THOUGHT ON SCHOOLS AND SOCIETIES

Yash Kamath
Std:11A

When we think of societies, we think of people living together, bonded by a cultural and/or economical identity. We think of them as being shaped by politics and money and all the other factors delivered by the media to our brains. In reality, what makes us a society is not money, or politics, but the thought of collective welfare. In simple terms- I take care of your needs, so you take care of mine. Some would like me to use- A friend in need is a friend in deed, but that’s a bit different. Of course, I would link it to science and all, to explain why we behave so, but that’s for another time. The main intention with which I chose to wrote this post is not on society itself as a thing, but on how it is affected by schools and, if the reader may entertain the idea, by other factors. Let’s put this very simply: Society and Schools are a feedback loop. You have a good society, you will then have a good school, which will give good workers and thinkers for a better society and hence a better school. Perhaps school isn’t the right word to be used here- but for convenience purposes, we’ll go on with school. The first point is quite clearly visible, and can be built upon further. What I have told is a positive scenario, where the society to start with is good. But being in a feedback loop means whatever is good becomes better, and whatever is bad becomes worse. That is known by all of you; subconsciously. That’s why people like the hero and the villain equally, when the hero shows better ideals and when the villains pulls an even more evil trick than his last one. Its wired into our brains- so we kind of like it. So the brain is basically sort of a device which likes if something increases, but may not necessarily be able to distinguish between what is good or what is bad. Disagreements started at this point. There could be a point where all readers could argue, what is good or bad? How do you define it? I mean, it could be a valid question. Thinking time for you, reader! You have a choice: 1.A place with no freedom of choice and opinions, but ample food, housing and schooling. OR 2. A place with ample freedom of choice and opinions, but scarce food, housing and doubtful schooling. It is rather interesting to study people and their choices in this regard, but let’s see where the choice goes. Answer in the comments. The point I have been trying to put forward is, schools are the vital deciding factor of the society. And yes, that’s the total point of all the words up till now. This can be viewed in two ways. If the schools are good, they’ll shift the society towards the right path as well because they make future citizens; and if the citizens have the right morals and education, they can make the society better. OR, let’s have a look at option two, because that’s more interesting and if you’ve reached till here, you should really take a look at it. But, even though schools promote people of different religions and different backgrounds, they seem to be failing. Either its them or its the society. And I know its not right to blame the school. If the society had been conducive enough to understand and educate its children, then they wouldn’t have had to protest or march in the streets. Truth is, India has become imbalanced in this area. The purpose of society has started to slip; from creating better citizens, we have started to create citizens who do not wish to work for themselves, but would rather have everything and everyone working for them. Rather than studying, they protest, and I am fully aware that voicing your concern is a “DEMOCRATIC RIGHT” but isn’t there a limit. Case in point: Society and Schools have gone out of sync, and that needs to be repaired now!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *