Education without Comparison

It is a natural human trait that when you get to know something that you did not know, it brings much joy to you. If learning is making people miserable then we have not understood what learning is. The focus of education should not be about suppressive information but about kindling the thirst for knowledge. If the thirst for knowledge is kindled in the child, you cannot stop him from learning.

Unfortunately, most parents are not sending their children to school because you want them to learn but because you want them to earn. They are not sending your children to school because you want them to develop a thirst for knowing irrespective of whether it is going to make money or not. This is an unfortunate way to handle education. We need to change this attitude.

Today, the pressure on children is also because of comparison. You are putting two absolutely unique beings in comparison. There is only one like you in the world. That is so for your child also, but you are trying to put all of them into the same compartment and compare them on something that they learn and make them feel better or worse about it.

Unfortunately, for most parents it is not about education, it is about the “first rank.” All they want is that their children sit on top of every other child’s head. They are not interested in learning or education. The whole effort in their life is how to sit on top of the pile. Everybody wants to sit on top of the pile but everybody cannot sit on top of the pile. Only a few will sit on top of the pile. Others will naturally end up at the bottom and get suppressed. Whatever the activity, if our focus is just to sit on top of the pile, many others will naturally get suffocated under the pile. That orientation of education has to go. If attitudes change, the schools will change. They want to run the business the way it works, isn’t it?

True human genius will not flower if this kind of education happens. True human capabilities will not find expression in competition. When you are trying to race with somebody you will think only one step ahead of them. You are not going to think of what your ultimate potential is. We are just ruining a whole generation of people with this kind of schooling. True human capabilities will find expression only in absolute relaxation. Your mind and your body will work best and find fullest expression only when you are joyful, peaceful and quiet within yourself.

(Ranked amongst the fifty most influential people in India, Sadhguru is a yogi, mystic, visionary and a New York Times bestselling author Sadhguru has been conferred the Padma Vibhushan by the Government of India in 2017, the highest annual civilian award, accorded for exceptional and distinguished service.)