HOLISTIC EDUCATION

HOLISTIC EDUCATION

I hold a secret – the secret that is holism. If you look at the educational scene, you will find that Education has become compartmentalized, departmentalized, disintegrated. You have all these subjects – Mathematics, Physics, Biology, Chemistry, History, Economics, Politics and the various Arts. This was the result of a prodigious effort of few people, who discovered the secrets governing the world and who gave an understanding of man’s consciousness. It was not a complete, integrated work. It was genius but there were loopholes and unanswered questions. This was used to run down the various branches into compartments. Man had found his voice but lost it again. The result today’s world.

In the world as it is today, fundamentals and basics are missing. Let us take an example – Civil Engineering (Any example would do). It is obvious that Civil Engineering depends on the basic principle of Elasticity. To know, appreciate that principle is to detail out the principle practically, solve the various problems involved in constructing buildings, roads, railways, dams, foundations. Mechanics is involved in a deep way in the subject.

Now, mechanics was discovered by Newton. So after Newton’s discoveries, naturally, Civil Engineering and even Mechanical Engineering grew and was completed. How many people know Civil Engineering this way? How many see and understand and grasp the fundamental principle at work and hence are creative in this field – a handful.

Multiply this thing in all the branches and you have today’s world.

Yet… the principles are not difficult, are not beyond the grasp of anybody. They are simple as all great things. They are rich in simplicity and fundamentality. They are the beauty and later the magnificence – when the principles are applied and things created and brought into existence.

Now, in the above example mechanics itself was the outcome of the liberation of man’s mind during the renaissance. It was the cause of hundreds of applications – that is history.

If we know the basics of all subjects we get a holistic perspective. The important point here is that they would then be all connected, linked, integrated. The subjects will make real sense each different yet part of the whole. It will be exciting even for the dullest students. In fact the concept of anyone being dull would be nullified. The truths would be seen. Isn’t that really education? Can we really settle for an alternative? These are the questions we must address.

To achieve the above, the teacher needs to be holistic in his understanding of the world. Given that and a fund of commonsense, he can liberate and empower any child or student.

This is what we must do. We must again go back and begin at the beginning – i.e. with the fundamentals.

The world is a wondrous place. Let us bring back the wonder and excitement of discovery. Let life be an exploration and adventure.

That is life – a life proper and appropriate to man.