|
Young World
Teacher — first and last
S. JAGADISAN
|
Dr.Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan is remembered on September 5, Teacher's Day. He emphasised that education should provide the antidote to the ills afflicting the modern world.
|
Photo: The Hindu Photo Library
EDUCATION: Close to his heart.
When society reaches a stage when prosperity confers rank, wealth becomes the only source of virtue, passion the sole bond of union between husband and wife, falsehood the source of success in life, when outer trappings are confused with inner religion, we are in kaliyuga — the world of today.
Dr. S. Radhakrishnan
Dr Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan was a teacher first and last. He was a teacher in the limited sense and taught at Madras, Mysore, Calcutta and Oxford. Besides, he was a teacher in a deeper and wider sense. As Vice-Chancellor of the Andhra and Benaras Universities, Chairperson of the University Education Commission, Vice-President and President of India, he came to grips with the problems, issues and needs in the field of education and made a comprehensive, holistic approach to that subject.
The subject of education was close to his heart. He emphasised that education should provide the antidote to the ills afflicting the modern world. Today, it is equated with the accumulation of a body of factual information. It should be designed to fulfil a two-fold purpose — the immediate and the utilitarian, and long term and ultimate. The enrichment of the mind, development of the critical faculty, the ability to understand and respond in an intelligent, rational manner to problems, constitutes the intellectual dimension. Intellectual attainment, however, is only one side of education. It may be a sign of scholarship, but not of `enlightenment' or wisdom. Knowledge, skill, awareness, equipoise and gentleness distinguish an enlightened individual. The first two of these elements relate to the head and the rest to the heart.
Phenomenal growth
The growth of knowledge in the modern world is phenomenal and unprecedented. But whether there is a corresponding growth in wisdom which lies in the cultivation or humanising impulse and respect for values is open to question.
The present tilt in favour of science, technology, professional and job-oriented courses, tends to make the system of education lopsided, pushing value education to the backseat. Radhakrishnan focuses on three fundamental purposes of education. It should generate in the students a sense of pride in the national past, without making them slaves of the past. It should liberate them from the narrow prejudices and the dividing domestic walls and take them beyond the "myopic, materialistic, calculating vision." Finally, it should expose them to the influence of the spirit of religion. The present cancerous growth of hatred, violence and intolerance can be arrested by the inculcation and assimilation of the spirit of religion, religion understood to mean "refinement", "sweetness and light", "the culture of the soul" and "the culture of tolerance".
The right and left
According to psychology, the human brain is divided into two hemispheres — right and left. The right hemisphere is the seat of creativity, intuition, imagination, faith, love, charity, compassion, tolerance and such ennobling qualities. The left hemisphere is the seat of logic, judgment, the faculty of critical enquiry and questioning. The aim of education should be to forge the synthesis of these two faculties in the human personality.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Young World
|
