In the world we live today, each progeny boasts of a way of life that is unique to them. Ancient Egyptians prided themselves in their unique rites of passage; the Greek identified themselves with certain sporting norms that formed the fabric of their institutions. These core values inherent with a faction of individuals constitute a culture.
In the Seventeenth century, modern education was introduced by Lord Macaulay to educate Indians by getting them anglicised both culturally and intellectually. Modern education introduced by the Britons gave them the credit for getting Indians ameliorated. I seek to discuss the impact of culture on modern education in India.
In the advent of the Eighteenth century, modern education gave social progress the much-needed impetus at the time and with it came vast reforms. Missionaries, educationists and a few Indians adopted new ways of thinking; they changed their working styles substantially. Modern education was about to take its toll! Education pointed the real issues in the system, for instance, the rigidity of social practices prevalent for the weak in the society at the time; women and lower strata individuals bore the brunt of it all. Through education attention of social evils was brought to social reformers, rituals, superstitions and ill-treatment to women was brought to light. Indians were able to appreciate the worth of freedom and liberty by being exposed to great philosophers like Burke, Spencer and John Locke. They understood better the impact of American and English revolutions.
In the mid-eighteenth century, however, culture and education got the better of each other. The Indian society was disintegrated; this was divisive policies by the British rulers routed for the division of the Indian society. This `divide and rule` approach was meant to keep the natives busy in their fights. The Indians were compartmentalised into uncompromising groups and only reformers and a small fraction of intelligentsia groups could feel the damage. Racial discrimination was at the centre of this heist, British rulers started propagating racial superiority and dominance over dark races who were considered backward due to their cultural practices. Because most native Indians could not abandon their cultures, they remained uneducated and so added to the unemployment catastrophe that had already taken a toll order on the countrymen.
Education, as it is evident, has taught the youth pride and encouraged them to be estranged from their surroundings. There is misery when people are cut from their source of life- one`s roots. People are losing their inherent character because they shun their traditional values and embrace wholeheartedly western materialism. A sense of culture can still enhance in people the purpose to live for and the elites need to stop blindly imitating the west.
There is no denying, all the same, the fact that western education has brought with it social awakening all through India. There has been a notable transformation in the working and lifestyle of people through development and advancement in science and technology. Education needs to lay the path to `intellect` by creating an environment of self-introspection about one`s strengths and weaknesses but always in line with the core cultural values and practices. However, it is prudent to appreciate that India`s human resource needs to be cultivated through a sound education system that aims to flash out the rut of mediocrity.
