Teaching and Learning
By Karmayogi
Teaching is external; learning is a process of self-motivation. Teaching
was a service and a great service at that when ignorance was widespread.
It was a time when man needed an intermediary between himself and God.
The priest will be an anachronism in the coming century. Martin Luther
raised his banner of revolt several centuries ago. Examination was the
instrument to measure one’s knowledge, just as teaching was the method.
Those were days when rote memorisation ruled the roost. Great orators
like Winston Churchill committed their entire speech to memory. Absence
of writing materials in India put a premium on memory. It rose to
heights of superhuman proportions in preserving the Vedas in their
purity of pronunciation all over this vast land. Exercises in memory
reached miraculous heights. One can remember eight questions asked in
succession by eight different people on eight different subjects and
answer them in the same order. The art rose to the height of answering a
hundred questions too. Those with this ability were called ashtavadhanam
and sadavadhanam respectively. The Future is not for memory, however
great it is; it is for understanding. All over the world, examinations
are being given up. The Future is not for examinations; it is for
knowledge and learning. What matters is NOT the score in the exam but
the equipment that is retained in the mind. So also, the future is NOT
for externally imposed disciplines that are mechanical. It is for the
Self-discipline of values internalised by the child on his own.
The Future is not for the scribe or the typewriter but belongs entirely
to the computer. No longer is carbon paper used for making copies, as
the xerox machine is employed. Examinations belong to the sacred age of
the Scribes who wrote with a quill pen. Those were the heydays of memory
and homework. Home is NOT for work but to enjoy the ever present HOUR
when the Spirit surfaces in Love. Beating the child at home or at school
belongs to the dark ages. In future, the law will prevent it. The human
heart must outgrow the need for beating.