Education: Start with Dirty Hands Not Clean Slate

I remember almost a decade ago, attending Delhi University's Academic Congress as a graduate student of Science, representing my college along with Professor Jassal who remarked that there is more to learn as a student than just confines of academic syllabus.?

The Academic Congress was facilitated by the then Vice Chancellor of University of Delhi, Prof. Dinesh Singh, a mathematician and administrator who went on to introduce some wonderful initiatives in the university. (The fact that they weren't successful due to systemic inertia and resistance is a different issue.)

Prof. Singh had talked at length about what it really needs to be one learner, a scholar beyond the systemic dependence. This was something of absolute interest to me as I had always described myself to be a curious person but one who could gather little to no sincerity for exams and academic assessments. Being absolute fan of the thoughtschool that learning exists outside of classroom, I found the lecture to be extremely intriguing and validating of my not so academically sincere behaviour.?

I remember him remarking that to be a mathematician that too who's even interested in it, you can find your true knowledge in anything! Braiding theory in Mathematics was inspired from observing braid-makers. Darwin, the evolutionary biologist whose work made the mankind understand their origin, as a fact didn't get help from his lectures at Cambridge. It was when the varsity was shut down during the plague that he went back to his village and got inspired by the nature and moved on to postulate the genetics. Recalling his words, he didn't learn as much in the lectures at Cambridge as much he learnt at the pubs of Cambridge. Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin while washing his petridish.

Buddha, never preached in Sanskrit, the language of the learned at those times. His philosophy is now taught in almost every university of the world. And guess what he never went to a university. The knowledge came from going to the ground, engaging with community.

The idea was 'to get one's hands dirty' and immerse in the masses. Work on ground.?In modern management, the idea of gemba walks, open forums, ground studies validate the same fact that great ideas find their roots in awareness of the world around.

Any education or work undertaking fails where this awareness is not taken care of. That said, a word of caution against any adverse or convenient interpretation though. Being an observant learner is the key to being a great thinker. If any education is merely reduced to be a medium of only earning and not learning, it will become redundant very soon.?

Learning is a natural phenomena, no one can certify your geniuses. While it is always great to shine academically with good grades, it is much more important to foster a learner's attitude after and beyond the classroom. It is a sine qua non duty of us sapiens as beneficiaries of this information and technological age that we develop scientific temperament beyond just earning science degrees and technical skills. It is important to have educated opinions based on objective observations to dispel false notions and beliefs. Right education and awareness does not stop at being a more learned person. It is when we truly apply those that we can call ourselves the holders of knowledge. It is the courage of Socrates, Copernicus and Darwin that we must harbour to stand by what the education teaches us to be right even against the most traditional of thoughts and systems. It is important to not merely study history and arts but to cultivate a sensitivity of societal patterns, human emotions and be immersed in it like an ethnographer. Education is not a sealed locker where priced possessions should be kept and sealed. It is a window that must open you to wider perspectives of the world and bring in light of awareness. You too, afterall, would never want to end up being a memory card with all facts stored in you!

Right thought, word and deed emerge from right learning. A Zen master had once said, 'A seed sprouts in dirt, while clear waters often harbour no life!'

Grow beyond convenience. Grow beyond the utilitarian outlook of education. Learn to transform. Learn on the ground and harbour awareness, courage and sensitivity to impart a value and meaning to your learning.