“There is good news and there is bad news. The bad news : civilisation as we know it, is about to end. Now, the good news: civilisation, as we know it, is about to end.”
A young friend, wiser much beyond his physical age, and I were discussing modern education in India compared to what prevailed in earlier times and this little exchange came up as a stunning revelation.
Me: “Yes. Standards and values have touched rock bottom levels. Our graduates and diploma holders are unemployable and have to be retrained by employers. The result of rote learning and studying to pass exams.”
Friend: “The problem with our times is not that people can’t follow the grammar of virtuous living. That disappeared long ago. Today we don’t understand even the grammar of adultery, prostitution, corruption, bribery, theft, etc. We don’t know even how to do these in an intelligent way. That’s how low things have become ! And that is a very big problem …”
What do you think?
i love the quote from the swami!
thinking along the same lines myself.
wonder what was being bantered about during the dark ages?
no doubt they thought all progress of mankind had come to a bad end.
and yet…
but then…
here we are again!
so the quote is very fitting.
love your thought provoking posts rummy!
tammy j recently posted..to jim
My pleasure entirely Tammy. Since I can’t generate original thoughts, I enjoy reading and sharing them from others.
🙂 Looks like I have a few things to learn from the Swami.
On the first item, I am afraid that civilization might continue as we know it and equally afraid that I should enjoy its continuance.
Regarding your friend’s comment, I am quite in agreement. The pursuance of vice required much more skill in earlier eras when it was frowned upon. Today, even if you choose to pursue virtue, one should at least maintain the appearance of corruption in order to not lose credibility.
Looney recently posted..Capital, Volume 1 by Marx: Onward Luddites!
We have to be skilled to be able to discern!
We don’t have that problem here in the U.S. People are still very skilled at vice and corruption.
Cheerful Monk recently posted..Needs a Bit More Work
They are skilled here too, but they are skilled at getting caught at it.
Many people seem to have abandoned intelligence in favour of being outrageous and attracting attention. The totally idiotic statements made by many politicians are a case in point. Likewise the populist rantings of a lot of journalists.
Yes, it is all about moments of attention and fame.
Rote learning and studying to pass standardized exams seem to be a problem here, too. It doesn’t encourage independent learning and thinking. As well, political correctness, taken to an extreme, may be dumbing down some educational systems as educators and professors become more reluctant to present challenging material for fear from complaints by offended students or parents. I’ve read several items in the last couple of weeks related to this, including one about Ian McEwan’s commencement speech at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania.
Mike recently posted..Cloud Makers.
That speech is among the best reading material that I have read recently. Thank you.
Yes, academic morons and politicians are indeed “a very big problem”.
It is now a global phenomenon.
The educational systems here and apparently in India are utter failures. We have the same issue kids are taught to pass a test that means nothing. My late uncle Chuck once told me a college degree is only an indication to a company that the individual is trainable and somewhat disciplined. That was in the late 60s so aparently the issue has been with us for quite some time.
shackman recently posted..James Thurber’s Dogs
Here, it simply is a filtering process. The real training starts on the job.
Neither numbers nor powers nor wealth nor learning nor eloquence nor anything else will prevail, but purity, living the life, in one word, anubhuti , realisation. Swami Vivekananda
Anubhuti indeed.