REORIENTATION OF AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
 

I

DEFECTS OF THE EXISTING SYSTEM

During our tour many witnesses expressed disappointment with the present set-up of Secondary education and referred to various defects which, in their opinion, made it wasteful and ineffective and hindered the realisation of its true aims and objectives. They pointed out that this education was too bookish and mechanical, stereotyped and rigidly uniform and did not cater to the different aptitudes of the pupil or to pupils of different aptitudes. Nor did it develop those basic qualities of discipline, cooperation and leadership which were calculated to make them function as useful citizens. The stress on examinations, the over-crowded syllabus, the methods of teaching, and lack of proper material amenities tended to make education a burden rather than a joyous experience to the youthful mind. The unilateral scheme of studies which concentrated almost entirely on preparing students for entrance to the University, was not calculated to bring out the best either in the teacher or in the pupils. Again the failure to provide diversified courses of study make it difficult for many students to secure suitable employment at the end of the course. In most cases, a rigid time-table, unsuitable textbooks of poor quality and the unduly detailed syllabus prescribed did not give the teachers sufficient opportunity for self-experience or for developing self-reliance and did not create the habit of independent thinking in their pupils. Another great handicap was the large number of pupils in each class, making it impossible for the- teacher to establish close personal contracts with his pupils or to exercise proper educative influence on their minds and character. On account of the education expansion that has taken place during the last few decades, many children now seeking-education come from homes where there is little of an educational atmosphere and consequently little or no opportunity of supplementing the education given at the school. This fact adds considerably to the responsibility of the school which it is not at present in a position to discharge. Nor can we overlook the fact that the teaching profession does not attract a sufficient number of the right type of teachers with the requisite personal qualities and aptitudes and a spirit of devotion to their work. Because of large number of teachers required, recruitment has been haphazard and a careful selection has been the exception rather than the rule. Again there are inadequate facilities for those co-curricular activities which provide an excellent medium for training the mind and emotions as well as the practical aptitudes of students, promote their physical welfare and inculcate in them social qualities necessary for successful commu-

20 CHAP. III] REORIENTATION OF AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 21

nity life. Few schools make proper provision for playing fields or for group games and other recreational activities which give vitality and joyousness to school work and help in the education of the children's total personality.

One could go on adding to this list of defects enumerated by the witnesses.. But it seems unnecessary since all who have had any contact with these schools as teachers or parents can enumerate many other defects and handicaps of the present system. It would, however, be useful to view them coherently and spot-light what we consider to be the basic short comings and defects of the present Secondary school because that would provide the starting point for a discussion of the methods of reform and reconstruction.

Firstly, the education given in our schools is isolated from life--the curriculum as formulated and as presented through the traditional methods of teaching does not give the students insight into the everyday world in which they are living. When they pass out of school they feel ill-adjusted and cannot take their place confidently and competently in the community. Unless the school is itself organized as a community and is in vital rapport with outside community life, this situation cannot be remedied. Secondly, it is narrow, and one-sided and fails to train the whole personality of the student. For many decades, it has provided only academic instruction which meant teaching him a certain number of subjects which either gave information which the adults considered useful or trained him in certain skills like reading and writing. The "non-cognitive" aspects of his personality-his practical aptitudes, his emotions, his appreciation, his tests were largely ignored. Recently, games, crafts and certain types of social activities have been given a place in the school programme, but they are still not regarded as an integral part of the curriculum. On the whole, it is still true that our education caters only to a segment of the student's whole personality. Thirdly, until comparatively recently, English was bolt the medium of instruction and a compulsory subject of study. Students who did not possess special linguistic ability were therefore greatly handicapped in their studies. If a student did not fare well in English he could neither pass the School Final Examination nor find any post in government service. The other subjects, which were psychologically and socially important or congenial, were not given greater attention. Fourthly, the methods of teaching generally practised failed to develop in the students either independence of thought or initiative in action. They stressed competitive success rather than the joy of cooperative achievement. It is a matter of common complaint that lessons are imparted in a mechanical way Living information which is relunctantly memorized by the students. Fifthly, the increase in the size of classes has considerably reduced personal contact between teachers and pupils. Thus the training of character and inculcation of proper discipline have been seriously undermined. The situation has been further aggravated by the fact that the average efficiency of the teachers has deteriorat-

