Hijacking Education

KNOWLEDGE, since antiquity, has been regarded as precious by men, irres­pective of the geographical area of the earth they belong to. Various civilizations that flourished thousands of years back in different parts of the world, had prospered only due to the commanding presence of knowledgeable and talented persons in their constituent population. The prophets and sages have always been marshalling the people with invaluable instructions for betterment in life. Even, if the majority of them had not been literate in the sense that they could not peruse and scribble their divine source of knowledge and their ability to admire knowledge was outstanding. With the march of time, the importance of gaining knowledge in a systematic manner, called education, has not only grown, it has indeed become indispensable for every man and woman. It has ceased to be confined to the elite and now attracts the urban and the rural people alike. The standard of education has varied from time to time and from area to area. But an educated person has, almost always, enjoyed a status embellished with dignity, honour and eminence. In the ancient times, India, Greece, Egypt, China and Babylon had made gigantic efforts in the fields like mathematics, ethics, history and philosophy. In the recent past, first the Muslims of Arab and then the Christians of Europe and America have given tremendous impetus to educational pursuits. All the branches of education are multiplying rapidly. Philosophy, Theology, Mathematics and Medicine ware already present in the medieval period in inchoate or developing stages. Then emerged subjects like Astronomy, Algebra, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Anatomy. The modern times have introduced hundreds of ramifications including Evolution, Genetics, Astrophysics, computer Sciences, specialised surgeries and Nuclear Physics. And the list is steadily lengthening.

Before the emergence of economic fundamentalism in the affairs of society, education served as a means to build personality in terms of morals and character. Its goal was to develop a penchant for what is good and aversion for what is bad for society and oneself; it used to inculcate a sense of self-righteousness, sacrifice and service. The pupils were trained by the teacher so as to prepare them to indefatigably instruct and help others to the best of their abilities. The more educated a person the more he was supposed to be honest, truthful and imprudent; he was expected to be inexorable against the barricades of worldly desires. For most of the learned, physicians, philosophers, writers and poets, money was, at the most, a secondary consideration; their primary aim used to be to disseminate information and to support the needy. Many of them would labour day and night to serve others. What they looked for and gained in bargain was neither the coins and gifts nor luxuries of life, but, self-satisfaction and dignified status in society. Many of them displayed indomitable courage in the face of compelling circumstances and led crusades against the evils prevailing in their times; they, of course, had to face severe persecution at the hands of the perpetrators of injustice, suppression and exploitation. Their faith in the Creator, or in their own conscience, would imbue them with astounding tolerance and inscrutable endurance, and they would not be perturbed or crestfallen in the face of direct challenges. They would not compromise a rudder even when death stared at them, or starvation threatened their survival; they would prefer to kiss martyrdom rather than embrace worldly glory. So much was the charisma of their untainted character that even the hardened criminals, diehard apostates and perverts would exhibit strong will to undergo transformation following a solitary contact with them; their savage ribaldry would evaporate, and a person, who always used to scheme how to loot and kill others, would be prepared to sacrifice all his physical and material belongings for the sake of mankind. The influence of education was also discernible in the attitude of common people towards the weak, the poor and the deprived; people were always keen to help them. The teacher-taught relationship used to have a healthy sentimental colour. The students would be severely punished by the teachers at their slightest foibles and yet their love and respect of the students for them would never get diluted. The students knew that if the teachers beat them with cane, there was no mala fide intention behind their act and they were genuinely interested in reforming and civilising them.

An environment in school and colleges that focuses on character-building and inculcates ideas of simple living in the minds of the grooming boys and girls was but an absurdity in the eyes of the economic fundamentalists. They realized pretty well that the school days had the biggest impact on the mind-set of students, and once their propinquity matured, riposte would be extremely difficult. The rising popularity of education in the masses further strengthened their resolve to hijack it. Their game-plan had two basic components. First, they had an eye on the prospects of education which could yield a new market. Second, they wished to train the students on a specific pattern that would build their personality not as person of high morals but as skilled managers and salesmen, efficient workers, and excellent consumers. So, whatever different routes of progress in the march of economic fundamentalism have been described in previous pages, were also imposed on schools and colleges. Formerly, the syllabus contained a sizeable quota of religious instructions and moral education. The emeritus of religion from society meant that the religious contents were steadily banished from the curriculum. The inspiring tales of saints and reformers were replaced by exciting love legends. The stories of Romeo and Juliet, Sheereen and Farhad and Laila and Majnu became immensely popular among the students. The only form of male-female relationship that was projected was love-affair; the emerging literature had no interest in mother-son, brother-sister and father-daughter relationship; these had very little commercial prospects.

