COMPARING EDUCATION...YESTERYEARS WITH TODAY...

I remember when I was a school going child in the late 70s and 80s… and, most of us would definitely agree to the fact that we had a strict system of education blended with care and affection. Our teachers in school taught us the first lesson as respect towards our elders… our teachers and parents. This lesson used to be inculcated in our system in such a manner that we never needed a special course in Personality Development. Etiquettes, mannerisms, good behavior, moral values seemed to grow up with our classes, and by the time we reached high school we were already groomed up as dainty young polished adults. And this education did not have a board or class, it was imparted by the teachers by default and without parental interference of any sort. There was rarely a parent who would march out to allege the school authorities for any action taken on the ward. Such was the faith of the parents on the schools and the teachers that as students we learnt look up to our teachers with utmost respect. Even today if we happen to come across any such ‘guru’ of our school days in any commonplace we instinctly go out to touch his/ her feet to seek blessings, irrespective of the fact that the person had given us lessons or not.
However, times change and nowadays, our education system has become so commercialized that those values cease to exist. The proverb : Parents are the first teachers and teachers are the second parents, has simply lost its value. Teaching manners in school is taken up as a criticism, wherein, now and then we have parents filing up complaints about harassment to their kids. Wishing teachers, has taken secondary and barely a handful of parents are there who teach their kids to wish teachers. The motto of the parents is: If we are paying for our child’s education we can demand it. Education cannot be purchased or demanded it has to be sought by the inherent potential of perseverance, patience, sincerity and above all reverence for the teacher. Simply endowing the teacher with costly gifts doesn’t show respect. Respect is internal and is reflected in the attitude of the student, his or her behavior towards the elders. Perhaps that is why most of the youngsters today need to pay hefty amounts just to learn Personality Development as a separate course before going for a career. And even after doing the course does the certificate hold value and can really certify if the person has genuinely learnt personality? Morality is a part of humanity and needs to be imbibed in the early years of value education as a part of parental care. Just as a bird teaches its sibling to choose its prey, just as an animal teaches it’s young one the rules of the jungle, we the human beings need to impart the very basics of moral education to our progenies. As adults its time to contemplate: Are we imparting to our successors what we received from our predecessors? Are we doing justice in our duty as parents and teachers? How responsible are we if we produce rowdy, unruly, truant youngsters? Do we really have the right to complain if our youngsters do not obey us?
Dr Paramita Mishra