The purpose of education and educational reforms

By Kirthi Tennakone

Education offers two categories of benefits to people — an avenue for acquiring necessary skills for occupation to earn material wealth and an intellectual enlightenment. These two virtues of education are interlinked, inseparable and equally important. Yet, most individuals and societies blindly overemphasise the former hoping to reap quick economic returns. Educational reforms planned to be introduced in Sri Lanka and generally elsewhere in the developing world seems to prioritise the first category of benefits, believing the second leads to unemployment and poverty. Nevertheless, the quality that paves way towards rational thinking, innovation and empathetic social cooperation is the second intension. In the long run its neglect curtails the material advancement as well.

The technological weakness in developing nations and misbeliefs detrimental to social progress prevalent in deprived as well as affluent regions of the world originate largely from deficiency in intellectual aspects of education. The both the components of education, occupational and intellectual are absolutely essential – cutting down the second to accommodate the first would be counterproductive and disastrous.

What is education?

The term ‘education’ evades precise definition. If definable there would be clear-cut methods of achieving it and assessing the level of competence. Exams, degrees and skills mastered are not real measures of education. The meaning of education goes beyond the common dictionary definition – gaining knowledge and acquisition of skills.

The quotes of persons of eminence reflects the essence and purpose of education. Socrates argued education amounts to drawing out the already existing potential of students. Rabindranath Tagore said the widest road leading to solution of all our problems is education. Nelson Mandela valued his education, declaring education as the most peaceful weapon which can change the world. According to a shloka in ‘Bhagavad Gita’, intelligence enables perceiving the essential and education instill this capacity. Albert Einstein was controversial in his remarks about education, saying “Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learnt in school” and “The only thing that interfere with my learning is my education”. Obviously he was commenting about pitfalls of formal education-closing open-mindedness and fixing tradition irrevocably.

Education excessively biased towards vocational needs, lessening the intellectual aspect, tends to fix traditional orthodoxy against open mindedness in understanding issues and resolving problems. Contrarily all creative works in art, literature, science and technical innovations are products of out-of-the box-thinking. An open mind bends more flexibly towards unconventionality, reason, justice and ethical responsibility.

There are social influences that hinder open-mindedness, creativity, innovations, rationality and ideals of fair play. Educational reforms and social development strategies should take these factors into consideration.

Introduction and education

Indoctrination is imposition of beliefs and ideas without providing credible supportive evidence for their validity. Unlike in education, indoctrination discourages questioning and critical analysis. Often doctrines are justified as tradition or faith or something enunciated in scripture or enforcement by an ideology. In earliest days, education and indoctrination were largely indistinguishable. The literate men of antiquity adhered to established doctrines, subjecting them to repetitive discussion and interpretation.

In recent times authoritarian regimes had introduced political indoctrination revising textbooks and school curricula. Communist politics thereby indoctrinated masses promoting vocational education tinted with Marxist ideology.

Greeks were first to deviate from indoctrination and initiate questioning on basis of rational argument. According to recorded history, Thales of Mellitus (626-545 BCE) was the first philosopher who sought answers to natural phenomena by reasoning and evidence. The ideas of Thales were greatly expounded by Aristotle. However, his teachings were continued for nearly 2000 years unquestioned. Without resorting to experiment Aristotle said, if two unequal weights are dropped from a height, the heavier one hits ground first. Galileo, dropping two weights from the Leaning Tower of Pisa, proved Aristotle is wrong – both weights hit ground at the same time.

Breaking away from indoctrination had been an arduous task. The rational conclusions of the wise were opposed – sometimes threatened with imprisonment or death. Socrates died in Athens for free speech and disbelieving gods. The Italian astronomer and mathematician Giordano Bruno (1548-1600 CE) who hypothesized that stars are objects similar to the sun surrounded by planets was declared an impenitent by the Roman Catholic Church and punished by burning alive. Prosecutions for blasphemy continues to date.

The diffusion of the Greek philosophy of seeking rational explanations was the main cause of European scientific and technological advancement and realization of democratic values. The resistance to liberation from indoctrination is greater in the East – perhaps accounting for the comparative weakness. Indoctrination in different forms continue to exist everywhere to a greater or lesser extent. Freeing of society of such brain washings will vitalize human potential, promote innovations and help to eliminate dangerous fundamentalism and ideologies contrasting democracy.

