The Vedas: Education Confers Humility

The Vedas declare: “Education confers humility." The word wisdom raises many questions. The Oxford dictionary, for example, defines wisdom as the ability to make sensible decisions and give good advice because of the experience and knowledge that you have.1 But, in my opinion, these definitions are not adequate. Wisdom is not merely the experience of knowledge. It is the experience one obtains from knowledge. So some may ask questions like, “How is wisdom attained?”In my opinion, no one can attain wisdom as such. One can only experience its taste and sensation. The word knowledge has several connotations: knowledge is awareness; it means understanding; it is the ability to correlate. However, knowledge is like a knife. It can be used for a …show more content…
Science and technology is just an example of how knowledge in good hands creates benefits, and in wrong hands, wreck havoc. But as science and technology flourished, its focus slowly shifted from common good to individual benefits. It became a tool in the hands of those in power. It was snatched from the hands of simple seekers of knowledge; one such seeker of knowledge said, “Being ignorant is not so much a shame as being unwilling to learn."2 The educational institutions are responsible for imparting & disseminating knowledge, moulding young minds, and preparing them for the diverse walks of life. What then must be the goal of the educational system? Obviously it is to fulfil its role in a manner that the individual, the society, the nation and the world benefits at large and progresses forward. But, they are far from marching towards this goal of moulding students with unclouded vision and noble motives; the educational system, currently, is in an unholy mess. It is riddled with corruption, driven by greed and administrated with utterly inferior motives. This, however, is only a general view. …show more content…
What lies behind this is greed and a business-like attitude. The money power has influenced and corrupted the system, taking control over teachers and students. It has also taken control over the way education is imparted. It has changed the motto of the system from “knowledge at the end of the day” to “money at the end of the day”. This, in turn, has instilled greed and a mercenary attitude in teachers. The teacher's focus, now, has shifted to the ubiquitous task of satiating the never ending demand of the administrators’ greed; in turn, satiating theirs too. The last and the most potent evil that pervades the system is the absence of values in educating process that has reduced the quality of education. The concepts Quality of education and Quality education are totally different. Quality education is the standard education integrated with noble virtues; whereas, the quality of education is a measure of its richness. Education without quality is useless. Knowledge not obtained from quality education makes an individual imbalanced. Science and technology in the hands of such individual becomes a tool for destruction.