Education is not preparation for life, education is life itself.

The period of the 1930s was tumultuous for the globe, with Hitler’s aggression at precipitating levels in Europe, and India’s struggle against the colonial regime in Asia. Somewhere in Africa, a Bantu kid was hurt due to the racial climate of his society. Being black, he was isolated and segregated from whites. He decided to utilize education as a solution to his suffering. While his black colleagues were getting educated to earn themselves a sustainable living, he got himself educated to learn about the prejudice and racism imposed by whites. After four decades, when this kid—Nelson Mandela—led his victory against Apartheid, he admitted that the most significant lessons of his life were taught by his educational life; their education for him was an end in itself, while for the others, it was preparation for a pre-molded life.

Education, in colloquial terms, is defined in terms of literacy and academic competence. However, education, in a broader sense, exposes an individual to universal values, humanity, and expands one’s horizon. Education is not something restricted to the brick and mortar buildings of school and college; rather, education can be imparted at home, through personal experiences, and social interactions also. The goal of education, as society has molded, is to prepare one for future endeavors. But the true goal is not to wait for life; rather, live life in a more humane and sustainable manner.

Education and life: A symbiotic relation

Much of the formative years of an individual are shaped through two institutions—family and schools or colleges. Family acts as an informal and organic source of educating and molding personalities. One of the prominent activists and former US president Abraham Lincoln recalls his childhood and says “I’m what my mother made me.”

Then, with the origin of life itself, the process of education and inculcation starts for an individual. This initial phase of informal education has a profound effect on the life of children. During the Meiji restoration, most of the children in Japan considered the Emperor as a God-sent messenger, due to which later on, Japan had popular backing in its military aggression in World War II.

On the other hand, initial life also determines and shapes the educational journey. As seen in a study by sociologist Paul Willis, children from poor strata usually develop a racist and sexist culture, which he called counter-school culture, in order to reject the order of education being confirmed by middle and upper strata. Hence both education and life shape each other in formative years.

As a child grows, a significant part of one’s life is spent in formal sources of education like schools and colleges. Due to this, some of the harshest lessons of life are taught through education. For example, Mahatma Gandhi in his autobiography mentions how he admitted to his teacher that he cheated in exams, signifying his integrity. Similarly, the ousting of Bhimrao Ambedkar from the classroom due to his low caste mirrored the deprivation suffered by him in daily life.

The primary tenets of life, manners of success and failure, values like meritocracy and humanity are learned through education. However, this learning is not for preparing oneself for life; rather this learning continuously modifies and reorients one’s present life as well. Examples being Tiananmen Square protests and JP movement being mobilized by students who learned the lessons and applied them in their student life instead of preparing themselves for a life of conformity and subjugation like others.

The lessons of education are not limited to public life; it penetrates wooden doors to level-wise to justice within households. Efforts by Savitribai Phule, the first feminist of India, to counter domestic violence and female feticide behind closed doors paved the way for reformation in the private lives of women. Similarly, it was the spirit of rationality inculcated by education which led kid Moolshankar to question idolatry and become Swami Dayananda.

Thus, we saw how educational experiences shape and reform life; now we’ll see how education transforms life. The fundamental tool of transformation is social mobility, and education drives social mobility in the modern world. The example of Shanars of Tamil Nadu who were earlier considered untouchables and now leveraged education to become a successful entrepreneur class i.e. Nadars of Tamil Nadu.

It is education which has the potential of transforming a low-caste worker into sage Valmiki and a coal miner into America’s celebrated actor Booker T. Washington. The success of Scandinavian countries corresponds to the level of education prevailing in the society; on the other hand, life quality and human development indicators of India reflect the underinvestment in education.

Education as preparation for life: The Limitations

When we see education as a preparation for life it is reduced from being an end to means for another end. For some, the end might be a lavish lifestyle while for others it might be a life of dignity. However, education as a means results in dampening of critical consciousness and a linear model of learning and assessment instead of a circular model of learn-re-learn and unlearn.

Today, obfuscation of literacy and education has resulted in education being synonymous with rote learning: without relating it to reflective thoughts and life experiences. Instead of broadening our horizons, education starts restricting the horizon in accordance with the needs of a materialism-fixed lifestyle.

The famous historian Bipan Chandra cites perils of education as a mean and end by two significant cases. On one hand, Germany, which had a high literacy rate and educated elites, was prone to propaganda by Hitler’s Nazism, while Poland, a lesser literate region, mostly schooled through home learning and resource constraints led Solidarity untans strike to bring the fall of USSR. While the former country chose education as a process of role-taking, the second one saw education as a life-changing experience.

Education changing lives in the contemporary world

The potential of education is again being felt by the world in multiple spheres. In the east, Thailand’s students are calling schools the first dictatorship through their democratic protests, while in the west, “Fridays for Future” movement under Greta Thunberg is being waged against climate change.

India is also taking significant steps to reform educational pedagogy as reflected in the new education policy 2020. Provision of Bal Chetna Kendra and special education zones, bringing science and humanity on the same lines, aims to provide a value-based learning experience to future generations.

Education and life: The way forward

With the arrival of the neoliberal paradigm and shift towards postmodernity, the role of education has changed from being a vessel for consciousness to a think tank for society. To accommodate diversity and pluralism, to alleviate barriers of xenophobia and inequality, decentralized models should be the way forward. Muktangan trust of Chhattisgarh, modeled on the lines of Shantiniketan, is doing an inspirational job in this regard. Thus our aim should be –

Pen in every hand,
Compassion in every heart,
Spark in every eye,
Joy in every soul.