Have you ever wondered why the urban populace is called educated and the rural populace literate?
Is someone with schooling necessarily educated?
Was travelling again so had more time to think. What set me thinking in this direction was the time I spent at the airports waiting for flights. One would assume that a large portion of the "flying" population would be educated. The so called educated people would perhaps have been taught virtues such as honesty, sharing, compassion etc. during the course of their education.
A few observations:
Schooling does not instill the concept of a queue. No matter which airport (for that matter billing counters of most services viz multiplexes, entertainment parks; popular weekend destinations of the urbane!) you go to people believe that they are Amitabh Bachchan who famously said in some movie whose name I fail to recollect(think it was Deewar)"Line vahin se shuru hoti hai jahan pe hum khadey ho jaatey hain". Fail to understand why years of schooling come to naught when we have to wait our turn. Am sure all those frequent flyers know that they have a seat reserved for them on the airplane, yet people clamour to get in as soon as the cab stops near the airplane.
Schooling does not teach you to read signs: The signage over the X-ray machine asks you to put your mobile phones in your bags yet, the number of people who do not is amazing. Agreed you can be pre-occupied and forget to do so but the board there is put up for precisely that reason.. to remind you!!
Schooling makes you turn a deaf ear to instructions: Come on be honest now..How many times have you got up from your seat or swithched on your mobile phone before the airplane came to a halt or the cabin doors were opened. Need I say more?
I could perhaps sight other examples; if I started writing about the way people drive on the roads it would end up becoming a book!!
Like I mentioned, I was travelling most of last week and a brief portion of my travels took me to some parts of rural India as well.
Now let me contrast the above with what schooling has meant to the people who perhaps do not fly or fly as often.
Schooling has meant that they have an option of seeking livelihood outside the confines of their village.
Schooling has meant that they have progressed as human beings though their village infrastructure has not.
Schooling has meant the difference between economic stagnance and prosperity.
All of the above in my book are what education should achieve. While the urban schools are just churning out more literates, its the schools in rural areas that are educating people.
