Lucid
thinkers are now beginning to question the conventional educational
fundaments being offered to the present generations. In many
countries, including Brazil, the educational systems seem to be in a
state of collapse. A culture of competitiveness has been created,
especially in schools considered as having the highest standards
that serve the highest income earning families, where the youth are
brought up to believe that the most important value is to have and
not to be.
Over the past 20 years people throughout the world are giving more
priority towards the attainment of material goods, behaving in a
competitive and comparative manner, always evaluating themselves
according to what others have. The big problem is there is only ever
one winner in a competitive feud, the losers live with their
frustrations of disappointment. This way people end up by being
classified in two categories: winners and losers. The ones that
consider themselves winners acquire a false idea of superiority with
regards to the remainder and consequently become arrogant. These
attitudes lead individuals to just concentrate on themselves, and
not on the community, believing that the ends justify the means. As
a consequence of this the natural resources also end up being
overexploited in a predatory manner. Sharing and cooperating with
one another are options that have become less attractive. Thus the
interest of the individual prevails to the detriment of the
community.
In this competitive environment conflicts and snide remarks fly
about like a swarm of locusts. The overall worry is to win and
mistrust is always present. This is also clearly visible in the
younger generations. And in cultivating this continuous state of
competition, we forget that, in this world, we are just pilgrims in
the pursuit of evolution. We are part of the human race. We neither
have the right to hinder the growth of our neighbor, nor disrespect
him. Our earthly existence should enhance the strengthening of the
spirit, which promotes the existence of the human being to its
fullest.
These are the values that should be transmitted in schools. But, to
the contrary, what is witnessed in the student-environment is the
stimulus of competitiveness. The students are overburdened with
countless amounts of homework of little practical utility that just
contributes to exert strong cerebral pressure enhancing the
calculative intellect, to the detriment of sensibility and
intuition.
In a recent interview referring to the crisis at American schools,
Bill Gates, the owner of Microsoft one of the giants of the IT
industry said that “schools are obsolete”, this he said in
respect to the unusually high level of ‘drop outs’. The
entrepreneur defended the need to renew the commitment with
education and change the way teaching is being exercised. Gates is
worried about the future of the young students and, consequently,
with the future of the United States. Microsoft's attitude deserves
an attentive look from other leading companies. It is up to the
private sector to break away from the narrow-minded thinking of
one’s own profit and render an important role in the educational
reality of the coming generations.
The full development of a country depends mostly on the formal and
informal education of its citizens. But, unfortunately, the present
educational system encourages and overvalues fragmentation,
intellectualization and aggressive competition. It trains ill
prepared people for a full and harmonized life with themselves and
unfortunately the others are in the hands of nature. We cannot
continue fragmenting and departmentalizing. This is the moment to
reconnect, to amplify and develop a trans-disciplinary system. To
work like this is to situate the knowledge of life enabling the use
of specialized knowledge as a whole.
A special gift is of no value if it cannot be applied with a vision
of full benefit. Presently we feel the need to clarify the true
essence of the word education. We cannot continue thinking in terms
of compulsory curriculums. The current way of life on this planet
demands changes in habit and values. It demands changes in our day
to day routine, in our posture before the world and a greater
responsibility regarding life.
It has becomes indispensable for man to receive a more adequate
preparation for life so that, strengthened with spiritual knowledge
about Creation and of its laws, he shall be apt to reach a dignified
existence through the result of his own work, recognizing that above
the flawed laws of man act the incorruptible and unyielding laws of
reciprocity, which brings back to each one, happiness or suffering,
in accordance with one’s actions. Without this there can be
neither self-esteem nor the hope of reaching a better world. Without
this there shall be no respect and consideration to one’s
neighbor. Each one will want to exercise the force that one has in
order to reach one’s own objectives and chaos shall be implanted
in families, the State, and around the globe.
*Benedicto Ismael Camargo Dutra is an Economics and
Administration graduate from USP, Brazil, and an important writer
collaborating with the newspapers of São Paulo and gives lectures
on themes linked to the quality of life. Presently, he is one of
the coordinators of www.library.com.br, a non profitable site, and
author of the books A Meeting with the Wise Man and A Reencounter
the Wise Man, published by Nobel Publishing with the seal Marco
Zero. His e-mail is: bidutra@attglobal.net.
