Election 2019 is approaching fast. Another series of elections is coming. Like a necessary surgical encounter, an election has a way of the collection out all ideas from the mind and thrashing the opponents' politicians, Caste, communal quotas, freebies, populism, and putting aside the difficult and much-needed job of economic, governance, educational, and judicial reforms. The recent state elections have proved this mentality of Indians voters and they very easily forget the past failures and wrongdoings of the leaders. The great winners of 2014 have suddenly become the striking doubts of 2019 due to this factor.
From ancient times, the temperament os Indians has been very uncertain, beginning with vagueness over how the universe was created in the illustrious Nasadiya verse in the Rig Veda and the suspicious neti, neti (‘this not, that not') way of Advaita. The spirit of questioning nature is the strength of Sanatam Dharma that created the secular citizenship and democracy of the nation.
Unfortunately, our educational system failed to acquire this wholesome spirit of inquiry and dialogue, does the whole lot possible to slay it through a rote system. In the name of reforms, it has tried to ape the western system of technology, engineering and ‘useful subjects' to place relocate the old-style liberal education that builds and promoted inquisitiveness. New liberal arts and sciences institutions have failed to come up, and there is no hope for the future. Most of the older ones have almost failed.
Now, the term ‘liberal' has gained a bad name. Liberal education means allowing the caste, communal and political groups with a stake, to control the campuses. Method of teaching and learning the specific content, teaching one to the rationale and grant the self-belief to critic for oneself, etc have nothing to do with a liberal education.
The liberal education befits a free-thinking human being, one who is capable of governing himself and sharing the joint self-governance. This capability prepares an individual at election time in understanding a pretender from a prudent and genuine candidate and party. In the recently concluded elections, the disastrous idea of farm loan waivers, caste and communal quotas, freebies which reward defaulters and corrupts and punishes honest and meritorious, aside from bankrupting the states' treasuries, and institutions leaving no money for real reforms.
A liberal education is not only about book learning but a way of learning, any subject – even labourers – could be part of the syllabus, and guide minimizes some of our class biasedness against working with our hands. When we learn something for its own importance, it strengthens our early inquisitiveness as children and builds upon our civilization’s earliest skeptical features. Undeniably, an understanding of the Upanishads, the Gita and the ancient epics with a modern spirit can be much more precious than reading the Bible, Homer, Shakespeare and Marx.
A liberal education can also improve the standard of our political dialogue that has fallen to great low in recent years. All parties are guilty of the disgraceful lack of graciousness in the recent elections. Rahul Gandhi and Congress leaders supplied the maximum to it with his relentless ‘chowkidar chor hai' barb with regard to the Rafale fighter agreement. He never checked his partymen who made loathsome remarks about Modi's mother, father, wife and caste. Earlier jibe to ‘maut ka saudagar' by Sonia Gandhi was similarly ‘uncivil'. BJP and Modi ji are no better. Modi has been at fault of impolite language about the dynasty and Nehru. All parties, especially AAP, SP, RJD, JD(U), left wingers and TMC repeatedly abuse opponents.
Oral violence is always a forerunner to physical violence. When those in power engage in oral violence and abuse it becomes a signal to the administrative machinery to turn a blind eye when physical violence erupts on the streets. When political leaders keenly justify violence, the bureaucratic machinery is not only forced to ignore the rule of law, it leads the way for physical violence against anyone seen as a dissenter. Kashmir and Naxal violence are apt examples of this kind.
A liberal education is helpful in humanizing the habit of civic engagement in society, devoted to finding effective solutions rather than resorting to offensive insinuations about the racial individuality of opponents. It also creates normally to a centrist situation in politics, avoiding the extreme right and left. The political parties should be accommodative, inclined to harmonize social and cultural oppositions and agenda to the normal voter.
But this is not happening. Hence, most elections in India since freedom has been won by candidates who support caste, communal quotas and freebies, with the exception of 1971 election victory of Late Mrs.Indra Gandhi, 1984 election victory of Late Shri Rajiv Gandhi and the Modi wave in 2014 was the result of nationalism, modernization and development respectively, which fascinated the aspirational, young voters. It is a rather different matter that the promises have not been fulfilled and even Modi is a vexed man today.
Finally, Indian education in a liberal manner has failed to make us better human beings. Now, all the pass outs, demand a comfortable government job for making a living luxurious. It even questions our existence, why we are here and who we are. It has diverted our attention away from ourselves to our place in society, which can make us see that we are a fraction of something bigger than ourselves. This ‘self-ignoring' is always necessary for building character. When united with karma, Gyan and experience, it leads to wisdom or prudence (phronesis) as Aristotle mentioned – to do the right thing at the right time, to the right person, for the right reason and in the right manner.
Our liberal education system does produce excellent scientists, researchers, doctors, creative writers and administrators. But most of the Islamic terrorists, Naxal terrorists, Khalistan extremists, North-East extremists, ULFA, Bheem Army etc are the products of the Indian campuses and liberal education.
Even the demand of luxury of a job has turned a poor or middle-class Indian family given education to its children as a street extremist. Certainly, India liberal education is not producing good citizens. But it can if people view liberal education not a thing but as an advance for knowledge; it should initiate in primary level and go right through higher education.
Liberal education is not a commodity but a tool to organize a young person to become a selfless and useful member of society. It cannot be created in segregation from making a livelihood or becoming a good citizen. Life is not earning and eating but much more and higher.
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