WHAT
IS EDUCATION?
Education is not literacy. An illiterate man may not be
uneducated if he has acquired knowledge; learnt skills and crafts;, the ability to earn his bread and
butter; some good manners; the moral and
spiritual values of life; has understood the purpose of life; can live
peacefully and co-operatively both in his own place and in other parts of the
world. Such a person believes that all mankind is one; and loves life in all its manifestations; is close
to nature; spends every moment of his life in self-discovery; regularly prays in
the morning; and offers his gratitude to
God at bed time.
Such a man may be lacking institutional knowledge; may not be
holding certificates and degrees; may not be knowing many languages, yet he is
not illiterate. He is a scholar because he is schooled in the practical institutions
of life.
Those who cannot read and write are also successful. Formal
education is in no way superior to practically acquired knowledge.
Read the following quotes:
(i).The
education of the human mind commences in the cradle. ---English physician Thomas
Cogan (1736-1818).
(ii).
Education commences at the mother’s knee, and every word spoken in the hearing
of little children tends toward the formation of character. --- American clergy
H. Ballou (1771-1852).
(iii). Education
does not consist in mastering languages, but is found in that moral training
which extends beyond the schoolroom to the playground and the street, and which
teaches that a meaner thing can be done
than to fail in recitation. –American educationist Paul Chadbourne (1823-83 ).
(iv). Do not ask if a
man has been through college; ask if a college has been through him…if he is a
walking university, ---Edwin Hubbell Chapin , American clergy (1814-1880).
Finally an anonymous quote:
Education does not commence with the alphabet; it begins with
a mother’s look, with a father’s nod of approbation, or a sign of reproof; with
a sister’s gentle pressure of the hand, or a brother’s noble act of forbearance;
with handfuls of flowers in green dells, on hills, and daisy meadows; with
birds’ nests admired, but not touched; with creeping ants, and almost imperceptible
emmets; with humming-bees and glass beehives; with pleasant walks in shady
lanes, and with thoughts directed in sweet and kindly tones and words to
nature, to beauty, to acts of benevolence, to deeds of virtue, and to the
source of all good ---to God Himself.
Note: *emmets
are social insects.
********
G.R.Kanwal
26 March 2025
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