Skip to main content

Why study ?

Philosophical it may sound, but was just wondering what is the purpose of education?

a. Get good jobs, a good status in society so that you can flaunt your status, and leverage that to maximum.
b. Get a good jobs, and follow the 'pre-existing' model of things good and bad without questioning and think as you are ordained to by these models.
c. Make your own judgments of what is wrong and right, make your own decisions and apply a rational thought process.

Or anything else ?

I think it is a combination of (a) and (b).

Comments

  1. When I was young, I used to ask the same question and my grandpa used to say and he still says" We study for our development.." But after reading your post, I started thinking, does studying, really makes you a better person in terms of your decision of right ad wrong... I guess, there are lot many things, which make one mature...Study is just one of them... But I don't agree, that we study only for a good job...So many people study, becuase of their passion or their ambition... So many people actually enjoy studying...
    I think, this comment cud have very well have been a blog ;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yeah ... True!

    Few points/ clarifications/ justification -

    Studies is just a subset of education, although I think, at times we have a tendency to use both interchangeably.

    Yeah, I personally don't at all believe that we study only for a job, but looking around me, at times I sense that many of us are studying for a job and its effects, and many people expect us to study for the same reason
    (as option (a) and (b) mentioned in the post!!!)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Education is a huge term that encompasses so many other things and u rightly said(in fact typed)that studies is just a subset of it...
    I have seen people, for whom studying is a passion...They don't study for marks or job or recognition...However philosophical it sounds, but they study for quest of knowledge...But agreed, most of the people study for option (a) or(b), as mentioned in the post...

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think the purpose of education is to only make you "aware" of what is and what is not!

    Rest all is a consequence of the same!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Shop @ Amazon

Popular posts from this blog

Somewhere @ Nowhere - The Book

FINALLY .... After a tryst with so-called-creativity, I have come up with a book -  Somewhere @ Nowhere. You can have a sneak peek at the story & a few pages from the publisher's website and order the same & get it home delivered anywhere in India/ Abroad. Details as mentioned below- - Preview and get the book home delivered from HERE Also, you can join the following groups - - Orkut Community - Facebook Page Hope you like the work. Would appreciate a feedback. Till then ... Happy Reading!!! And yeah, please spread the word (relying on word of mouth & word of blog publicity) :-) ___ Update (18/02/2010) - Thanks for the initial response to the book :) Update2 (25/ 02/ 2010) - Thanks for the feedbacks on the book those who have read it. (hope to get a feedback by others soon). Encourages me to overcome inertia and write more! Meanwhile, those who ask for why is it currently not available in traditional retail outlets - well, I hope it wil...

`Another Random Thought

"Man's mind , once stretched by a new idea , never regains its original dimensions." - Oliver Wendell Holmes Just wondering, what is the worst non-fatal, non-demeaning thing you can do to a person? Surely, one of them is allowing him/ her to explore things so that forms his opinions and ideas about things, and then exercise control (& not just give opinions) on what he should think, what he should deem as right or wrong & what he should do . Barbaric it may sound but probably allowing him to remain ignorant may be a better option . What say?

An area of darkness ?

The title of this post finds its origins in a novel with simlar name written by VS Naipaul. Set in India, some 40 years ago or so, this is a kind of travelogue of author's brief stay in India where he found it to be full of superstitions, ignorance and darkness! Many decades and many MNCs and malls later, few parts of India seemed to have chucked off that tag, but there are many places that haven't and continue to remain shrouded in ignorance. Move few hours away from a city, travel in a second class train compartment or a dilapidated state transport bus and you get to see the dark underbelly of India Shining. As one of the characters in the movie Rang De Basanti says "Yahan zinda rehne ki jung mein logo ki zindagiyan nikal jaati hai" . So true it seems! My day today was spent being kind of lost in similar thoughts. To start with, I when I boarded the ST bus, a woman was wailing. She may be in her 20s or something, but she was crying in some peculiar musical tone. At...

Snaps from The Himalayas

Some glimpses of one of the best landscapes in the country. Why long for Alps when our own old, enigmatic yet beautiful Himalayas provide such magnificent and picturesque sceneries!! Have a look. Enjoy. Location - Garhwal Region, Himalayas which lie in the state of Uttrakhand.

Assured returns from stock markets?

Stocks (and hence mutual funds) are often sold as something that give "assured" long term returns over a period of time. While this has been true for most of the times, and all time if we consider a long enough time horizon in India's recent history but is this always true? Can it be possible that stock markets can give lesser, say 10% returns over next 10 years? Or 5 percent annual returns? Or, taking inspiration from Nicholas Taleb, a black swan event happens and your end up barely recovering 80 percent of your principal amount (i.e. 20 percent loss) -   Theoretically yes.  Hopefully no.  I am not a predictor of future, nor are thousands others who claim to have more than 1000% percent surety of future events. So, if you are contemplating taking a personal loan @ 12% for some financial need and want to be invested in a mutual fund for "assured" 12 / 15/ 18/ 25 percent returns, maybe you need to rethink. If you want to borrow money @ 12% just to inv...