A Letter to Parents
(Part-II or Concluding Part )
(Dear Respected Readers, lots of blessings are required to be a parent but justifying yourself as a parent is much more challenging and required lots of efforts. This article "A letter to Parent" can be read and enjoyed by anybody but highly recommended to all newly being parents and those who are going to be parents in the near future. Here is the final part or Part-II of the article. Hope you would learn and change yourselves)
Dear Parents, now let’s talk about our education process. It is quite obvious that as a parent we are very serious about the education of our children. We want we children should get the best education. We want our children should be an outstanding performer. We spend a lot in terms of money, time and energy for this purpose. But the question is -do we really understand purpose education or just go with the notion?
Let's first talk about what education is all about. As known to most education is a lifelong process. It starts with the mother's womb and ends in the graveyard. However, what a person learns in initial 10-15 years lives its lasting impression throughout his/her life. So as a parent, we need to understand what a child learns till 15 years is the foundation for the rest of his/her life.
What is education? Is it something we learn in four walls of the school, college, etc.? No, how far a child is a concern he/she learns from everywhere possible. He/she learns from the parent, other family member, relatives, friends, etc. Initially, a child learns by following others. You even need to teach; they just follow you and learn. This is very crucial for parents to understand that they are making the future of the world. So best to best practices should be presented in their front.
However, a child faces real challenges when he/she gets into school. His/her independence (what was being enjoyed with parent) disturbs to a great extent. He/she sees many like him/her. Initially, aloneness being experienced which later on gets vanished when new friends are made. As a parent we need to understand, it is a very crucial period of a child's growth, as this becomes a child's first formal social interaction. We need to take care of how he/she is behaving with others, reacting to situations, what are subjects he/she is interest for, etc.
Please ensure that your child should not come under any kind of pressure during this phase. I have seen many parents pressurize their children to secure more marks, to do better in some subjects, etc. You may not think how much burden it creates on them. Some of us are also the victim of comparison. We may found it interesting to compare your child's performance with his/her friends. But you do not understand how badly your child suffers because of this attitude of your and becomes a victim throughout his/her life. We need to have a common sense that, every human is different from others. Everybody has his/her own interests, likes, and dislikes, etc. which should be respected. But would we do, most common sense has gone un-common nowadays? Is not it?
Let me brief you about what are the purposes of education. Education should make one limitless, not limited one what our education system is doing. It should not fix a road map of students; rather it should give broader looks of the possibilities, allowing students to take their own decision. It should explore students rather moving them in a single direction. Our education system is teaching students how to run behind success, but not on how to work on skills so that all success will be yours. Briefly what our education system has done that- it has reduced the human to a machine. Do you understand what is a machine is? It has limited intelligence – it cannot go beyond the fixed limits. It works very effectively and efficiently but within the limit. Honestly to speak our present young generation is of this kind. They are not capable enough to handle unfamiliar situations. If something unfamiliar happens they just surrender- suffer in anxiety or do anti-social works or commit suicide.
I want give you two examples to understand what our education has made us. Have you ever visited any park? Have you seen those beautiful plants- those which have designed in particular shape and size to entertain you? What do you think? Those plants are really happy as they appear to be? No. No living being in this universe can be really happy going against their own nature. A plant is something which to grow and live in its own wild nature. Yes, it’s ok that we have done those in our ways to make us happy. But it's against the interest of plants and it also does not serve the basic purpose of their existence.
My next example is a circus lion. Have you marked how much obedient are they? Very obedient- follow every instruction of their master. Do lots of entertainment of us. It's easy for anybody to surprise, how can a lion be so obedient? What is the secret? Today I am going to reveal it. They are well trained- to do certain activities in certain ways. If you want to test how dangerous the same lion can be, just make him free. The lion will show what it is capable enough- will kill and injured many. Do you want to know why this happens? How come the same lion who was so obedient little before becomes so dangerous? Let me answer this question. This is only because the lion was not educated.