The tone and contents of education continued to undergo steady transformation. The moral sciences were substituted by the nature sciences. It will be discussed later in this book how science was projected as anti-religion. Later, the subjects related with Economics and Commerce started entering the syllabi. Subjects like History, Theology and Civics have now become outmoded. The management courses are gaining in currency because by studying these courses, the prospects of getting lucrative jobs considerably enhance. The professional courses have become bereft of any ethical contents; they inculcate sheer commercialism. The industry-related courses like fashion-designing, hotel management, beauty care, etc. are understandably prospering.

Thus the education that in the past had a distinct egalitarian touch and was not, necessarily, linked with financial objectives, has now become vastly commercialised. The modern liberal social values, the aetiology of which has already been reviewed, have been, successively introduced into schools and colleges. It began with the concept of co-education, first at the primary, then at the secondary and finally at the university level. The skirt became the prescribed dress for girls in most of the schools. Covering heads is almost a taboo now and in the Western countries the insistence of some girl-students on covering their heads has, many a time, hit international headlines. To be impudent enough to reveal one’s anatomy to the delight of the watchers, is defended as an individual right that should be respected at all costs, but the right to cover oneself is nowhere appreciated; it, in fact attracts derision and ridicule. A lady opting for it in a Western educational institution is jeered at as a backward, boorish, medieval woman cut off from the new social realities. The arrangements of picnics and educational tours in degree colleges and universities further aggravate the chances of uninhibited intimacies between the two sexes.

The goal of education having been incarcerated to finances, boys and girls opt for recherche courses, their choice usually depending upon the economic future expected; the courses that lead to services giving attractive emoluments and lucrative perks are pursued by the more brilliant students. Boys and girls belonging to industrial families often join courses to get acquainted with the nuances of business, management and technology; after finishing their apprenticeship, they establish their own factories or companies. Money is the ultimate target; morals have no pecuniary prospects, at least in the immediate future. Morality, therefore, occupies no place in their scheme of things. The professional courses emblazon students with unadulterated professionalism; this means that they must learn how to present oneself or one’s products or company so that the business can achieve big heights. The education, thus, in effect, trains how best to infatuate others, to push one’s own interests, to keep the seamier side covered, to enhance market potential by innovative tactics and to cash in on people’s susceptibilities, leanings, sentiments and desires. The products of modern education are destined to become a part of the grand design of the big merchants and manufacturers who need managers, supervisors, sales-persons and marketing executives for their companies. Students must receive training in their educational career befitting their requirements. It is hardly surprising therefore that the modern educated class experiences a feeling of neither any reluctance before nor any compunction after lying, misinforming, cheating, bribing (or getting bribed) and slandering others; these have, in fact, become essential paraphernalia of a successful businessman, business executive or officer. The 'education' only instils confidence and sophistication for pursuing their activities with perfection.

The erotomania generated in the boys and girls by the commercialisation of sex necessitated some precautions. Sex education entered the curriculum early in the West. Efforts are now on for its introduction in all the schools and colleges throughout the world. Ostensibly, this aims at effacing from the minds of adolescent boys and girls misconceptions and misgivings about sex. But behind the facade, there are other more compelling interests. The galloping sexual freedom gives rise to several noisome (physical and psychological) complications. These include sexually transmitted diseases, many of which are life threatening, fear of pregnancy and social stigmatization. Many social and health organisations have shown concern over these developments. The merchants and their cronies, as always, have stepped in demanding introduction of sex education at the college, even school-level. This, they visualize, would considerably diminish the magnitude of the problem because after this education, if and when, the adolescents indulge in sex, they would take necessary precautions. This suits the interests of the big business, because an open discussion in classrooms on sex would further boost the concept of sexual liberty. The boys and girls would develop what is regarded as healthy sexual attitude which in the West, connotes absence of any emotional hindrances in having sex with anybody of one’s choice, and ability to take necessary precautions in order to avoid an unwanted pregnancy and troublesome infections. Such a “healthy sexual attitude”, in their reckoning, is imperative for the sustenance of today’s global sex market.

