anirudhchandrakant

All scientific principles can be whittled down to a few basic axioms. Peter Brook, a director, said the following about the most basic elements of theater -

What are the most basic elements of education? You need someone eager to learn about a subject they love and you need someone to help them learn it. To paraphrase Peter Brook,

You can take away the designated teacher, the classroom, the examinations, the textbooks and yet, you can have education. Don't bring in language, compulsory subjects, homework or fees, and yet, we can have education. That is a very liberating thought.

Education cannot work in isolation, of course. It is an integral part of society and it has to play the most important role in employability. Today's education system is based on the industrial revolution and the need for engineers and scientists. It is arcane and doesn't make any sense anymore. The world has changed unrecognizably since then (unlike my aunts who insist on asking me if i recognize them every time i see them) and it is imperative that education catches up. The opportunities for employment in this new world are tremendous - the world of art has opened up, the internet has cut across all sections, sports is under a greater spotlight than ever before and the world is in dire need to inspirational leaders. If education provides a launch pad into new careers like being a musician, a web designer or an entrepreneur, the prospects of making a viable living increase dramatically. Vocation training won't be something a person takes up because he couldn't get into an engineering college, anymore. The real world also works in a manner different from what is taught in schools today. Education should enable one to be a fantastic team player, to interact with and relate to diverse cultures from across the world, to learn to work with schedules and deadlines and to take decisions with systematic thought.

Sir Ken Robinson tells a story about a little girl in a drawing class. The teacher walks up to her and asks her what she is drawing and the girl tells her that she's making a picture of God. The teacher says, "But, no one knows what God looks like" and the girl replies, "In 10 minutes, they will". Today's education system systematically kills the innate creativity that everyone is born with. Education should encourage individualism and creative expression. It should compel children to question the norm and to think independently. It should facilitate original thinking and provide avenues to express ideas.

Technology is omnipresent in our lives today and education has to use it. We have to inculcate elements of social interaction, electronic communication, rich media and the vast resources on the internet while educating children. It is something they have grown up with, can relate to and is something that comes naturally to them. There are already an ubiquity of websites that promote learning through technology - right from open source textbooks to open universities and everything in between. We must be careful to not get too carried away by this though, and must realize that technology is but the catalyst and not the crutch. Technology is not the panacea to our ills and it needs to get out of the way once it has served its purpose.

We always aim to educate children for a world vastly different from the one we live in and it is hard to predict the future. But, basing it on the past is not the way forward.