Education

True education is the education that teaches you to teach yourself, and inspires you with the desire to do that.

 Education is not the learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think -- Albert Einstein

 Education is not just a way to accumulate knowledge, but a path to acquire wisdom from your observations. 


Too many years spent learning to give the right answers,
Too few spent learning to ask the right questions.


        "Everybody is a genius.If you judge a fish by it's ability to climb a tree, it will live it's whole life believing that it's stupid"
                                                                   - Albert Einstein



 A true education should:

• Teach students the skills of observation - seeing, listening & experiencing.  Sadly most of us are very poor observers & thus our learning stops relatively early in our life. However, with a constant practice anyone could develop observation skills.
• Provide opportunities to observe - bringing objects to class, field trips, art events etc. Manage this in a very effective manner rather than creating a laundry list.
• Teach tools on the art of recording observations - journal entries, creating notes & mind maps
• Provide basic knowledge to start interpreting observations - this includes elementary knowledge of language, math, geography and science.
• Teach basic logic and the art of experimentation. This includes understanding what hypothesis mean and how those hypotheses are validated. Experimentation should not be just restricted to Chemistry, but for every stream of human endeavor.
• Create ways to share experiences in a supportive way. It is very important to constantly share your experiences to grow your learning.
• Provide an environment to help students to build on their observations and experiences in their own way.

Education is all about managing observations. Whether you are a scientist, writer, artist, manager or investor, all these skills become the deciding tools of your trade. However, it is sad that our education system is providing a low importance to the art of observation.

Cockroach theory

The cockroach theory for self development

At a restaurant, a cockroach suddenly flew from somewhere and sat on a lady.

She started screaming out of fear.

With a panic stricken face and trembling voice,she started jumping, with both her hands desperately trying to get rid of the cockroach.

Her reaction was contagious, as everyone in her group also got panicky.

The lady finally managed to push the cockroach away but ...it landed on another lady in the group.

Now, it was the turn of the other lady in the group to continue the drama.

The waiter rushed forward to their rescue.

In the relay of throwing, the cockroach next fell upon the waiter.

The waiter stood firm, composed himself and observed the behavior of the cockroach on his shirt.

When he was confident enough, he grabbed it with his fingers and threw it out of the restaurant.

Sipping my coffee and watching the amusement, the antenna of my mind picked up a few thoughts and started wondering, was the cockroach
responsible for their histrionic behavior?

If so, then why was the waiter not disturbed?

He handled it near to perfection, without any chaos.

It is not the cockroach, but the inability of the ladies to handle the disturbance caused by the cockroach that disturbed the ladies.

I realized that, it is not the shouting of my father or my boss or my wife that disturbs me, but it's my inability to handle the disturbances caused by their shouting that disturbs me.

It's not the traffic jams on the road that disturbs me, but my inability to handle the disturbance caused by the traffic jam that disturbs me.

More than the problem, it's my reaction to the problem that creates chaos in my life.

Lessons learnt from the story:

I understood, I should not react in life.
I should always respond.
The women reacted, whereas the waiter responded.

Reactions are always instinctive whereas responses are always well thought of, just and right to save a situation from going out of hands, to avoid cracks in relationship, to avoid taking decisions in anger, anxiety, stress or hurry.