the question of whether the education system promotes “thinking” or promotes “programmed behavior”.

Should proliferation of this approach continue, eventually it would lead to a disparate society with few “chosen thinkers” influencing the rest. 

Wisdom is an important element in humanity. Wisdom would be lost without the element of thinking. The “materialization” of education has created conscience-less undergraduates who do not mind committing academic misconduct in their pursuit for knowledge or better phrased as employable qualification. It clearly shows the callousness of undergraduates undertaking their responsibility as a learner.

Thiruvalluvar (Indian Philosopher-Poet-Saint, 2^nd Century BC) in his famous Thirukural Poem wrote:

“The more the sandy spring is dug up, more water wells up in it. The more men learn, the more of wisdom will there manifest.”

He believed a holistic education encompasses the aspect of Listening, Literacy, Learning, and Possession of Wisdom.  But I admonish the current direction in which education seems to be moving. Even the teacher has negated from the true purpose of the process. As much as we hear about unethical academic misconduct by the learner, there also appears to be a growing concern about similar behavior amongst the teachers themselves. 

The question is whether such behavior existed in the past but was not reported owing to lack of infrastructure unlike today. Or is it that the social restructuring taking place today in the name of development has taken its toll and deteriorated the learning-thinking equation. 

If all academics think themselves as a “Guru” (the imparter of knowledge) I am sure this malaise can be reversed.