Previous post Why no online classes?
Dear Je,
To my question about online classes, you had replied that you do not believe in it.
In today’s age, all of us are caught up in our work. It is difficult to extricate ourselves from it, even for a day. Such is the state of affairs. That being so, isn’t it good to learn something worthwhile in whatever time we have? Online education is an effective way to do this, is it not?
Selvakumar
Dear Selvakumar,
I did not dismiss online education completely. As you yourself say, it is useful to learn ‘whatever’ you can in the time you have. Having said that, direct learning is a holistic experience.
What we are taught is not important. It is what we learn that is paramount. An environment, and a state of mind that allows for such learning can only be had in person.
You yourself talk about being mired in your work. Such work tires our mind. We watch youtube to give it a rest. We wander about a little on social media, and more generally, the internet. We find elementary entertainment there, debates and controversies. Time passes.
If we attend classes online our mind will classify those too as yet another form of entertainment. No matter how much we tell ourselves that it isn’t so, our minds will treat them no differently. It will approach the classes with the self-same attitude. With such a mindset, we won’t be able to learn anything deeply.
We are caught up in a monotonous life. We live in a prison, mentally, and physically, too. This captive life tires us. It pushes us into depression, makes us sick.
Ivan Illich, the renowned Austrian sociologist and Gandhian, had said this as early as fifty years ago. We can go to any part of the world we want to, today. But the place where we lead our regular lives has narrowed. Adding up our house, our office, our car and so on we typically live our lives within an area of no more than 5,000 square feet, everyday.
In the olden days, a villager’s life was spread all over the expanse of his village. Technology has shrunk our lives. The present day media has orchestrated this shrinkage. We believe that they usher the world into our living room. It is not true. What they bring is only an image of the world. If a prisoner watches television in his cell, would that make him a world traveller?
The education I talk about is one that will let you leave this prison. While, you say, why don’t we learn that too from within the prison. That is the difference. Whatever you do from inside the prison of a quotidian life, your fatigue and boredom will remain intact.
We cannot partake of true education by staying in our rooms. We need to get out of our dens if we wish to learn. We need to get out, mentally and physically. We need to seek out learning. We have to spend some time and money in pursuit of it. I’d even say that the search must be somewhat tough. That is when true education will take place.
A learning mindset is one based in freedom. We should not conflate learning with our work or family. We should not mix it with our pastimes. We must cultivate the vigour it requires. If approached ordinarily, any kind of superior learning will be reduced to mundane information. All we will be able to do, then, is to claim ‘we know that too,’ and fool ourselves.
Jeyamohan.
Translated by Priyamvada Ramkumar
