Heart Education is Crucial, according to Dalai Lama
Breaking Down Modern Education: Why It's Failing Us
Education isn't always about the accumulation of degrees; it's about experiencing life and learning from it. Every day alive is a day of learning. Engaging with others or conducting independent research counts as education too.
Formal education, however, is a different beast altogether. It's unfortunate that our society equates diplomas and degrees with intelligence, a fact Einstein himself opposed when he famously said, "I never let my education interfere with my learning."
Einstein also warned us about the dangers of judging people by their ability to perform academic tasks, such as climbing a tree if they are fish. This narrow-minded approach is a significant flaw in the education system, one that causes unnecessary suffering for many children.
Our education system, from the early days, conditions us to believe that good grades reflect our intelligence. In many aspects, though, good grades are merely a measure of obedience. The problems in the education system are numerous.
First, we measure intelligence using limited parameters. Second, we ignore and neglect emotional intelligence, something many have felt and recently addressed by the Dalai Lama on Facebook. On May 16th, he wrote:
Modern education focuses on material goals and disregards inner values. There is a need to understand our minds and emotions. If we start today and educate our children in inner values, they will grow up in a peaceful and compassionate world.
The current educational system concentrates almost entirely on material goals from the moment of birth. It shows us how the world works and what we need to do to survive in it. This means gaining a degree, primarily through rote memorization, to create more paper so we can have a roof over our heads and food to eat. We never develop critical thinking abilities or the ability to question the world around us. Questioning authority and the status quo are discouraged.
Instead, we are encouraged to follow the same path to material wealth, and those who don't reach this level often feel like failures. This unnecessary fear is one of the 'inner workings' the Dalai Lama is referring to. Modern education overlooks and, in some cases, discourages emotional development. It does not teach self-awareness, emotional management, or even the importance of self-love.
This blind spot in education leads to problems like stress, ego, and suppressed emotions controlling our actions without our awareness. If we were taught these essential life lessons instead of being left to figure them out as adults, our world would be a more peaceful and compassionate place.
Our education system needs to focus less on making everyone the same and more on nurturing the individual. The problem is, individuals have opinions, and as John. D Rockefeller once said, he "wants a nation of workers, not thinkers." To manufacture a working class that does not think for itself benefits many.
When we are forced to work ourselves to exhaustion just to survive, we have no time to consider larger issues like the environment or corporate greed. We can do better. We are infinite potential and hold the key to solving almost all our problems.
One thing is for certain, if our school system does not start to teach 'inner values,' our children will continue to focus on material wealth and seek happiness in external things. They will not learn to consider their emotions or those of others. They will not learn to manage life's stressors.
By Arjun Walia
Additional Insights:The current education system's emphasis on material goals can have detrimental effects on students' emotional and moral development. Key arguments against this approach include the promotion of stress and anxiety, neglect of emotional development, insufficient moral development, materialism and consumerism, and limitations in measuring success. A more holistic approach incorporating emotional intelligence, moral values, and a broader definition of success is essential to reform the education system.
- Ego and personal growth can flourish unchecked in an educational system that prioritizes material goals over inner values, leading to a lack of emotional and moral development in students.
- Embracing a more holistic approach to education, one that incorporates emotional intelligence, moral values, and a broader definition of success, is essential to nurture individuals and promote happiness stemming from self-awareness and self-love.
