ARE YOU EDUCATED?

‘Are you educated?’

‘Oh yes. I am well educated.’

‘How educated are you?’

‘Education knows boundaries?’

‘I meant what have you graduated in or till what class have you studied?’

‘You should’ve told me you were asking about my schooling. I am a fourth class pass.’

‘What? You call yourself educated after being a fifth class fail?’

‘Are the two inter related anyhow? And not that I really care about it but I said fourth class pass not fifth grade.’

‘What do you mean they are inter related or not? We go to school to get educated. Isn’t it?’

‘We are supposed to get educated at school. But I don’t think that many schools today educate children. They are simply a medium to extract a bit of general knowledge from some random books. Most of the time, things you learn are not even going to come in handy. But that is not what education means. Education has a much larger meaning which I doubt you’ll ever understand.’

‘Excuse me, why do you think I won’t understand? I am a graduate.’

‘That is exactly the reason why you won’t understand. You are already part of the cycle. You can’t see it from a new and probably better point of view.’

‘But now I am curious. Lets see how your ‘education’ works. A person who hasn’t been to school properly will teach me. Huh.’

‘Okay. Let’s give it a try. As I told you earlier, your so called education is general knowledge about this planet, its history and its functioning. But actually education is about humans. And no, I do not mean biology. Education is about knowing the difference between right and wrong even if you don’t know the difference between real and complex numbers. Education is about empowering instinct even if you don’t know what policies the government uses to empower the poor. It is about learning to solve real life problems even if you can’t solve physics numerical problems. Education is about

understanding emotions and respecting others even if you can’t understand and respect Shakespeare’s plays. Education is about making peace rather than making chits to pass your school exams. It is not only learning things but it is about applying them in your life. It is about how you can make maximum use of what you know to solve problems. That is where and how I draw the line between education and school and always mark my words that we cannot attain maximum efficiency in humans if we don’t stop schooling and start educating.’

‘I get your philosophical shit. But the world doesn’t function like this. We’ve got to get successful and earn money to feed this stomach.’

‘Firstly, success has nothing to do with money. There is a line between them just like education and schools. But I’ll tell you some other time. Also, who told you that education doesn’t work? I have given my children the same education. In my meter of success, they are extremely successful as they are compassionate, understanding and instinctive. They don’t need to lean on anybody to get any help. As far your meter of success is concerned, they are pretty good there as well. The multi storied apartments you live in and the houses in which you tell your children about your so called school education, are owned by my children.’

‘:O’

By- Kopal Arora