My above two examples are meant to explain to you- how our present education is working. First of all, it is not educating rather doing some kind of training. Do you understand difference both, education and training? When education teaches you the basics of life, training helps you to accrue certain skills to do certain activities. No doubt both are important but once should be trained after being educated.
But unfortunately, our present system just serving the purpose of training programs. You can understand well if you will look at the outcomes. Either we are making citizens who look so obedient but go very dangerous when chances come (like the lion) or become like park plant, live for sure but just to entertain others. What is the use of the lives of these types? Some are making negative utilization of their skills when some others are suppressing their skills. Still, there is another group of people, for whom the world is still alive. They live their own brand of life irrespective of all odds and live happily and make others happy. But their present age is very less.
So dear parents, your serious interference is much in needed to make the right kind of human to every child. In my opinion, a healthy education system must cover the following five things like,
(I) Social education- Education system should make one socially fit. But our present education has failed drastically in it. More educated one is being, more uncomfortable he/she is becoming with society when the reverse should be the case. It's a well-known fact that most of the dangerous antisocial are well educated. Education should be a bridge to connect to society not to go away from it. It should teach one to live and make others live, not live at the cost of others. It also includes value education like- morality, honesty, dedication, etc.
(II) Spiritual education- Spiritual education should be an integral part of the education process. It helps one to get connected with the truth of life. It plays a key role in balancing life when there is a need. It helps one to stay surrendered to some unseen power. This education makes one feel that his/her own existence depends on the existence of so many things, so a feeling of caring and sharing appears in a child's mind. Initially, our education process had allowed this with great interest but this has been reduced to a very minimum level.
(III) Education to do something differently- Education of a child should be managed in such a way that, he/she should be capable enough to do something new in any field that he/she enters. This is only possible if the child is good at analyzing and decision making. And these are something one can be best taught during initial education. So a good amount of freedom should be ensured to a child. But unfortunately our present education process has turned to be a burden and this is so only because our children are forced to do things against their own will. As a parent, we need to ensure that our children should enjoy education.
(IV) Physical Education- Health is wealth. Nothing is more precious than having good health. It's beyond doubt our present education system has done a fabulous job how far imparting physical education is a concern.
(V) Earn Life- A healthy education system must make one earn his/her life. To be honest our present education system cannot be considered as successful how far this is a concern. This is not my opinion; this is the opinion of many companies who have found short of employability skills in our children. Earn life does not mean you will only make your children prepared for government jobs, a healthy education system must add a vocational course in its curriculum so an educated youth will not stand in line to get a job rather will start his own business. Every year our country is producing so many graduates and postgraduates that, it is never possible for any government to arrange jobs for them (including private and government sectors), irrespective how hard it tries. So self-employment is the only solution. But this is only possible if attempts are made from the initial level.
Dear parent, please check whether your children are being educated in the right environment or not. Because how they will be educated, will keep on imparting their lives till the end. Honestly, to speak we as a parent and our education system together are making our children money oriented. We are suggesting our children those career paths which can make them earn more money. In brief, we want to make money making machines. It is quite surprising to see very few are interested in professions like agriculture, social work, etc. But why is it so? Is it only because these professions do not promise you for good earning.
We have forgotten money is a need to make this life to go. But this never can be an aim of life. But unfortunately now worth of a person is evaluated on the base of his/earning potential. See, we all are in the rat race- running one after another. We all are too busy running restlessly but to where? Is not it to the graveyard? But I hope so. Our restless journey will end with our death but with all the bitter experiences. It is only because we drastically failed to live a life of a human- a life of choice, a life of freedom, and a life full of excitements.
It is understandable that we have missed these as our parents were not so educated. They did what they could have done. But cannot we educate ourselves? But will not we upgrade ourselves? Cannot we be good parents? Cannot we leave our children to live a life of complete freedom? Should not we facilitate our children to live lives of their own kinds? It becomes our responsibilities. And I strongly believe all parents of the present generation will shoulder these responsibilities with great care.
Thanking your
Yours
