Is education enough?

Education has a lot of positive connotation in our mind. When a find a person to be educated we're psychologically reassured about the credibility of a person. Higher the educational qualifications, higher is a person's credibility, so much so, that a Masters degree holder or an MBA from reputed institutes, a doctorate in science or literature or engineering, occupies a very high place in our mind. They are very bright prospects in job markets, always on demand in various fields including matrimonial alliances, and are assumed to be of impeccable character. But is education synonymous with character? 

Of late we see that there are many cases in which educated youth are engaged in activities which are condemnable in the strongest term, like assault on women, murder, terrorism, drug peddling, robbery and many such heinous crimes, which shakes our faith in the country's education system. It leads us to question as to are we creating demons or men from the system that we have? Swami Vivekananda had said that education is the manifestation of perfection that is already there in human beings. He mentioned that true knowledge comes from within, not without. That is very true, because what never happens with hundreds of spoon feeding can happen in a moment's inspiration and many wonderful discoveries in the field of science, many creative works in art, literature and music, bear testimony to the fact that it is from within us the light shines. Of course there has to be a preparation and that preparation can come from outside. But that preparation which in layman's term we call as education is nothing but preparing the soil to reap a complete harvest and not the harvest itself. True education is nothing but insight, a chain of inspiration which leaves a deep impression and a lasting influence. True education builds character and true character makes a man educated. Character is the sum total all impressions, positive and negative and therefore education is the manifestation of the perfection that is already within. Character gives a person the right tools, to discriminate between right and wrong. Its the same education that is imparted to a person who becomes a terrorist and takes lives and one who becomes a scientist and who helps in saving lives making lives better. 

So what distinguishes them? It is not the education that is imparted from outside that is to blame, although it is partially responsible. But more importantly it is the character that is responsible for such a distinction. Its the distinguishing faculty, the ability to judge the right from the wrong, the good path from bad path, discern selfishness from selflessness, ability to objectively evaluate the information that is fed and processed from various sources and accept the ones that are good for the society and reject the ones that are bad for the society, ability to exercise self control and self degradation by inflicting injuries on others, in other words - the better sense, that is lacking in those who are supposedly educated and yet take recourse to a life that harms others. At the end of Mahabharata Vyasa throws his hands up in despair and says that through righteousness one can get everything - virtue, profit, pleasure and eternal felicity, yet people do not follow the path of righteousness. This is a great paradox. The answer lies in the character or lack of it, the inability to judge righteousness from unrighteousness and go for self seeking or selfish endeavours causing injury to others. In Gita the extreme type were known as the Asuras, extremely selfish and always concerned about themselves, not bothering about the impact of their actions on others, indulging in destructive activities through ignorance or incorrect judgement.

So is education responsible? Partially so as mentioned earlier. Education also helps in building character by providing the right set of tools from childhood. That education may come from various sources - a good family environment, good set of teachers, friends, mentors etc. If the education system as whole fails to provide that kind of support infrastructure the result is a highly destabilized society where more monsters are produced because they did not have the opportunity to learn to distinguish between right and wrong and therefore became what they are. Simply speaking education did not help in shaping their characters and their own characters were not enough to give a good shape to their education to use it in the right way. Sadly that is the state of general education and society that we're observing, through increase in instances of brutalities, corruption, lack of morale and lack of self control. In sort, our present state of education is lacking in several aspects to nurture righteousness, to develop character, to bring out the good in people. After all each soul is potentially divine and the goal is realize this divinity within and that can be achieved by building an impeccable and strong character. The present system of education is not able to deliver fully in shaping and building characters. It is only successful in creating self seeking and pleasure mongering individuals or destructive brutes. But is anybody even thinking of a change?