Education should lead us to inner as well as outer journey

We strive to get the best out of everything in life. In terms of position, status, money and power, we want to leave no stones unturned. In this long journey called life, we walk on two completely different paths. One path leads us to the outer journey in the world, a journey which ends in the attainment of all worldly pleasures. The other path leads us to the inner journey, one of self realization, which ends with the contentment and the knowledge of the fact that material gains are nothing as compared to inner happiness which stems from a pure and simple soul devoid of ill feelings towards others.
The point we must contemplate over is whether we are once again encouraging the younger generations to walk the outer path or are we considering a change of scenario and trying to imbibe good values to them for a fruitful inner journey. Parents, Society and Educational institution should aim at enlightening the students and making them good human beings who can work for others as well as themselves.
We are talking about people who are not only productive but people who are working with a genuine cause. The present case is one in which we find no role of educational institutions in bringing out a good personality and a sound moral base in students. They just train them to churn out facts and work as mechanically as possible.
We shall not only set ourselves upon the task of reforming the education system in this regard but must also change the situation by setting examples ourselves. If we believe being a good person is more important than being a wealthy person, we must idolize people who are good at heart for the children to learn from instead of inspiring them to acquire immense wealth by idolizing rich businessmen and celebrities.

Oxygen... a movement view

Is education disconnecting us from real life?

Exam phobia does not exist in vain. It is a fear of the ultimate kind and quite worth the trouble it evokes for we may never know what terrors the next examination would hurl upon us.
The purpose of education should be to help us become productive individuals and help us understand and dwell in our surroundings better. But the hype surrounding examination and the entire procedure itself is designed in such a way as to disconnect us from our environment. Exams just do not remain a test of knowledge but become a whole lot of trouble for children as well as their families. Very often we see children forgoing everything for the sake of a few hard-earned marks on their report card. They miss out on the real flavors of life in the pursuit of attaining something that promises them a good life in the future and creates a disillusion that their marks reflect their personality and intelligence level. More often than not they end up having little personality development and become people with a whole lot of knowledge but little virtue of its utilization.
The examination schedules cut across festivities leaving no room for the charm of the festival to remain. Children dreading their examinations for the fear of marks, now have another thing to add to their misery. The system hardly desires us to be humans. We are being trained to become robots on every step of this educational ladder. The mechanical questions and straightforward answers require little creativity and genius, and on top of that, show little consideration towards the joys of life. Why should something that is meant to make our lives better be isolated from real life itself?

Oxygen... a movement view

The progress of a nation can be judged by its performance in various sports

This statement is true as it can clearly be seen from the medal tallies of various international sporting events that the most developed countries are the ones that perform best in the maximum number of sports.
It might be because of the fact that developed nations have a better human potential and its people are endowed with the facilities and opportunities to take up a career of their choice whereas people in less developed nations are trying for survival and hence naturally opt for jobs that would ensure a steady income. It might also be for the fact that developing nations like India have completely forgotten about overall development of its human capital and are hell bent on making its people intellectually advanced. And to what extent do they succeed in this goal is a matter of doubt.
It would be wrong to say that we are not a sporting nation, keeping in view the magnitude of fan following and insanity related to a couple of sports. To be precise, its just one sport that Indians fall for, and that is Cricket.
We don't have many countries that actually play cricket as seriously as India does. Despite this fact, we are still not the number one team in the world. Sporting devotion does not only mean painting your face in the tricolour every time your country faces an international team. It means being passionate about it with the true sporting spirit. If we are really passionate about our cricket, why don't we know the names of the players that make up our state teams? Is this real fondness to our one-and-only sport?
We are entangled in a complex net of conceptions and misconception that a 'complete nation' must have a sport it worships. We are blatantly doing things just because other countries are doing it as well. Neglecting the true sporting spirit that we should instill in our students, we aimlessly go about idolizing rich cricketers and evolving all the wrong reasons for association with a sport. Children dream about becoming cricketers, and recently tennis players, just because there's huge earning potential plus popularity in these sports. Nations that stress the true sporting spirits are the ones that have winners in whatever sport their countrymen choose. And that is the reason their countrymen choose a whole array of sports and live up to everyone's expectations.
Oxygen... a movement view

Sports that direct us to kill: Why can't we accept failure?

Sporting events are designed to impart a sense of healthy competition and aim at physical development of the players. It also teaches the fans to take both wins and losses with equal fervour. Sports are an excellent tool for overall development since they teach a whole lot of values through their intended fun and frolic.
Rigorous planning and intense pressure goes into the preparation of a single match which brings a few minutes of excitement and amusement. Apart from this, the amount of resources and money involved as well as the prestige issue associated with some serious sports make it all the more intense, eroding the actual purpose of game. So much so that people are even ready to kill each other if things don't go according to their plan.
The recent murder of Pakistani coach Bob Woolmer speaks volumes for itself.
The outward and violent expressions of rage and grief on our country's loss in cricket and the burning of effigies of the same players we once worshipped are all examples of how fickle we are and how much we abhor failure.
The question to be asked here is 'why have become so intolerant'? Not only as country but as a whole race of people, we have lost all tolerance and forbearance. We are not ready to accept failure as sportingly as we should. If we cannot be sporty enough in accepting failure in sports, we can just imagine about the kind of acceptance we would show in other spheres of our lives. It, perhaps, gets programmed in our heads right at a very tender age when we are taught a kind of repulsion to the word 'failure'. We should teach our kids that failing is just about knowing how a certain thing is not supposed to be done and not about the inability to do it.
Dealing with children who do not perform academically up to a desired level has to be met with a complete revision. It should be our aim to help children learn from their failures instead of developing a fear towards it. Once this fear is gone, we would see a change in a whole lot of aspects of our lives where we'd be more tolerant and willing to learn from our mistakes instead of blaming ourselves or others for it.

Oxygen... a movement view

Internal values - use them or lose them

We are all born with a certain set of inherent values which act as a guide for us on our path of righteousness. More often than not they help us make correct decisions and go for the wiser choices. Unless altered by the external environment our conscience is usually right and shows us the most judicious way out.
The sad part to this tale, however, is that we are increasingly losing our faith on our very own instincts. We are always taught and encouraged to make calculated decisions using solely the mind and seldom the heart. We are always shown the more mechanical alternative. Be it the way we should answer questions or what profession we should chose, all important decisions have to be made leaving the instincts and inner urges far behind. If this inner conflict with oneself and the so called correctness taught to us by our society continues for long, we become a confused lot, unable to decide about our own actions. And this indecisiveness bears us down till we ultimately settle once again with what others find right for us. The time has come to make ourselves stalwarts of our own internal values. We should have faith in ourselves and teach the next generation to have faith in themselves as well, unhindered by what a million people around find suitable for them. Let us give them the wings to fly greater heights instead of caging them by imposing rules.
Oxygen... a movement view