Dear Jeyamohan,
I believe that one of the greatest obstacles to learning in India today is the declining place of the arts in education. Our educational system increasingly treats the arts as something optional or decorative rather than as an essential part of human development. As a result, many young people grow up without ever learning music, painting, literature, theatre, or any other artistic discipline in a meaningful way.
What concerns me even more is that this lack of artistic education also affects the way science itself is learned. Most students today do not truly understand the foundations of science. They learn formulas, definitions, and procedures, but they rarely develop a scientific imagination.
Both art and fundamental science share one essential quality: they require imagination. A scientist, like an artist, must be able to imagine possibilities that do not yet exist, see patterns where others see only facts, and ask questions that go beyond immediate utility. Discovery is impossible without imagination. Unfortunately, this faculty is no longer being cultivated in our younger generation.
To learn technology, practical skills alone are often sufficient. Technology is primarily concerned with methods, processes, and applications. That is precisely what our education emphasizes today. Students become proficient in operating systems, writing code, using machines, or following established procedures. However, they are rarely encouraged to ask why those systems work or to understand the scientific principles that gave rise to them.
As a result, we have become familiar with technological processes while remaining distant from science itself. We know how to use technology, but we do not always understand the scientific thinking that created it. This distinction between science and technology is subtle but profoundly important.
I often notice that this is one of the ideas running through your videos. You repeatedly remind your audience that knowledge should not be fragmented into isolated disciplines. Instead, it should move toward wholeness, where literature, philosophy, history, science, and spirituality illuminate one another.
From that perspective, I feel that literature, art, and philosophy have an important role even in the education of students who choose scientific fields. These subjects do not merely provide cultural refinement; they expand the imagination. They teach us to perceive complexity, recognize patterns, appreciate ambiguity, and think beyond immediate utility. These are precisely the qualities that make someone not just a competent technician, but a genuine scientist.
If our scientifically trained young people are also exposed to art and philosophy as parts of a holistic education, they will develop a richer imagination. With that imaginative capacity, they will not only become better engineers or technologists but will also gain a deeper understanding of science itself. They will be able to ask better questions, think more creatively, and contribute original ideas rather than simply applying existing knowledge.
As a science teacher, this has become one of my strongest convictions. The future of science education in India does not depend only on improving laboratories or updating textbooks. It also depends on restoring imagination to education, and I believe the arts and philosophy are indispensable for that purpose.
Warm regards.
Rajamanikkam. A
