by Mother’s Service Society
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Schools are miniatures of society now, but after a fashion.
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The system of education brings to posterity the entire knowledge of the
past in essence in a decade or two.
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Education overcomes Time.
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As the centuries passed two things happened: 1. The efficiency of
education rose and 2. along with it its spread among the people increased.
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Now that the Force that can abridge evolution of 30,000 years into one
lifetime is there in the atmosphere, it is possible to raise the quality of
education sky–high and spread it all over humanity.
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As a first step, our aim is to prepare the student who leaves school at
15 to be as fit as one of 50 or 60 years.
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This is to be done in stages starting with each child doing what the
pupils in the next class do.
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Looking at what happened in the last 50 years, it is possible NOT to raise an objection to
the goal.
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The Force that is there in the atmosphere can raise everyone in the
population to be a genius. Therefore, it is not a very difficult goal. To
achieve it in ONE school cannot face
obstacles as we know what schools have achieved 500 years ago or even earlier.
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Whether it is really possible for a man to become a genius?
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The Negroes who have had the same opportunity as whites have ended up
poor.
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Two boys by different exercises of their choice end up low and high.
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It is true no one a hundred years ago had the social opportunities we
now have.
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It is equally true that there are quite a number of people now by
virtue of their attitudes expressed in their daily choices who have made
only the same progress as a hundred years ago.
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This is so because any advantage entering man's circumstances is at
once ulilised by his own personality of old values. This is the key that pulls
down the vertical growth to a pyramid.
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The school helps the child to use the incoming energy and information
in the best possible way.
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If only we see the enormous opportunities around us, it may not be
difficult to see that all of us or each one of us has now the same
psychological energy which created the geniuses in this birth and in the
previous births. I should say the atmosphere now carries the Golden Force which
was not there before 1956.
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Whether a genius can be created – I am more than sure all of us can
become geniuses – or not, we can do more than what we are doing now for the
children as our schools are better than other schools.
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Suppose this truth is perceived, the existence of the Golden Force is
seen or assumed, how to accomplish the most.
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Release the energy in the child, teach him to direct it for full use,
let him organise it into a power of achievement. Let us give him the skills to
turn it into results.
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Energy is released by interest, attention, freedom. Negatively it may
release wild energy.
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The interest, attention, freedom can rise in the scale of physical,
vital, mental, spiritual, supramental, Mother.
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Infinite energy can be released from the child with the limit fixed by
wildness.
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As in releasing energy, so there is the above INFINITE scope in giving it
direction, organisation and skills.
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The truth here is the practical concept of infinity. It is possible to
explain each of these steps in minute
detail, but it will be theoretical and lose its value. Once someone starts
experimenting, it will be real. The infinite scope is seen in Nirupama.
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Even the perception at this stage of such energy available is a great
step forward.
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Assuming a band of teachers comes forward to learn it and have it, what
is the next step?
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The education given to children all over the world up to this point is
based on the belief that it is good for the child to learn. What should they
learn? In the absence of any clear concept, the original answer was the three
Rs. Later whatever the adult felt meaningful was added. At the stage of higher
education, it branched off into a million branches of specialisation. It is
humanity's first unorganised unconscious attempt dynamically pursued. Man
does not know what he has learnt, how he has learnt, how his learning was
useful to him, why he is learning, etc. These are all philosophical questions
which no philosophy can handle today for the simple reason the process of
education is the process of creation, which is still not only not known to the
world but the world has not raised that question yet or formulated it.
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If these questions are ever raised unthinkingly, superstitious answers
will emanate such as 'Man should fit himself into the society', 'He should
survive', 'He must be happy'. This is not the society in which anyone need fit,
nor is happiness a real goal. Social
survival is ruled out when you do not accept the society. If some one or many
people raise these questions – I have not heard of any yet – it will be
refreshing to frame answers to them. First of all, we must arrive at the right
questions.
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I am taking the issue at a fairly low level where there will be no
controversy. An education that equips the child to avoid failures in life as
much as possible is desirable. Whether he fits into this society or not, he
must live. He must successfully live in good health, if possible avoiding
sorrow and depression. It is Life education based on health education. As
we do not raise fundamental issues, let us continue to teach what we are now
teaching and within that scope try to develop in the child good health, mastery
of circumstances as well as mastery of his lower emotions.
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As this approach gives a framework to teaching within the 'No framework'
we are now based on, you will see the endless social resources coming to
your rescue, infinite psychological resources that rise in the teacher and
pupil quickly convincing her that resources are truly limitless.
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Once the school and teachers see in practice these great resources at
their disposal, it is a question of organising them into acquired talents of
the individual in an enjoyable, accepted form.
