The Function of Education

I wonder if we have ever asked ourselves what education means. Why do we go to school, why do we learn various subjects, why do we pass examinations and compete with each other for better grades? What does this so-called education mean, and what is it all about? This is really a very important question, not only for the students, but also for the parents, for the teachers, and for everyone who loves this earth. Why do we go through the struggle to be educated? Is it merely in order to pass some examinations and get a job? Or is it the function of education to prepare us while we are young to understand the whole process of life? Having a job and earning one's livelihood is necessary - but is that all? Are we being educated only for that? Surely, life is not merely a job, an occupation; life is something extraordinarily wide and profound, it is a great mystery, a vast realm in which we function as human beings. If we merely prepare ourselves to earn a livelihood, we shall miss the whole point of life; and to understand life is much more important than merely to prepare for examinations and become very proficient in mathematics, physics, or what you will.

So, whether we are teachers or students, is it not important to ask ourselves why we are educating or being educated? And what does life mean? Is not life an extraordinary thing? The birds, the flowers, the flourishing trees, the heavens, the stars, the rivers and the fish therein - all this is life. Life is the poor and the rich; life is the constant battle between groups, races and nations; life is meditation; life is what we call religion, and it is also the subtle, hidden things of the mind - the envies, the ambitions, the passions, the fears, fulfilments and anxieties. All this and much more is life. But we generally prepare ourselves to understand only one small corner of it. We pass certain examinations, find a job, get married, have children, and then become more and more like machines. We remain fearful, anxious, frightened of life. So, is it the function of education to help us understand the whole process of life, or is it merely to prepare us for a vocation, for the best job we can get?

What is going to happen to all of us when we grow to be men and women? Have you ever asked yourselves what you are going to do when you grow up? In all likelihood you will get married, and before you know where you are you will be mothers and fathers; and you will then be tied to a job, or to the kitchen, in which you will gradually wither away. Is that all that your life is going to be? Have you ever asked yourselves this question? Should you not ask it? If your family is wealthy you may have a fairly good position already assured, your father may give you a comfortable job, or you may get richly married; but there also you will decay, deteriorate. Do you see?

Surely, education has no meaning unless it helps you to understand the...



 J. Krishnamurti, THINK ON THESE THINGS

life's stuff

to your question 'how do you know what you want?' well, I can't be accurate. I think it's just something you have to feel within you. you want it and that's it.

but if you mean something more complicated like, for example, 'what is the best way to find the balance between what you really want to do in life with what gives you successful future?' well that's a whole different thing.

I told you about several different factors you have to take in account:

•what you really like, something you could do every day of your life for no salary.

•what you have talent in, something you know you can do better than many others, specially something with which you can make money.

•and what your family and environment lets you or helps you to do, if for example everyone in your family is lawyer, you have an easy way to become another. but if your parents are not going to pay for a major different from medicine, well it's a hard restriction. and if your family has many friends in business, maybe they'll help you build your future. this is actually the most changing and subjective from the factors I'm considering.

this is just a sketch of my ideas, but of course they can be developed further.

I just found this image somewhere in the internet, but I found it can also help explain these ideas.

and... what do you think?

freedom

acabo de leer en un libro que encontré por casualidad, un pasaje acerca de la palabra freedom.

parece ser una de las primeras palabras reconocidas en el idioma inglés y también una de las más propias del idioma que existen, porque no tiene ningún origen en otro idioma, sino que proviene del mismo inglés. y según recalca el autor, es una palabra que desde su creación por los antiguos anglos y sajones, ha tenido mucha importancia, pues eso es justamente lo que ellos buscaban al irse a vivir a una isla lejos de sus raices germánicas.

así que para la cultura inglesa es muy importante, freedom.

entonces ahora entiendo por qué para mí es tan importante ser libre. y hablo honestamente, la libertad es algo muy valioso para mi.

y digo que ahora todo tiene sentido porque los medios están plagados de mercadotecnia gringa, de los hijos de los britanicos, que por cierto también buscaban libertad cuando llegaron a "colonizar" otro continente. tiene sentido porque ellos de cierta forma se han adueñado del mundo, o al menos así lo reflejan los medios de comunicación, y los mismos medios de comunicación reflejan muy bien el énfasis en ese valor tan importante para esta gente. entonces también tiene sentido que hoy en día veamos muchos casos en que la libertad se ha convertido en libertinaje.

pues es natural que en cada época haya un reacomodo de la escala de valores de cada sociedad, ¿cierto? bueno pues parece ser que ésta vez le toca a la libertad, aunque sea en teoría.