Need to balance literacy with true education, nurture critical thinking and creativity beyond institutional training
Someone has rightly said, “Not all classrooms have four walls.” In fact, if we ponder deeply, we may be able to understand that the bookish knowledge which we receive normally in our schools is only indirect knowledge. Whereas nature provides us with direct knowledge, provided we have the real wisdom to receive it. It doesn’t mean that we should shun book reading; it rather means that book reading must ultimately lead us to contemplate nature and receive real knowledge and inspiration from it. When we were young, we spent more time with nature. We followed different birds, played with butterflies, and climbed trees. Today’s generation’s sports and games are different. They mainly waste their time on mobile phones. Our games were different; they connected us directly with nature. In that case, I believe we were more lucky because we had more time to receive great things from nature directly.
Almost everyone is aware of the importance of learning and the fruits that knowledge gifts its followers. There seems to be an ever-growing competition in teaching and learning, and every institution fights to excel the others and reach the top in providing education to our young minds. However, it might not be these institutions in the real sense which can give our aspirants the real knowledge they deserve to grow as model human beings in this world. These institutions can only provide us with literacy, which, no doubt, is important, but literacy is not the whole of knowledge. There is a lot of difference between knowledge and training. The institutions can train us literally and make us better in reading, writing, listening, and speaking. However, for real knowledge to grow and flourish in us, we need more creative and critical thinking than the institutions can provide us. We need minds that can contemplate nature and read the vital messages it shares with us when we learn how to open our hearts and minds. We need a more scientific temper. Many institutions murder young children’s critical thinking, which is their God-given gift, instead of nurturing it. Almost all children have this God-given gift alive in their nature which they can use to interact with their surroundings. That is how children learn more naturally through playing and communicating with nature in different ways. However, when educational institutions make certain hard and fast rules for teaching and learning, these bountiful and blissful trials are often suppressed in them, and the children might end up being well-trained but hardly remain well-educated.
We Muslims believe by heart that the Holy Quran is the greatest book in this world. The same Quran teaches us to consult nature and the different signs it shares with us when we are awake. The Quran forces us to keep our minds and hearts alive. It teaches us that only those minds and hearts are alive which can decipher the messages and signs nature shares with us. It compares those people with mere cattle who cannot learn from nature. Thus, it is nature which we have to consult if our aim is to acquire real knowledge. Many great minds in this world knew the power of nature and its benevolent tendency to teach those who could understand it. William Wordsworth, the great English poet, calls nature the best teacher. For the reception of real knowledge, he even suggests us to close the books and learn from nature itself. In one of his most wittily crafted poems, “To The Cuckoo,” Wordsworth teaches us that it is actually the childhood period in the life of a human being which is the golden period of our life. Because in this period our bond with nature is more close and direct and our inner eyes are more open to see and learn from nature. In his other masterpiece, “The Rainbow,” the poet believes that “child is the father of man.” This is one of his most famous quotes. He means to say that a child is more natural than an adult one and his bond with nature is stronger, which makes him more precious in the poet’s eyes. Modern education must never try to break this divine bond between the child and nature. It must rather devise the proper methodologies to strengthen this bond further for the real benefit of humanity.
In our own Eastern tradition, Iqbal and other great thinkers of Urdu and Kashmiri language taught us to open our hearts and minds to receive the real knowledge nature gifts us. For example, read Iqbal’s poem “Spring Season” in his world-famous poetry collection “Payam e Mashriq.” Iqbal brilliantly portrays the beauties of the season and suggests, or even forces, the reader to open the mind’s eyes to behold what has been put before him. All the diverse things of beauty: the gorgeous-looking flowers, the foam-like clouds, the mighty green and white mountains, and the melodious songs of the birds are no less than divine inspiration for us. We only need to open our hearts and minds to admire this manifest beauty which teaches us many great things if we are really wise and ready to learn. Iqbal suggests us to leave our slumber and unconsciousness and read the clear lines which are written there on everything nature constitutes of.
Nature is a great book which is free and available to all of us. The only important thing is that we must have the ability to learn the lessons which nature teaches us. The elders have the duty especially to give their young ones the freedom so that they can mingle with nature properly and receive real knowledge and guidance from it. There should be no doubt about the fact that educational institutions are important for the proper growth and progress of our succeeding generations. My write-up does not suggest to wind up these institutions. The real motive of my argument is that our institutions and our teachers must prepare the students to learn real knowledge from nature. They must frankly tell them that it is indeed nature which is the best teacher in this world. It is nature which has the real calibre to inspire and empower its readers. We have to teach our young generation to keep their hearts and minds open so that they may be able to receive the best knowledge from nature itself. We can give them the examples of all those great scientists, writers, and poets etc., who have been able to achieve great things in this world by communicating with nature directly. We have to teach our students that book reading is important. We have to teach them to read great books which will teach us how we can connect ourselves with nature which is the ultimate source of knowledge.
To watch a starry night, the gorgeous scenic beauty during a sunny day, and witness the mesmerizing tunes of a rainy day may soothe our senses and teach us many great things which paper might not be able to contain. Therefore, one of the main approaches of our educational system should be to teach our young generations how to connect with nature so that they may receive direct guidance and inspiration from it.
The writer is a teacher in the Education Department and can be reached at bu*****************@***il.com