22 REORIENTATION OF AIMS AND OBJECTIVES [CHAP. III

ed; their economic difficulties and lack of social prestige have tended to create in them a sense of frustration. Unless something is done quickly to increase their efficiency and give them a feeling of contentment and a sense of their own worth, they will not be able to pull their full weight.

Finally, the dead weight of the examination has tended to curb the teachers' initiative, to stereotype the curriculum, to promote mechanical and lifeless methods of teaching, to discourage all spirit of experimentation and to place the stress on wrong or unimportant things in education.

In this section we have naturally focussed our attention only on the defects of the present system, because sound reconstruction de- pends on their proper diagnosis. It should not, however, be taken to mean that it has no good features or that it has played no useful role at all, in the life of the nation. Its main handicap has been that it started with a limited and wrong objective. Naturally, therefore, its later development took place within the limitations of that objective. Many piecemeal reforms and improvements have been introduced from time to time as we have hinted above but they were not coherently and consciously related to the right aims and objectives and, therefore, their total impact on the system was unimpressive. What is necessary now-and this is what we are anxious to ensure--is to take bold and far-sighted measures to give a new orientation to Secondary education as a whole in which all these individual reforms may find their proper and integrated place.

II

AIMS OF SECONDARY EDUCATION

The aims of education have been formulated in general terms in numerous books on education and in the reports of committees and commissions and, therefore, so far as such general aims are concerned, it is not possible to add anything significant to what has been re- peatedly expressed. But there is undoubtedly room for formulating these aims in more specific terms and with special reference to the needs and the ideals of our country in its actual situation. As political, social and economic conditions change and new problems arise, it becomes necessary to re-examine carefully and re-state clearly the objectives which education at each definite stage, should keep in view. Moreover, this statement must take into account not only the facts of the existing situation but also the direction of its development and the nature and type of the social order that we envisage for the future to which education has to be geared.

Educational Needs of Democratic India

The most outstanding and educationally relevant facts that have to be taken into account may be briefly summed up as follows. India has recently achieved its political freedom and has, after careful con-

CHAP. III] REORIENTATION OF AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 23

sideration, decided to transform itself into a, secular democratic republic. This means that the educational system must make its contribution to the development of habits, attitudes and qualities of character, which will enable its citizens to bear worthily the responsibilities of democratic citizenship and to counteract all those fissiparous tendencies which hinder the emergence of a broad, national and secular outlook. Secondly, though rich in potential resources, India is actually a poor country at present; a large majority of its people have to live at an economically subhuman level. One of its most urgent problems-if not the most urgent problem-is to improve productive efficiency to increase the national wealth and thereby to raise appreciably the standard of living of the people. Thirdly,partly as a result of this oppressive and widespread poverty there is a serious lack of educational facilities and the bulk-of the people are so obsessed with the problem of making some sort of a living that have not been able to give sufficient attention to cultural pursuits and activities. Hence there is need for reorienting the educational system in such a way that it will stimulate a cultural renaissance.

From this necessarily sketchy analysis of the dominant needs of the present situation, it is clear that we shall have to formulate our aims with reference to these broad categories-the training of charac- ter to fit the students to participate creatively as citizens in the emerging democratic social order; the improvement of their practical and vocational efficiency so that they may play their part in building up the economic prosperity of their country; and the development of their literary, artistic and cultural interests, which are necessary for self-expression and for the full development of the human personality, without which a, living national culture cannot come into being. We propose to consider each one of these briefly in order to indicate their implication in more concrete terms.

