Unlearning: An Art. A Science. Ctrl ‘Z’ Education.
“Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that’s is worth knowing can be taught.”
-Oscar Wilde, Irish Playwright, poet & wit (1854-1900).
If this was true then, its truer now. Today’s youth, more than their predecessors is feeling & reeling under the devastating effect of modern civilizations biggest blunder, EDUCATION. I have always had that intense tussle in my mind, why education & not learning? Why one has to go through a education system rather than a learning process? Above all what’s the difference between them?
Just have a look at the products & by-products of education per se.
Employability. The society has come to a stage where we divert, nurture & produce our brightest brains to do the most useless job. So we have the best marketing managers working their souls out at selling good-for-nothing colas. The shrewdest brains are either selling a sanitary napkin or a soap or at the most a car. Sheer agony that, half the living humans still wait to drink potable water. We have as much food sufficient to feed population of three earths, but in reality 2 billion people sleep with empty tummy for the want of food. All because there are no facilitators.
This when the world over defence vacancies are at their peak. The number of entrepreneurs is falling. Musicians are a endangered species. The educated/learned society looks down to the jobs like carpenters, plumbers, gardeners, milkman, farmer, potter, tailor, puppeteer, & their cousins. So in Canada, a call centre geek earns around US $4-5 per hour, while a carpenter putting in an hour gets around US $ 7-8, that’s if you are lucky enough to get one in first place.
Attitude. Humanity’s greatest gift of Individuality is lost somewhere, as we go on mass producing/educating people who have similar competencies, when each one is meant to be different. Like in factory production all the products are identical & have similar fate in the globalized market. So, its like having 11 batsmen or 11 bowlers in a cricket team, that too with similar capacities.
More thoughts are coming soon…watch out…!