It was early in the morning and I was inside my room. Solitude is my only companion. Outside the sun is trying to break the dawn. I could hear birds waking from their sweet slumber. There was an occasional rustle of leaves. I opened the windows and a cool breeze touches my bare skins. I look outside and saw the world teeming with life.
I went to my study and lighted a candle. I took my pen and contemplated on the nature of things. My pen took a life of its own and began to fill up the blank pages in front of me. Then i wrote the following passages. "I damn the whole system of learning. I damn their institution and universities. The way of evaluating our potential through marks.
"Learning", ah! Such a noble calling is held a prisoner. Free it. It must be free as the air we breath and far reaching as the sun's ray. It must be made into festivities and an enjoyable experience. Gone are the days of the birch.
Every child is a potential genius provided the right environment. Care must be taken to encourage creative expression and freedom of thought. A child must be allowed to follow his own vocations rather than force our opinion. Let his pen follow his thought like a ship in a river their may be violent storm and wild gale but it will strengthen his resolve. The effort will be science arts and literature.
Let us stop following the phantoms of our past masters. Originality and not conformity is the key word. The world rested on the shoulder of the creative individual and the rest follows like a herd. Let us not repeat what other have said but says what we have to say. The electricity that lighted humanity is not the result of a system of learning but rather the fancy of one man who dares to think independently. This is what true learning is all about.
There is an adage that 'knowledge is power' but it is a calling of the bigoted. We should not hold in awe the protagonist of history who are holder of power and have done much harm. Those who have struck a deal with the devil. True learning is a symbiosis of good thought and good action.
There is nobility in wielding a pain and sublimity in that wretched tanned creature toiling in the field. Learn from him the value of life and work. That will be education.
Like the wise says who once stood at the seashore and meekly submitted to his ignorance and who goes on to discover the laws of nature.
Nature is a virgin territory waiting to be exploited by whomsoever whose thoughts are free. Tradition and convention is fetter of gold enticing like the sirens of the seven seas seducing the feeble mind.
Learning is an odyssey. Rush out into the wide-open field, fill your lungs with fresh air. Open your eyes to the world. You will feel there is so much to learn and so many muse to befriend. The laughter of children; the gossips of housewives and the pale face of little girls blushing at the sight of a lily in bloom. The occasional pitter patters of raindrops are our teacher as much as our natural philosophers.
The speculated mind is a friend of nature and knows all her secrets. She has exalted him in the company of his peers. Now I know my worth in the standings of man. And I think this is what true education is all about and I found it outside my classroom.
Belinda thockchom writes for the first time to e-pao.net
You can contact the writer at [email protected]
This article was webcasted on 06th July 2005.
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