Love Teaching…Remove ‘Catch 22 Situation' in the present academic scenario…

-Dr.R.Ilango 

“Wow…”

This is the feeling I get when I unroll the scroll of my memory which lays before my mind the experience of 35 years of teaching to the first-generation college goers hailing from rural areas. But then…the responsibility becomes more serious when you deal with the innocent rustic students who deem the teacher as the ‘Zamindar’ of the class room, all the time sitting before you with mouth and ears wide open yearning to devour anything worthwhile delivered to them. Hence,any sensible and committed teacher would then realize the enormity of the seriousness to do something meaty to these innocent students.

Is teaching confined to mere curriculum? No…it should break the barriers of curricular jurisdiction which is bookish and sometimes rubbish if it does not teach the strategy of solving the problems of day today life.  “Life is a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing”- this is the definition of life in a lighter vein according to Shakespeare. But Swami Vivekananda takes us to a higher plane by defining life as,  “The unfoldment and development of a being under circumstances tending to press it down.” Life’s problems weigh a man down and he has to make Herculean efforts to free him from its cruel clutches. The succour comes from the teacher who instils self-confidence in him. Him I call the best teacher who rescues the hapless individual from the struggles of practical life and makes him attain fulfilment and sublimity. Of course the task is tough. But an ideal teacher can…


An ordinary teacher is a mere postman who is satisfied with just throwing the letters into the houses of the addressees. He is keen on finishing the portions allotted to him. We can hear teachers in groups often gossiping about ‘covering the portions’ if you eavesdrop. He does not dare to step out of the syllabus to go an extra mile to prepare the student to face life’s problems. Only a Guru does that.A Guru is a sublimely evolved teacher and a disciple is an eager student to learn.The readiness to receive and retain is marvellous in a disciple before a sincere Guru. Splendid examples are Arjun and Krishna of ‘The Mahabharata’.The ideal Guru is Sri Krishna and the ideal disciple is Arjun.

On the first day of Kurukshetra war Arjun desires to discern those that throng there to fight. Seeing his Grandsire Bhishma, his Gurus Drona and Kirupa and other blood relatives, there is a sudden change in his attitude. His determination to kill his opponents gives way to compassion for his kinsmen. Losing self-confidence Arjun sinks in soul-damping depression. Vyasa vividly portrays the physical changes in Arjun- Gandiva, his powerful bow slips from his hands. Distress drowns him. Despondency drenches his eyes with tears. Loss of discrimination degrades his disposition. Manliness disappears. Effeminacy engulfs. Every part of his limbs has become weak and tired. His mouth is parched up. His body is trembling. His hair stands on its ends. His body experiences a burning sensation. This time-tested warrior who once defeated Lord Siva is not even able to stand. His mind is confused. His eyes discern bad omens.

If you write down all the above mentioned symptoms in a paper and show it to a Psychiatrist, pat would come his reply that this is how a man sans self-confidence struggles. Now Krishna, the Guru steps in. He is the counselor. The mother’s love, the father’s care, the master’s discipline, the king’s protection and God’s grace- a sweet combination of all these is found in the attitude of the Guru Sri Krishna towards Arjun who pours out his pitiable case to the benign protector. A Guru should sport a smiling face. Only then the confidence-lacking Arjun who was once the ‘bull among men’ can freely lend his ears.

A doctor should cure the disease and not the symptoms. If the doctor gives medicine only to cure the symptoms there is only temporary relief and the disease remains. The evil effect of disease attacks again and again. The present day education gives all knowledge through various disciplines, but values which enhance the confidence level of a student are miserably missing in the curriculum. This is called ‘Catch 22-Situation’ in education, a situation that makes the stakeholder helpless.

Crores of investment but not producing products to face challenges in life…mere book worms who can get degrees with no intrinsic qualities. Hence a good percentage of our highly qualified law-makers and bureaucrats are under CBI scanner. Mechanized education produces individual strained in intellectual tricks. They can earn the wherewithal to satisfy their creature comforts but not surcharged with values to lead a life of integrity. In the words of Swami Chidhbhavananda, “Personality has given place to phantom. Substance is lost sight of; chaff is being pampered”. 

Disposition of the disciple is not focussed. Rightly Swami Vivekananda said, “Education is not the amount of information that we put into your brain and runs riot there, undigested, all your life. We must have life-building, man-making, character-making assimilation of ideas. If you have assimilated five ideas and made them your life and character, you have more education than any man who has got by heart a whole library. If education is identical with information, the libraries are the greatest sages of the world and encyclopedia are the greatest Rishis”. 

Hence a modern student is like Arjun whose disease is his inability to cope up with life’s practical struggles. This can be tackled if we inculcate value-inculcating components in curriculum. Here comes Character-building and Life-giving education which our ancient Gurukulams aimed at.

Arjun’s disease is cured by his Guru Sri Krishna when he instils self-confidence in him by reminding that God Almighty resides in him, “Yield not to unmanliness, O Son of Pritha. It doth not befit thee. Thou art Atman imperishable, beyond all evil.” Arjun regains his lost self-confidence and wins. This gentle reminder is required at the present juncture in the academic scenario which can rescue education from the ‘Catch 22 situation’. Who can do it? Only a teacher who is committed…one whose pedagogy is also value-oriented along with other knowledge-imparting perspectives. 

What is the use of a gigantic tree which occupies a vast area with mammoth branches if it does not produce seeds and saplings? It should leave its photo copies to the posterity. Who can build a vibrant, dynamic and value-soaked posterity? Only teachers. They only handover the baton of cultural values and rich heritage carefully preserved to the succeeding generations.Not anybody else though they are important in their own way. 

As Einstein said to a group of children,“Bear in mind that the wonderful things you learn in your schools is the work of many generations. All this is put into your hands as your inheritance in order that you may receive it, honour it, add to it, and one day faithfully hand it on to your children. Thus do we mortals achieve immortality in the permanent things that we create in common?”

Teachers are the sublime minds of society and only they can preserve our rich national heritage and culture. Let our academic perspectives and pedagogical strategies be modified in such a way that good and value-oriented citizens are produced. To quote again Swami Chidhbhavananda, “It is the duty of the Indian genius to analyse the position and evolve a bold scheme for a rational, imaginative and purposeful reorientation of the educational pattern at the university level, with a view to raising an army of neo-graduates steeped in the hoary culture of the motherland and dedicated to serving her as potential leaders in the manifold departments of national effort.” 

NOTE:
Professor Dr. R.Ilango is the State Executive Council Member of DCK, and Syndicate Member of Bharathidasan University, Thiruchirappalli.