Despite an increase in educated individuals, the education system in our society has failed to foster genuine learning, self-sufficiency and social responsibility, perpetuating corruption, egotism and moral decay.
Humans have encountered and developed a variety of methods for comprehending their surroundings and resolving issues since they first arrived on Earth. Historically, knowledge was gathered through intuition, mythology, superstitions, sensory perceptions, and heavenly experiences. However, individualized and accidental learning ran the risk of upsetting the emerging social order and harmony as civilizations developed and became more complicated. To stop this, contemporary nations integrated their cultural norms and moral practices into formalized educational institutions. Humanistic standards were emphasized in these well-designed educational institutions, which also addressed social and cultural issues in addition to academics. As a result, many cultures were placed on long-term paths to wealth and enlightenment by the pragmatically designed educational institutions.
Sadly, we still haven’t fully understood or realized the actual purpose of education. Despite being a popular term in modern discourse, the normative components of education are depicted in a bleak manner by its actual manifestations. When it comes to education, the most talked-about topic is its quantity: why do we have comparatively fewer educated people than other parts of the world? The standard of the population that is already educated is frequently overlooked. Do we require more people with the same level of education as we currently have, or do we require people with education in the most authentic sense? Why has a decent social order not been fostered by our educational system? In modern society, education frequently falls short of the intended results, despite being the cornerstone of human values, knowledge, and abilities. The quality of the literate population is often overlooked, even though we may be disappointed by the low literacy rate. The harsh truth is that our educational system has retaliated against us because we have purposefully failed it. This is attested to by moral, social, political, economic, and intellectual bankruptcy.
Rather than creating really educated, self-sufficient, autonomous, and compassionate individuals, the educational system frequently perpetuates mindless obedience, fostering a culture of consumerism, ethnocentrism, and egotism. The majority of the nation’s bureaucracy, politicians, media figures, judges, and others are examples of how it develops enlightened thieves and hypocrites. As demonstrated by the decades-long mess our society has been dealing with, it in this way causes more issues than it can resolve.
A large section of the nation’s intellectual elite has consequently turned into egoistic, complacent, power-hungry, and arrogant. They each take advantage of people’s suffering, anxiety, and weaknesses to establish themselves as tyrants in their respective domains. The majority of people in public service are chameleon-like individuals whose actions are dictated by their own interests. These positions, which present a façade of respectability, have developed into havens for exploitation and corruption.
There are more well-educated people but little progress; more medical professionals but little progress in public health; more judges but little justice; more educators but little real education; more media figures but little truth; more issues but no real solutions; more poverty but few ways to deal with it; more politicians but little attention to real politics; more watchdogs but little control over social evils. We have more religion but fewer practical morals, more people but less humanity, and we make grandiose promises but do little to fulfill them. We have chosen to live in the shadow of light rather than through education, which would have enlightened us.
In a similar vein, our education frequently amounts to little more than a job license, and even that is frequently determined by financial resources or partiality. We view being in a position of authority as permission to steal from the people. Furthermore, our educational standards demand oversimplified remedies for our innate animalistic tendencies and societal ills. When we take advantage of our nation and other citizens, can we really claim to be educated? The answer is definitely no. Therefore, unless deep introspection and broad structural and normative educational reforms are implemented, we will continue to travel down the path of degeneration.
By Eyram Hamid Khan
ey**********@***il.com