The news we hear every day, be it about dictatorship, terrorism, criminal activities, roots to the lack of an educational system which creates healthy minds

The main objective of any education system, be it primary or higher education, should be to create citizens with healthy minds rather than making careers alone. The present education system we have in place is unfortunately aimed at preparing people to pursue careers rather than life. The present education system cannot claim of creating smart people like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Tagore because they were smart by themselves and not due to the present education. The responsibility of the present education system goes to the parents, teachers, educational institutions, the government and the students who just want education to make better careers. In today’s world no one thinks and no one is encouraged to think. In our present world thinking has become a disadvantage. This will prove dangerous to the future generation to come.

There is a disease that took birth in the west, which the Europeans have already started to fight. It is called the “Wall Street Greed”, which has shattered the American economy. The credit of this destruction goes to Lehman Brothers. What we haven’t realized yet is the fact that this greed has crept into our lives and has spread across all spheres of human existence, be it education, government, science, technology, health care, judiciary, etc. The corporate greed has led to a situation where the poor get poorer, and even pay for their poverty with their lives. This is consequence of the teaching of Bernard Mandeville, who proposed that profit is the only important product of corporate.

According to Mandeville, even if a society possesses all virtues, the end result will be suppression and paralysis and that progress dies if there is no self love. He says that the higher virtues are just acting and it is a way to be superior to others.

Medical profession, which is a noble profession, is not what it should be. The corporate greed has enteredinto the medical field too due to the educational policy which is a result of globalization. All the problems such as terrorism, crimes, corruption, fraud, drug peddling, etc are as a result of failure of the educational system to make healthy minds.

India has a history of the education system in the past which has attracted talents across the world. But with advent of LPG, the Indian education system started to bend towards the American line of thinking which promotes corporate greed. We need to take effort to prevent our country from falling into such a problem that the west faces now.

Time has come to realize the mistakes that we have made in the educational system since our government is keen in bringing foreign universities to India as an effort to improve our higher education. This shows the inefficiency of our government in providing quality higher education. More over surveys have shown that the primary education in India is inadequate and is a complete mess. What is the use of such higher education without a proper primary education?

In India we have a mix of both poorest and super rich population. Hundreds of children die daily in India, due to Nutritional Immune Deficiency Syndrome. This we don’t read in our daily news papers. With such a disease, a student going to school makes no improvement as it affects memory and learning of the student. The main reason for this is lack of nutrition in their mothers during pregnancy, which is a result of poverty. Education for all can be a reality only if poverty is removed.

In India, education is now considered as a business which reaps profits in million dollars. This greed is result of the current education system which follows the principles of Mandeville. Now there is a breed of business managers who are committed to maximizing profits by any means, including unethical practices. This is a result of an education system which teaches management without teaching ethics, social and moral values.

The whole objective of education is making a better human being, and not such unscrupulous greedy businessmen.

The objective of any elite educational institution is to produce leaders of tomorrow. But institutions often fail to remind students about it. The main disadvantage of elite education is that it fails to teach what real life is and what real world is. Students in such elite institutions are not aware of the biggest problem in life, i.e. poverty. Another problem with such elite institutes is that they create an atmosphere which generates greed in the minds of the students. Since they come from an elite institute they think that they are the best and earn more in terms of fat pay packets as they form the executives of any organization. It is the responsibility of the educational system to teach a student that such practices are unethical , explaining the failure of the educational system to create a healthy mind.

In India we require an education system that makes use of positive aspects of the current education system in addition to efforts to create healthy minds through education. Foreign universities should be encouraged to set up campuses in India as it will create healthy competition for Indian institutes, which will help them to improve. But still the focus should be on creating healthy minds. Making career through education should be considered as a secondary objective. Students should be given career based vocational education after completing good primary education. Ethical upbringing and teaching social and moral values at school will help in changing the orientation of students from career making to healthy minds. Moreover the concept of education as a money making business requires radical change to ensure that corporate greed is removed from the education sector so that healthy mind making will become a reality.