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= MC2 |
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--- Dr. Syed Khalid
Eqbal Haider, Head of Department (English), Preston
University, Ajman
We
live in the age of science where only truth satisfies our urges.
Anything other than truth which is unproven doesn’t move us, doesn’t
motivate us. Gone are the days of tales and fantasies. They are
anathema to our temperament. The greatest man of the 20th century, the
truest person of the preceding era, Albert Einstein unfolded a
universally acceptable truth which governs time, space and matter. The
theory of relativity has found everything inseparably bound that even a
tiny atom may not be seen as a separate entity, an individual
embodiment-- E = MC2. Energy is emitted when a mass with speed covers
distance. As much speed, so much the emission of energy. I was reading
a book, “The Last symbol” by Dan Brown. Though a fiction, it goes one
step ahead: a mass can change its shape or color also with the
application of the energy of vision only: keep a bowl filled with
water. Stare at it for a certain span of time, with all concentration,
keep staring at it. The color you had envisioned in your mind will
appear in the bowl. Why the person you love comes physically in your
dream? Why the facial hue of your beloved gets changed with the very
vision of yours? Dr. Iqbal says:
Phool ki Patti sey kat sakta Hai Hire
ka jigar, Marde nadan pe kalame Narm Nazuk Be Asar. (A flower petal may
cut the a diamond but an unwise person may not be moved even with the
most effective words)
Hindu Rishi and Munies are believed to possess
the power to send forth their friends or foes to any distance with the
aerial blow of their mouths. We are told saints and sages had the power
of making aerial survey, physically.
What
I mean to
say is the hidden power to shift the place of the mass, change its or
his position to any height or to any depth with the help of the energy
applied in the wake of its shift. We need to be educated.
The
central thesis is that education should be founded on truth and
reality, and in particular, how this relates to the interconnection of
mind, matter and space. This is evolutionary approach to
education.
Education
therefore, in its wider spectrum is the means to improving
the mental environment for making the thinking process consonant with
life for better. Education serves a training to tone up the mind which
is mostly quiescent. It acts, sometimes, like a surgeon who stirs the
wound to ooze its fluids out.
Plato’s
education of thought is grounded in his vision of ideal
Republic, wherein the individual is best served by being subordinated
to just society. Education would be holistic including facts, skills,
physical discipline, music and art which he considered the highest form
of endeavor.
Plato’s
motive is leaned
towards meritocracy. He is not in favor of education for all but for
selective qualified few. Immanuel Kant considers education merely a
thinking process and it’s independent of any skill or physical work.
Aristotle finds education to be a blend of nature, habit and reason to
be equally cultivated. He considers repetition to be a key to develop
good habits. But unlike Aristotle, Socrates laid emphasis on
questioning the listeners to bring out their own ideas. Aristotle
placed great emphasis on balancing the theoretical and practical
aspects of subjects taught. In the medieval Islamic world, Avicenna
laid emphasis on group teaching rather than individual teaching, i.e.
maktab or medarsa, which fosters a sort of competitiveness among the
students. He described about the curriculum and laid emphasis on
language, literature and ethics. He believes that a child is born with
tabula rasa (pure potentiality) which is molded in society towards good
or bad.
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Creativity
is
the essence of education: it’s the ultimate end, an objective decided.
Effective teaching therefore prepares students’ mind for contributing
to the society; for adding up something to the whole of society’s
gamut. Repetition is chore which is anathema to the very spirit of
creativity—it’s like keeping the same wine in different bottles. Hence,
students’ minds from the beginning need to be molded towards
creativity. True, creativity in general cases is not one or two- days-
process. It requires consistent effort and incessant motivation.
Adolescents’ mind with continuous motivation can be set in a direction
which, in due course of time, will itself be ready for innovation. The
role of teacher is to gauge the interest and strength of the student.
Confucian
legacy
of reverence for education gives a pay-off in plenty. Our present
society is in crisis of this element. Here parents’ or guardian’s role
requires strong involvement. Teachers’ constant meetings with parents
have been found very productive. Coupled with student’s reverence for
education, the temperament of creativity may do wonder in education.
‘Education is not filling a bucket but lighting a fire,’ says W. B.
Yeats. Let me add here: it’s just easier to ignite a fire than to
control it. The purpose, the direction, the science of making use of
the fire of education must be set and learnt beforehand. The
more the amount of reverence for education and teachers, the more the
seriousness for it may be perceptible.
In
a plethoric society of diverse culture, effective teaching requires
a distinct approach. It should not only be students-centered, a
practice prevalent in public schools; it should be community- centered
as well, for students nonetheless come from the community and go back
to the community. If community’s values stand opposed to the education
being imparted, a student may turn out to be a rebel. It can not be
theoretically and practically centralized as is the case with the
education in Europe and United States. Communities’ ways of learning,
their approaches to life and values can not be ignored. Teaching must
have a reflection of people- centered philosophy of education. As the
society is the partial reflection of education, education should also
equally reflect the society.
Interactive
teaching method is definitely more productive than mere
lecture method. Portions should be subjected to discussion and students
must be allowed to share their views, and argue. Teachers should be
concerned for enhancing students’ practical ability. Simultaneously
their role is also to encourage students to use and apply modern
methods of learning. Students must be made conscious of future
development needs and use technologies.
Education
therefore should both be student and community centered but
above all it should be first and foremost mind centered: E= MC2---
education should more be mind centered.
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