Role of Education in Developing Democratic Citizenship

Citizenship in a democracy is a very exacting and challenging responsibility for which every citizen has to be carefully trained. It involves many intellectual, social and moral qualities which cannot be expected to grow of their own accord. In any kind of regimental social order, the individual does not need to indulge in the travail of independent thinking or of chalking out his own lines of action. The authorities relieve him of that onerous responsibilities ! But in a democracy-if it is anything more than the thoughtless exercise of the vote -an individual must form his own independent judgment on all kinds of complicated social, economic and political issues and, to a large extent, decide his own course of action. The Secondary education, which would be the end of all formal education for the majority of the citizens, must assume the responsibility of providing the necessary training for this purpose. The first requisite in this connection is to develop the capacity for clear thinking and a receptivity to new ideas. On the intellectual side the school should perhaps accord the highest priority to the cultivation of this quality, which is the distinguishing

24 REORIENTATION OF AIMS AND OBJECTIVES [CHAP. III

mark of an educated mind. A democracy of people who can think only confusedly can neither make progress, nor even maintain itself, be- cause it will always be open to the risk of being misled and exploited by demagogues who have within their reach today unprecedentedly powerful media of mass communication and propaganda. To be effective, a democratic citizen should have the understanding and the intel- lectual integrity to sift truth from falsehood, facts from propaganda and to reject the dangerous appeal of fanaticism and prejudice. He must develop a scientific attitude of mind to think objectively and base his conclusions on tested data. He should also have an open mind receptive to new ideas and not confined within the prison walls of outmoded customs, traditions and beliefs. It should neither reject the old because it is old nor accept the new because it is new, but dispassionately examine both and courageously reject whatever arrest the forces of justice and progress. We shall discuss later in dealing with educational methods, how such a mind is to be developed through education. What we wish to stress here is the need for teachers to appreciate that this is one of the most important aims that should consciously inspire their educational ideas and technique. They should realize that the type of lessons usually given in our classrooms, which only call for passive assimilation, can make no contribution to the development of this type of mind.

Closely allied to clarity of thought is clearness in speech and in writing. This is not only an important social asset, it is also an essential prerequisite for successful living in a democracy which is based not on force but on free discussion, persuation, and peaceful exchange of ideas. To be able to make one's influence felt and to assist in the formation of healthy public opinion, an educated person should be able to express himself clearly both in speech and writing.

A democracy is based on faith in the dignity and worth of every single individual as a human being. This innate "worthfulness" cannot be eclipsed either by economic or racial or social consideration. The object of a democratic education is, therefore, the full, all-round development of every individual's personality. This requires that education should take into account all his needs-psychological, social, emotional and practical-and cater to all of them. The view of education that emerges from this basic concept transcends the narrow academic approach and broadens out into an education for living i.e. an education to initiate the students into the many-sided art of living in a community. It is obvious, however, that an individual cannot live and develop' alone. Both for his own wholesome development and the good of society, it is essential that he should learn to live with others and to appreciate the value of cooperation through practical experience and free interplay with other personalities. No education is worth the name which does not inculcate the qualities necessary for living graciously, harmoniously and efficiently with one's fellow men. Amongst the qualities which should be cultivated for this purpose are discipline, cooperation, social sensitiveness and toler-

CHAP. III] REORIENTATION OF AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 25

ance. Each one of them has its own special part to play in the human- ising and socialising of the personality. Discipline is an essential condition for successful group work. An indisciplined person can neither make any effective contribution to the completion of any corporate project, nor develop qualities of leadership. For various reasons, which we have discussed elsewhere, standards of discipline have become deplorable lax in recent decades and a special effort needs to be made to improve them. If this is done through the adoption of intelligent and psychologically sound methods, to which we have referred in another chapter it would be a most valuable contribution to the development of national character and would provide an important guarantee of the success of our democratic experiment.

