Education is a very broad term and a qualification is just one of the aspects education encompasses. Being educated to me is the ability to look beyond materialistic well-being. Apparently, there are a lot of us who come to associate education with one's academic qualifications. For starters, there is a thin line that exists between being well educated and well qualified. It boggles my mind when well qualified people equate education with a formal recognition by some institution on paper. Education is born out of a fusion of wide ranges of personal and professional excellence which sustains for a lifetime, whereas qualification ends with a degree.
Part of the difference between education and qualification in our system stems from the lack of ability of our learning institutes to teach us to think for ourselves. Thinking for oneself leads to independence and thoughts that are free of societal governance. Another core idea of education is tolerance. Now, i'm not saying we are intolerant but secularism in our country is a mere paradox. The freedom to form decisions without being judged, criticised and counter-questioned is something we are still not habituated to. Imagine going by a list of criteria to become educated, only to wait for non-education to hit us. The scenario that we are currently witnessing is that of communalism in a democracy, casteism and sexism with the larger aim being that of achieving equality and making being result and achievement oriented too mainstream, wherein the fundamentals of growth and harmony are uncalled for. A qualification just makes the ride to getting educated easier and moreover teaches us one thing; to complete what we started. Let's face this, we have miles to go before claiming to be educated.
Our educational system has been lambasted for setting up a poor base for its students. With all the aspects of learning being leveraged with scores, practical knowledge and talent have been heavily compromised upon. Workforce that is unskilled and uncompetitive is a product of our ignorance towards its true interests and genius. But again, putting the blame on teachers and parents for the lack of motivation to help the child achieve its true potential is not justified, as they too are a product of the same educational system that we are thrashing. True education stands for empowerment and also empowering. Suppression at the same time, of innate human expertise in achieving its full glory, defeats the purpose of education.
We don't necessarily need to adopt the conventional route of getting education to be learned and independent. Knowing that true knowledge lies in identifying one's calling and making it a way of life, think about being devoid of excellence in the fields of music, sports, theatre and other competitive forms of art, if its legends just remained qualified but not becoming learned in their fields of expertise. Imagine, we wouldn't have known a legend in percussion as great as Ustad Zakir Hussain, had his father not been educated enough to realize his child's true artist and pushed him to pursue his art from a tender age. It was not his qualifications that helped him in realizing what a deadly combination talent and passion could possibly make. Just a simple understanding of life sans irrationality and materialistic targets and realization of one's role and duties in life is enough of a degree for a lifetime of education. Who would have thought that a Pakistani man brought up in a patriarchal Islamic family would stand up for his daughter's rights to attain independence? Malala couldn't be luckier! Her father could have easily suppressed her dreams and restricted her freedom like many well qualified Pakistani men have and still do, but he chose to lead the change. Her father is not a highly qualified but has definitely managed to educate those that are highly qualified, in the real sense. Let us all attempt to make an educated guess by asking ourselves, ''Are we educated or just well qualified?''
Part of the difference between education and qualification in our system stems from the lack of ability of our learning institutes to teach us to think for ourselves. Thinking for oneself leads to independence and thoughts that are free of societal governance. Another core idea of education is tolerance. Now, i'm not saying we are intolerant but secularism in our country is a mere paradox. The freedom to form decisions without being judged, criticised and counter-questioned is something we are still not habituated to. Imagine going by a list of criteria to become educated, only to wait for non-education to hit us. The scenario that we are currently witnessing is that of communalism in a democracy, casteism and sexism with the larger aim being that of achieving equality and making being result and achievement oriented too mainstream, wherein the fundamentals of growth and harmony are uncalled for. A qualification just makes the ride to getting educated easier and moreover teaches us one thing; to complete what we started. Let's face this, we have miles to go before claiming to be educated.
Our educational system has been lambasted for setting up a poor base for its students. With all the aspects of learning being leveraged with scores, practical knowledge and talent have been heavily compromised upon. Workforce that is unskilled and uncompetitive is a product of our ignorance towards its true interests and genius. But again, putting the blame on teachers and parents for the lack of motivation to help the child achieve its true potential is not justified, as they too are a product of the same educational system that we are thrashing. True education stands for empowerment and also empowering. Suppression at the same time, of innate human expertise in achieving its full glory, defeats the purpose of education.
We don't necessarily need to adopt the conventional route of getting education to be learned and independent. Knowing that true knowledge lies in identifying one's calling and making it a way of life, think about being devoid of excellence in the fields of music, sports, theatre and other competitive forms of art, if its legends just remained qualified but not becoming learned in their fields of expertise. Imagine, we wouldn't have known a legend in percussion as great as Ustad Zakir Hussain, had his father not been educated enough to realize his child's true artist and pushed him to pursue his art from a tender age. It was not his qualifications that helped him in realizing what a deadly combination talent and passion could possibly make. Just a simple understanding of life sans irrationality and materialistic targets and realization of one's role and duties in life is enough of a degree for a lifetime of education. Who would have thought that a Pakistani man brought up in a patriarchal Islamic family would stand up for his daughter's rights to attain independence? Malala couldn't be luckier! Her father could have easily suppressed her dreams and restricted her freedom like many well qualified Pakistani men have and still do, but he chose to lead the change. Her father is not a highly qualified but has definitely managed to educate those that are highly qualified, in the real sense. Let us all attempt to make an educated guess by asking ourselves, ''Are we educated or just well qualified?''
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