Not only have the ideological foundations of education become predominantly commercial, the institutions themselves have been transformed into business centres. The impact of commercialisation has been such that the schools, colleges and professional institutions have been multiplying rapidly during the last few decades. The paediatric needs of children are being bulldozed, and the parents are being bamboozled to send their kids, who are in no physical and mental position to withstand the burden imposed on them, to schools. Formerly, the schooling used to commence with class one. Then the 'kindergarten' was added which again was divided into 'K.G. first' and 'second'. It was then followed by the introduction of nursery and pre-nursery classes. There are certain schools where pre-pre-nursery is also available. The owners of schools have distinct advantages in increasing the number of classes, for it shoots up the number of students enhancing their income. They successfully exploit the desires of parents to give their children the best education and also the problem of the working women who find it more expedient to send their kids to schools as early as possible. These developments also suit the big business and they, therefore, wholeheartedly support them. The earlier the children go to schools the more the parents spend on their dresses, shoes etc. The rise in the number of working women has led to the booming of 'baby-sitter schools'. The new trend means that the kids of three, even two years, are now compelled to go to schools. At the time of admissions and in the following days, often for weeks, the yells and screams of child­ren are audible from a considerable distance.

As a corollary to commercialization, pompousness has become the hallmark of “standard” institutions. In order to attract the elite, very high annual fees are charged, and in return, they are promised highly sophisticated teaching for their children. In countries belonging to Indian subcontinent, the craze among the elite for English has helped the merchants of education to establish highly advanced and suave academies (where the students would speak nothing but English) charging astronomical fees. The rich prefer these schools as it pampers their elitist mentality and they are able to maintain their inflated status in society.

The privatisation of education has now also encompassed the higher academic and professional courses. Many a time the institutions are established either by the big business houses themselves or with their financial support with the objective of producing stuff suitable for the specific demands of their industries. The Engineering, Management and Medical colleges, administered by the private organisations are swelling in number all over the world. Many of these institutions are substandard and their only aim is to provide degrees to those students who are not competent enough to compete in the well-established institutions but their parents are in a position to donate handsome amounts in order to help their sons and daughters receive professional qualifications. This appeases their ego and also assists them in their future plans.

The environment in the present day colleges and universities is consistent with the interest of industries in great many respects. Coeducation has bred exhibitionist proclivities among students who wear costly dresses and shoes and use high priced perfumes to gain popularity among the fellow students. In university campuses, boys and girls can be easily found gloating at one another. Consequent on their craze for music and films, they tend to dissipate their money on video and audio recorders, cassettes and music videos. Hardly a minuscule percentage of university and degree college students develop academic brilliance. The overwhelming majority is consumed by the consumerist culture assiduously pushed by the economic fundamentalists. This money comes from their parents, and often against their wish, causing great chagrin to their minds. Sometimes, when the parents are not in a position to afford their huge extravagances, or are reluctant to part with their hard-earned wealth, these boys and girls choose their own ways, proper or risqué, to earn; they often join the underworld and once they are in, there is no way out left for them.

Describing how the modern education has become a hindrance in achievement of real happiness, Mill says :"The happiness which they (the philosophers who thought that happiness is the end of life) meant was not a life of rapture; but moments of such, in an existence made up of few and transitory pains, many and various pleasures, with a decided predominance of the active over the passive, and having as the foundation of the whole, not to expect more from life than it is a capable of bestowing. A life thus composed, to those who have been fortunate enough to obtain it, has always appeared worthy of the name of happiness, And such an existence is even now the lot of many, during some considerable portion of their lives. The present wretched education, and wretched social arrangements, are the only real hindrance to its being attainable by almost all".

. To be contd.

Dr. Javed Jamil is the Executive Chairman of International Centre for Applied Islamics based in India