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Today take two men at two extremities of the society -- one who has had
the fullest opportunity and encouragement to avail of any desirable social
advantage and the other who religiously refused to step out of the boundaries
of his village and rejected all forms of modern assets including education as
an intrusion into his sacred privilege. The difference is immeasurable. Our boy
leaving school around 15 years will differ from any other boy of 15 anywhere in
the world as much. In potential he will excel anyone at any age vastly. Our
aim of turning out a student who will have the mental age rather social age of
50 or 60 will be more than justified.
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The world is Himalayan, but our methods equip us with the latest
psychological computer making it easier.
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Between two people at the age of 60 who end up as a retired clerk and
as a rich industrialist, often the native talents are the same. Two things
bring about the difference 1. His choice as a human being, 2. The support of
his own social environment. Man who has the talents and makes the right choice
rises continuously, but the moment the social support is not there, he levels
off or falls. Only one in a thousand can replace the external support by
inner support. What I call life education teaches it in which case he will
not meet with any failure anymore. This seems to be a tall claim. Millions of
malarial deaths were prevented by spraying kerosene on stagnant pools of water.
Dozens of nations that were plagued by malaria before the war are now free of
it. Kerosene is physical. The inner support is psychological. As every child
already has basic qualifications, it is possible to teach it. When walking on
the road, we steer clear of the crowd, do not jostle about, protect the purse.
This is an endowment which most have. We see the rare few not endowed with this
skill often losing their purse, running a thorn, getting hit, quarreling with
people having hit them in an unconscious rush. To walk safely through a
crowded street is a physical skill which is there. To walk through life unhurt
is a psychological version of that skill.
A school has infinite social occasions so that teaching of that
skill is not difficult.
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In a crowd, we not only watch our path, but have an eye on the
movements of all others to avoid a collision. The rule in life is the same. You
should not let others' movements hinder you. Presently the culprits in this
regard are those who intentionally provoke others. Avoid provoking others,
refuse to be provoked is the psychological rule. When this rule is taught
in a class before a year is over there will be vast desirable changes noticed.
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To understand the rule, practise it ourselves, administer it to kids,
modify it to the individuals, innovate for fresh situations that are
complications, see the possession of that skill is permanent is a whole
curriculum by itself. After some years it becomes an attitude and no time is
spent on teaching it specially.
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The foundation for life is health. This belongs to the home not the
school. But, a lot can be done in the class by way of education. Health
education is a necessary basis for Life Education.
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Life education has several layers. First, it offers successful
survival. Next, a freedom of mind. Third, it enables the child to have smooth
relations with other children. Finally, in his human relationship with other
children he can have a certain mastery that is not domination. It goes further
when the child is able to have the same mastery over the events and
environment. This appears miraculous, but we witness it all the time in a
sporadic form. All that I am pleading for is to organise such a capacity as a
permanent one. The rules are too many but the central theme is when one is
right and quietly strong, life at once acts positively. When a child who wants
to go with a friend to his house to fetch a book from there proposes it to his
friend, instantaneously someone brings that book to his friend for some
mysterious reason. This is not unknown, but to give this power to the child as
a permanent possession in all his affairs is to elevate the child to such a
level of life as does not exist now. The gain here is not the walk to his
friend's house. The child will develop strong, quiet, innate GOODNESS.
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By health education, I mean a certain wholesome basket of health
information. In the earlier generation, especially ladies at home possessed a
kind of health knowledge that presided over the culinary art and acted as a
kind of first aid kit for general health. The knowledge was minimal but
wholesome. Even 50, 60 years ago when the life span was 38 years – though the
ladies were ignorant – those who had adhered to these norms lived beyond 60 or
even 70. Today ladies are educated, the information at their disposal is
enormous. It has to be organised into a usable kit of knowledge for health
primarily and secondarily for the cure of minor diseases.
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Apart from these two, for the personality of the child to benefit
through social contacts, I have an elaborate programme in mind but the main
principle is the active initiative of the school to bring the child into live
contact with all facets of social life so that when he goes out he will not
find any social situation utterly fresh. If this works successfully in the
first phase, the whole life of the school can be organised as a miniature of
the society outside. Should we do so, it is possible for us to bring to the
benefit of the child some of the facets of life not available in his locality
or his state even.
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My programmes are elaborate. The teacher is the key. She must be paid
the maximum that anyone else is paid in
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Should such a scheme be a success on an individual school basis, it
will be possible to reduce it to a general system for wider use. Hence the TV.
If there is any TRUTH in these ideas and they
have any realistic force, that must bring to us on its own all the FUNDS the school or the system
needs.
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