Since times immemorial, educators, ideologists and philosophers have been defining the concept of education. Education looks like a simple word with perhaps the simplest meaning. However, it’s a simple word with the most complex meanings you can think of.
Education is a process of delivering knowledge skills and information from teachers to students. But this is really inadequate to capture what is really important about being and becoming educated.
The essence of education and being educated seems disappearing both from the hearts of the teachers and the brains of the students. The teachers have ceased being mentors who are only paid to teach and produce the state and district toppers. The basic concept of education has been interpreted wrongly, wrong enough to debase the minds of the students and blend it with the baseless material concerns like securing high percentage of marks that may either come from no logic at all or from ‘illegally legal’ way of cheating or copying. Or it may even come from coveting those high paying jobs where they could have to do the worse things like corruption or tax evasion.
Today the problem with any institution is that they have been handling education like any other process, where in you give inputs and expect a better output. Unfortunately education lies in a heap, in the corner of a classroom. They don’t get that it’s not just about solving mathematical equations; it is about how to approach such problems. Since the onset of the technological developments, the emphasis has shifted from values and morals to science and more science. Institutions should make sure their pupils enjoy what they study. And make them realise that what they are getting in these institutions is not only limited to getting good grades or degrees to apply for high paying jobs. The process of being educated is really far more precious and prestigious than its material benefits.
People literate their children, that is to say, they want their children to read and write so that they could bring home the most important and the most awaited academic degree that they've been working hard to achieve. That's not enough, although literacy has an indirect relation with education.
Through literacy one can acquire skill sets and learn ways to do things. But education is how and when to apply these skills in the right direction at the right time. So there's always a difference between being literate and being educated. One may be illiterate yet more educated.
We all need to look at the bigger side. Don’t get struck only to the grades you’re getting or just 8 to 9 or 9 to 10 hours that you’re spending going to school or college and strutting back towards home. There’s nothing to be proud of it unless and until you’re enjoying the real pleasures of education, which is only possible if you get the basic concept right.
Make some efforts on your own. Track off from the regular traditional way or the norms if they’re wrong. Anyone can become a professional or an executive without values, but it takes a whole lot of courage to be one with all those values. The students need to know the essence of education, true to its meaning, for they are the future of their nation and the world as a whole.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 29 Jun 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 29 Jun 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 30 Jun 2012 00:00:00 IST