Education-Struggle For Excellence | Opinion Blog by Satvika, 16, Bangalore

“Education is the manifestation of perfection already in man”

-Swami Vivekananda 

 This one liner is very popular and has been stuck in my head for quite some time, but if we step back and look at the bigger picture, is it really? Is education still the manifestation of already-existing perfection, or is it just a race to death? Does it still stand on the same foundation as it did back then? Have we really progressed towards everything our ancestors hoped for?

Education remains an essential part of life. It still stands as a parameter of development, and it is still a necessity for making it into society. The problem is that we, as a society collectively, have taken this beautiful concept of education and learning and moulded it into what only particular groups would seem desirable. 

With manipulations, unnecessary modifications, and the lack of a standardised and common curriculum, education is no longer about learning. It’s almost only about keeping up with the world’s demands.

The world as we see it today is very difficult to keep up with. There is always something or the other happening, which means there’s always something or the other for us to catch up on. Everyone has their eyes set on the crown, and they are all hardwired to shed blood, sweat, and tears to sit on that throne.

To us students, everything is so different from what we were told our parents had to go through and what we were prepared for. There was a time when there were only a select few who had the privilege to apply to institutes like the NLUs and IITs. Today, everybody aims for them. Everyone is competent, everyone is dead-set, and everyone is ruthless. To us, education is no longer about learning, knowledge, or knowing. No, today, education is only about being the first to get there.

As an almost seventeen-year-old, education for me is just tests and exams. In recent years, the only reason I’ve consumed any kind of knowledge is to be the best, whether in class, school, or with my family. All I do anymore is memorise facts, question nothing, and give an exam at the end of the day, hoping to come first. And it isn’t just me; almost everyone my age studies for the sake of school and not for the sake of actually educating themselves. 

The whole concept of learning and growth often gets lost in this haze of the constant grind. The need to achieve no longer stems from passion or interest; this need is a byproduct of the necessity to survive. Education is no longer about learning. It’s only about studying.

This problem is prevalent today because we are all expected to work in a static system that is running in a dynamic world. Lack of exposure, the pace of change in the system, and a lack of creative approaches and choices make it extremely hard for everyone to make it in this cutthroat world.

Education should be empowering, exciting, and enlightening. Is this what it was really supposed to turn into? A hunger game rip-off? Have we, as a society, managed to hold educational values to their true foundations? Was this what our ancestors had in mind when they said “Education is the manifestation of perfection”?