“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think”

A very famous anthropologist was once asked about what she considered to be the first signs of civilization by a young student of the subject. He was expecting her to answer something from clay pots, tools, written language, but the anthropologist replied, “A broken femur bone that has been healed”. The student was bamboozled but the anthropologist sensing this explained, “In the animal kingdom, no one survives a broken bone long enough for it to be healed on its own while going through hunting or drinking from the hole. In the case of humans, someone had taken the pain and efforts to tend to that human, nurse him through his painful injury and recovery. Feeling the pain for others and compassion, she said, were the first signs of civilization.

The anthropologist was none other than Margaret Mead, to whom the aforementioned quote is often attributed. This conversation shows us the importance of teaching children how to think and not what to think.

That student had been taught what to think and hence expected a conventional answer from his teacher rather than how to think, which is why he was left astounded.

The quote echoes from all Mead’s writings and her theory of cultural development for bears the same markings. She said an individual’s personality is shaped by his/her culture and if the culture promotes how to think, a girl can grow up to become curious and thoughtful individuals of the world. But if only taught what to think, she will only become confined within the four walls of her patriarchal home.

Education today, mostly all around the world, has become a process of teaching what we want them to think and hence has contributed to the downfall in both individual ethics, personality, and that of society.

India, particularly, has always had a rich heritage of education that taught students to be curious and inquisitive about the world around them. The various stories from the life of Dronacharya, Buddha, Mahavira all bear testimony to this fact. The Upanishadic wisdom and the various schools of philosophy like Ajivika, Cārvāka, Vaiśeṣika, Nyaya were the outcomes of this cultural tradition.

The movements for moksha that went through gyan marg (knowledge) or bhakti worship marg (devotion) by Shankaracharya and Ramakrishna are proof that human progress and enlightenment lie in teaching them how to think.

From the annals of world history, we have numerous examples of how noble humans were led to the path of destruction when they were instead told about what to think. The Nazi final solution (Holocaust) of the Jews and subsequent world war that perished a tenth of the world’s population, the bitter cold war between two post-war global superpowers, Armenian genocide, all results of this type of thinking. Even today, the global problems we face – climate issues, refugee crisis, border wars, and expansionism – are due to this kind of teachings.

Similarly, today we see the ethical downfall of societies, rise in corruption, crony capitalism, PMB type scams, Vijay Mallya issue, politico-bureaucratic nexus, the glaring pictures of migrant exodus on the streets of our prosperous urban centers, Coalgate, 2G spectrum scam, etc., are all manifestations of societal tendencies to think in terms of ‘what’ – personal interest over public welfare, instant monetary gratification rather than everlasting satisfaction of good character, etc., rather than “how” – how to benefit the last individual in line, Gandhian philosophy of sarvodaya & antyodaya, and so on.

Just like this, since ethics affect each aspect and organ of our society, today we face a health crisis, especially in our villages where there are no healthcare centers to our cities where there is a mushrooming of private hospitals. Out-of-pocket expenditure of 60% of total health expenditure (NITI Ayog) pushes hundreds of thousands into poverty each year. Why does this happen? One reason is increasing money and profit-making tendencies in noble health professions. Medical students who have to pay hefty donations for studies are inadvertently taught “what” – that they need to recoup that money as soon as possible rather than “how” of their service to society.

If today our health systems are like this, political systems are no different. The tendency of what to think – power tussle, muscle power, win elections by hook or crook, horse-trading of MLAs, peddling fake news to gain personal benefits – rather than “how” to ensure national unity and welfare of the public occupy their minds.

In a similar manner, these problems plague all other fields of our society. In the realm of economic activities, industrialists are busy pursuing the “what” – profit of business along with “how” – by any possible means. Monopolistic tendencies, predatory pricing to out or buy the competition has become the norm. The recent antitrust proceedings against Google by the Department of Justice in the US and CCI in India testify to this fact.

Economic malfeasance percolates in the form of environmental damage and global warming. Companies only tend to their profits even though it has a lasting negative impact on global commons. Rising sea levels, burning forests (Amazon fires), drowning littoral nations (Maldives, Fiji, etc.). All this is due to the teachings of what to think and not how to think.

But what is behind and who is responsible for this? The blame must equally be shouldered by all our socio-cultural institutions – family, school, society, peer group – and most importantly religion.

Religion has been the single biggest factor to propagate such type of education. The dogmatic religious beliefs that mostly rest on pillars of salts of irrationality curb human critical thinking. From Christianity to Islam to Hinduism, no major religion propounded the need to think how, not what. The infamous Salem witch trials, the burning of scientists and visionary women at the stake by the church in Europe, terrorism in the name of Jihad and atrocities against lower castes in the name of mythology are a few examples.

Religion greatly influences our lives and so even our families affected by religious dogmas curtailed free thinking in children who are taught not to ask questions from elders that may be uncomfortable for them to answer – have led to a generation that is confused, afraid to raise questions against authoritarianism and more self-centered profit-minded.

Many families collectively form society and hence such a belief system among families gives rise to a society that propagates a culture of teaching young people what to think and not how to think. Hence society itself then breeds individuals who follow godmen like Ram Rahim & Asaram and later lament their own wrongdoings but without taking the blame.

The culture that is propagated by society is taught in our schools. The teachers who teach are a part of families that propagate against how to think. Then how can we expect schools to teach how to think? The result is a breakdown of schools as institutions of harbingers of social change and produce rarely people like APJ Kalam and Amartya Sen but proponents of pseudo-sciences who believe cows release oxygen & COVID is spread by computer virus.

But as we discuss about the main theme – how to think should be taught – we must also not forget about equal importance of what to think also needs to be taught. Hitler’s youth was propagandized by teaching what to think in a negative sense. For them “what” meant Aryan social superiority & the idea that Germany had a morally superior claim to rule the entire world.

Islamist radicalized youth who beheaded French teacher Samuel Paty was taught what to think – negative ill feelings of hatred not brotherhood that led to killing an innocent person.

Hence, what is to be focused upon includes teaching a positive connotation of “what”.

Teaching what to think should include positive values of ethics, good morals, respect for the vulnerable and marginalized, service-oriented business, ethical economics, green growth, corporate governance, accountable & transparent good governance, welfare-oriented bureaucracy, and so on.

Hence what is needed first is a 360 overhaul of our educational system including governance support and then family values. A child that is molded in the right way will be able correct what and ethical how. Our constitutional directives & duties ask us to become responsible citizens with a rational approach & scientific temper. The journey should involve religious leaders influential public personalities like PM Modi, corporates with ethical economics like Ratan Tata & Azim Premji, Celebrities to promote a culture of what and how to think so as to be able to usher in 21st-century just global society with peace, harmony