I spend a solid 62.5% of my time daily on it. Considering that sleeping is only 29.2% and eating is a mere 8.3%, education is clearly my life right now. Upon analysis, the human body yields no outstanding strength, razor teeth and claws, or lightning speed. Incredibly, we are apparently the fruit of thousands of years of evolution and perched at the pinnacle of the global food chain.
Our one power, the defining characteristic of the Homo Sapiens Sapiens, is the mind.
Education is extremely important.
Yet a devastating problem in several countries is that people do not receive a sufficient education. More prosperous nations, like ours, give money and aid to these poor countries in hopes of improving the situation. It will surely help, but as the saying goes, "Give a man a fish, and he's fed for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he can teach other men to fish, feeding them all for the rest of their lives." Free schools for the poor all over the world help destitute children to learn and eventually prosper. No Child Left Behind also attempts to spread the knowledge and give a substantial, if not equal, opportunity. So let's give everyone in the world, people of all nationalities, races, and genders, an education, and that foundation will sustain humanity better than a donation.
3 comments:
An interesting analysis of 'human evolution' and how today's human being is distinguished possibly from all other living species by 'mind'. Scholars, oriental and occidental, have written volumes on the nature of 'mind' and its relationship to 'body' and they do not agree always. The debate over 'mind-body relationship' is unnecessary in the present context, but 'mind' has a decisive role in 'education', as hinted by you.
Surely, education is the best form of charity/philanthropy, but we have to guard against one thing. The so-called developed and rich nations of the world should not attach 'conditions' to their aid to the relatively poor and the developing nations. Let the recipient nations decide themselves what kind of 'education' they want to impart to their citizens. The donor nations should keep out and adopt an attitude of 'detachment' towards their 'donations'. Let them not these 'donations' be used to extend their hegemony in the developing world.
Admittedly, the burden of 'education' from High School stage to College/University stage is somewhat excessive, but it appears necessary. The recent explosion of knowledge and the relatively short time we have to assimilate that knowledge makes it necessary for us bear this additional burden.This is the age when we can, and should, challenge our bodies somewhat, if necessary, and get prepared to meet the challenges of tomorrow. Even by your own 'statistical analysis', you get almost 8 hours of sleep everyday and this is within the limits of tolerance of a young man.
I agree that donor nations should be detached, but that issue is not really related to the idea of education over donation as much as interfering with national sovereignty in the first place. The fine line between global assistance and imperialism lies in any kind of international action, whether it be war, sanctions, grant aids, or donations. I am not really sure how a donor nation would create an educated society, but it could involve assistance when asked for and creation of a comprehensive and legitimate department of education to monitor and provide public schools for the needy.
A donor nation does not seem to 'create educated society' in the donee nation but actual things are more complex than they appear on surface. Some donor nations of today are neoimperialists (modern 'avatars' of the colonialists of yesterday) and they employ subtle means or remote control techniques to demean or even destroy the cultures of the recipient nations. They try to influence the 'educated persons' of those nations. Many of these 'educated persons' are obviously vulnerable and fall a prey to such influences, devastating their own countries for a long time. Colonialists have been known to use such methods rather blatantly because they knew that this was a better way to 'conquer' a country. This method continues to work even after the conquering nation has left that country. Our neoimperialist friends are smarter in this respect and the donee nations need to be vigilant. It might be better if such donations are routed through world bodies such as UNO, UNESCO, etc and individual donor nations have little say in how the recipient nations utilize the donations.
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