Formal education is a waste of everybody’s time

Because it’s not education. It’s indoctrination.

It is non-experiential. Pupils are made to learn what someone else thought, said, or did. Other people’s ideas, not their own original thought, are encouraged.

It is knowledge, not education. Yes, knowledge is important, but there are far better means to earn knowledge.

Contrary to imparting knowledge, in fact, we are imparting our next generation misinformation. India History textbooks are full of wrongful information and prevarications on everything ranging from our glorious past to the Mughal era to our freedom struggle. Our books are politically-manipulated; they seek to indoctrinate our young minds with non-factual information because someone in the government didn’t want them to know the truth. In this way, education not only becomes avoidable, but extremely dangerous to society as a whole. Of course, we believe in leading fake lives ourselves as adults, conveniently choosing to ignore the truth; and hence formulate our education systems in a manner so as to culture our children into this superficial system right from the beginning. In this manner, we are preparing them for life as an adult, teaching them lies from the very start. If that is the role of education, we are making a good job of it. But if the idea of education is to impart truth and knowledge, then we are failing, and failing miserably.

Education is about imparting wisdom, it is about encouraging free thought and free flow of ideas. Something that our education system royally curtails. Present-day education system tests nothing but a child’s memorising and retention skills.

I remember much less from what was taught in school and Engineering school than what I learnt from reading books and Wikipedia, and from watching movies and documentaries. I have learnt more about space flight and Space Science from documentaries and movies like Cosmos and First Man; about World History from watching web series like Band of Brothers and The World at War, and books like A Brief History of Nearly Everything; about Nuclear Physics from watching Chernobyl; and about life lessons on survival from Man vs Wild. Practical knowledge. Real knowledge. Not rote learning based on moderated texts.

I gained knowledge in my childhood by spending hours on end going through Atlases and books on GK and current affairs. I did this not because school demanded it or to win some GK competition, but because I had an inherent interest in Geography and in enhancing my General Knowledge. But if a child is not interested in these subjects, it does not have to read these books, he shouldn’t be forced to.

By forcing kids to learn what we want them to learn, and by stifling the possibility of original thoughts and ideas to bloom, we are passing down the message that academics are the be-it-and-be-all, that academics is what constitutes ‘education’. I ask, isn’t education about survival in the wild as much as it is about learning how atoms bind with other atoms, isn’t it about knowing how to access internal peace and tranquility by way of meditation as much as it is about knowing how Calculus can help solve the problems of Physics? The former, in fact, are vastly more important, and grossly ignored, branches of education.

The 16 years or so I spend trudging through school and college could have been much better spent learning to play the guitar, taking up a sport or two, learning a language, or some form of dance; or in dabbling in any other form of art. I consider those 16 years a grand waste of my time. I could have learnt so much by now, a plethora of myriad learnings, and could have made a career in any of these fields were I to like any. Young and growing kids need to be made to feel that there is a great deal more to life than academics, indeed that art and life skills are just as, nay, much more, important than academics.

Let me be clear that I don’t hold these views out of resentment; I was a good student through school, ending up always among the top 6 academically-bright students in class, and acing a few subjects. I’m not saying school is not important, but the structure of our education system is shouting out for a radical overhaul.

The model of education I propound is thus. Kids should start out by taking up any art form to begin with, and continue with it for as long as they want. If they don’t like it, they can drop it and choose another. By the time they’re 12, they should have tried their hands on 7 to 8 different art forms and activities; post that, they can take up any 2 that they like the most; and any of those can be converted into a full-fledged career. This way, they’d have for a career something they chose, not their parents or their society; and most important of all, they’d do what they love. Art anyways gives happiness. This solves not only the problem of education, but also that of stressed-out people at work who are into the wrong jobs life-long. Along with the art, children can be taught basic mathematics such as Vedic Maths, exposed to documentaries rather than books on Geography, History, Physics, Biology, and most other subjects. Visual learning, we know anyways, is a better tool of learning than rote-memorising-and-regurgitation. And meditation and yoga, those pearls of wisdom on how to lead good healthy lives, passed on down from the ages, should be a mandatory and intrinsic part of any curriculum. And of course, those who want to take up core academics, Mathematics, Science, Psychology, Economics and Accounts, etc., can do so. But it should not be forced, one-size-fits-all cannot work.

We’re grossly ruining our younger generation, as we have been all this while in the name of Western education, and not letting our children be happy, content grown-up human beings. Look around you, how many of us here are content with the jobs we have, the work we do?

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