Dear Gurudev, I feel that the current education system is often more harmful to the children. We are taught to compete instead of cooperate and encouraged to study for grades and jobs instead of learning for the joy of understanding things. We are forced to absorb information and facts instead of pursuing things at our own pace and knowledge. What is your guidance on this, Guruji? Should we seek out schools without exams and a rigid syllabus?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You know, though the education system is not perfect, we are compelled to go with the flow, because only then your child will get a job. They will get an academic recognition. Even in medical science, there are many textbooks that were written long ago but are being taught today. Today’s modern medicine has made many things irrelevant, but we still go on studying the old textbooks.
Yesterday, I heard that there are some 43 genes that cause heart problems, but our medical science only knows five or six. They think of only those parameters. They don’t know the other parameters.
So, science is being updated every day. New researchers are coming up and old paradigms have become obsolete. There is a paradigm shift, but children are still studying the same syllabus in schools and colleges. It takes quite a while for them to update the syllabus.
For example, in history there was an Aryan invasion theory, which said that Aryans came from central Asia and invaded India. Today, they have proved that to be wrong and a complete falsehood. But still, the textbook carries the same story. It may take another decade for them to change all this. But there is no option. If someone says, ‘No, I will not study this, I will do it on my own’, they will not get a degree. They will not get a job. They will not even be considered as an educated person, though they may be more knowledgeable. If you are just studying for your own hobby, for your own joy, for gaining knowledge and wisdom, you don’t need any academics. But when you are seeking it as a profession, seeking a job, you will have to go with the flow.
In the past, several wise men have tried this. Many people have been experimenting this, but the success of this project is a big question mark. We don’t know how many children who have studied there have gotten a job and have become successful in their careers. They may have, but it is a big question mark.
Home schooling is good in America; more and more people are doing home schooling. I am not saying no, but you may have to find out about it. If you have a family business, then degrees don’t matter at all, because your children will anyways manage the family business. Then they can do anything they want.
Yesterday, I heard that there are some 43 genes that cause heart problems, but our medical science only knows five or six. They think of only those parameters. They don’t know the other parameters.
So, science is being updated every day. New researchers are coming up and old paradigms have become obsolete. There is a paradigm shift, but children are still studying the same syllabus in schools and colleges. It takes quite a while for them to update the syllabus.
For example, in history there was an Aryan invasion theory, which said that Aryans came from central Asia and invaded India. Today, they have proved that to be wrong and a complete falsehood. But still, the textbook carries the same story. It may take another decade for them to change all this. But there is no option. If someone says, ‘No, I will not study this, I will do it on my own’, they will not get a degree. They will not get a job. They will not even be considered as an educated person, though they may be more knowledgeable. If you are just studying for your own hobby, for your own joy, for gaining knowledge and wisdom, you don’t need any academics. But when you are seeking it as a profession, seeking a job, you will have to go with the flow.
In the past, several wise men have tried this. Many people have been experimenting this, but the success of this project is a big question mark. We don’t know how many children who have studied there have gotten a job and have become successful in their careers. They may have, but it is a big question mark.
Home schooling is good in America; more and more people are doing home schooling. I am not saying no, but you may have to find out about it. If you have a family business, then degrees don’t matter at all, because your children will anyways manage the family business. Then they can do anything they want.