This discipline cannot, however, be developed in a vaccum; it is the fruit, the valuable by-product, of cooperative work, willingly undertaken and efficiently completed. The school must aim at strengthening the desire for cooperation and afford students opportunities to translate it into practice. This cooperation must, however, be inspired by the faith that social purposes are worth striving for that life in a democratic set up is not playing for one's own hand but calls for a strenous endeavour to equalize opportunities for all and an unremitting fight for justice for the under-privileged. A passion for social justice, based on a sensitiveness to the social evils and the exploitation which corrupts the grace of life, must be kindled in the heart and mind of our people and the foundations for it should be laid in the school. Through it the child and adolescent should not only get a coherent picture of the world in which they are living but also be introduced to the standards by which its customs, practices and institutions are to be judged. This social sensitiveness is the ethical basis of good character without it efficiency, discipline, cooperation and many other fine qualities may either remain unfructuous or may be corrupted for baser purposes. And finally, we must stress the importance of tolerance, without which it is impossible to preserve the health and even the existence of a democracy. The essence of all democratic society is not only the tolerating but the welcoming of differences which make for the enrich- ment of life. Dragooning different beliefs, ideas, opinions, tastes and interests into uniformity may possibly make for efficiency in a narrow and inferior sense but it inevitably impoverishes life and curbs the free expression of the human spirit. If a democracy like ours is to survive-a democracy which harbours so many faiths, races and communities-education must cultivate in our youth an openness of mind and largeness of heart which would make them capable of entertaining and of blending into a harmonious pattern differences in ideas and behaviour. It is possible for every school to do so, not only through the proper presentation of the various schools subjects- particularly the humanities and social studies-but also by utilising the resources and opportunities provided by the fact that its students are drawn from different castes, creeds and classes. If they ;can first learn to live pleasantly and peacefully in the small community of the school this training will enable them to do so later in the larger community out-

26 REORIENTATION OF AIMS AND OBJECTIVES [CHAP. III

side. Another important aim which the Secondary school must foster is the development of a sense of true patriotism. In the proper inter- pretation of this aim, the adjective 'true' is as important as the noun. The propriety of inculcating, through education, a deep love of one's own country, is too obvious to require any justification, but in doing so it is necessary to take care that this love does not degenerate into nationalistic jingoism. True patriotism involves three things--a sincere appreciation of the social and cultural achievements of one's country, a readiness to recognize its weaknesses frankly and to work for their eradication and an earnest resolve to serve it to the best of one's ability, harmonizing and subordinating individual interests to broader national interests. The school must address itself to building up this rich, threefold concept of patriotism. Through a proper orientation and presentation of the curriculum it can make the students appreciative and proud of what their country has achieved in literature and science, art and architecture, religion, and philosophy, crafts and industries and other fields of human endeavour. This. feeling can be quickened and made more vital through the organization and celebration of suitable functions and extra-curricular activities. It has to be linked up, however, with a critical appraisal of the total picture of national life and-to the extent that such appraisal is within the mental capacity of students at this stage-it should be inculcated and encouraged by the school. The capacity for clear and objective thinking that we have commended as a significant educational aim, should be brought more play in this connection-particularly in connection with the teaching of social studies-and the students should learn the great truth that an appreciation of what is good in one's heritage is one aspect of patriotism, but equally so is the rejection of what is unworthy and the desire to improve it. There is no more dangerous maxim in the world of today than "My country right, or wrong". The whole world is now so intimately interconnected that no nation can or dare live alone and the development of a sense of world citizenship has become just as important as that of national citizenship. In a very real sense, therefore, "Patriotism is not enough" and it must be supplemented by a lively realization of the fact that we are all members of One-World, and must be prepared, mentally and emotionally, to discharge the responsibilities which such membership implies. We need not discuss here the various methods that can be employed to achieve this object. A number of very interesting and significant experiments have been, and are being, tried in many schools throughout the world to develop international understanding and these can be studied with profit.