Education in its true spirit begins in early childhood. Parental care and interaction with the environment induce inquisitiveness. Little later parents and elders introduce indoctrination voluntarily or involuntarily. If the child does something considered inappropriate, instead of explaining why what he or she did is bad, an elder would say such acts carry people to hell. They are also told that deeds of charity will reward them similarly in future – inculcating a selfish motive rather than a humanitarian concern.

Exposure to irrational beliefs happens in schools, public discussions and in casual conversation. An environment of such influences is not conducive to creativity, innovation and infusing truly ethical values to a society.

An indoctrinated mind fails to utilize knowledge he or she has gained in real situations, but inadvertently resort to the customary tradition. A teacher after discussing heat loss mechanisms in the class room returns home and boil potatoes in an open pan. An engineer ignores bad weather in laying the foundation for his house in favor of a so-called auspicious time. The teacher and the engineer uses scientific knowledge in their professions, but in domestic affairs it is the tradition or occultism! These two hypothetical examples point to a social psychosis adversely affecting progress. Recently, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien said, “we cannot afford to have people who are fearful and distrust science, or who are held captive by groundless anti-scientific beliefs.

Education to nuture creativity and innovation

Creativity is conceiving an entirely new concept often preceded by imagination. Innovation means implementation of a new idea. Education is a prerequisite for reaping of outputs from above qualities, but the process of education can either boost or kill them.

Children are born creative and innovative. Initially they interact with parents and animate or inanimate objects displaying the ability to create and innovate – dismantling a toy is an act of curiosity. They need to be persuaded to imagine, telling stories, inspiring words and allowed to play. Instructing the kid how to assemble the toy so that he or she could qualify as a robotic engineer is a mistake.

Today, most parents burden their children with instructions to prepare for a job of their choice which they aspire their sons and daughters to assume decades later – the preference is a profession that allows earning the most money in the shortest time. Private tutors avoid teaching fundamentals and historical development of a subject, coaching students to answer questions without uttering words of inspiration – as their aim is to enable students to pass exams with minimum intellectual effort in the shortest time. The above attitudes almost completely destroy the creative talent, producing persons without capacity to move beyond the routine.

Uninspiring and un-pedagogical ways of introducing ideas are also prevalent in schools and universities. In teaching mechanics, Newton’s laws are introduced as if they have come from a disciple in the heavens. These laws are clever abstractions by a mortal – the only validity being the agreement of the derivations from laws with observation. Most teachers fail to emphasize this point. The former approach scares students to attempt things of the caliber of Newton. Whereas the latter motivates students to realize that the subject falls within their reach.

Education reforms: Counterproductive approaches

Free education in Sri Lanka is a success – exemplary to the region. The benefits of the national education effort have gone beyond elimination of illiteracy. It has delivered a work force that can do all routine things and ones that require special skills. Citizens are well informed and accommodated in fair living standards cost effectively. Achievements in the health sector owes much to education. People following recommended safeguards against COVID is prime example. Despite all the above positives, the Sri Lankan education system is blamed for not rendering innovations to drive the economy. A proposed remedy has been to revise curricula to make them more relevant. A prevalent erroneous consensus floating around classifies art, literature, humanities and fundamental science as useless and advocate replacing them with vocationally oriented technical themes and business studies. In fact former are the disciplines that motivates students to imagine, think, fathom ideas and learn the art of writing, all students need to be exposed to these themes of learning at least in the school and preferably at the university and vocational training institutions.

The core areas of fundamental science are physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics. The purpose of the faculties of science in universities should be to teach basics of these subjects rigorously and comprehensively. Diluting the curricula with so-called relevant applied themes would be counterproductive, not conducive to nurturing persons of outstanding creative talent.

In countries all over the world universities and few research institutions are mandated to engage in fundamentals studies, generally funded by the government, as such endeavors are an absolute necessity to foster intellectual advancement of the society. Furthermore all major innovation have resulted from such research. Again original findings in fundamental science greatly escalate the scientific standing of a nation. If these institutions indulge heavily in less challenging applied research themes, sometimes trivialities on the pretext of relevance, the consequence of the neglect of fundamental component will be a second class status for science technology. Countries that have attained major economic advances in recent times via technological innovations, have also invested in education and research in basic science and related activities to promote creativity.

The purpose of education is broad and diverse, a preparation for facing untold circumstances and exploring new avenues. One must keep in mind that narrow and rigid education reforms may turn out to be counterproductive. It is essential to keep a balance between disciplines, those expected to deliver short-term economic returns and ones that stimulate the intellect.

Kirthi Tennakone Adjunct Professor at the National Institute of Fundamental Studies can be reached via ktenna@yahoo.co.uk