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At the outset these two words would
to appear to have little in common.
However, the entire schooling system
depends on comparison. Assessments that
teachers make of children are comparative.
Parents, students and teachers are acutely
aware of the position in class. This is considered
so important that applicants to universities
abroad have to provide this information
in addition to marks obtained in exams. The
fact that one is more gifted than another in a
certain avocation at a certain time is not
difficult to accept and acknowledge. It is also
logically clear that being better in a subject
or skill does not make a better human being.
Most thinking people would surely
agree that comparison is destructive and
certainly should have no place in education.
Some others would say that while it is
unwholesome it cannot be entirely avoided;
how else would you know how the child
fares in a class? Yet others may strongly
advocate comparisons as the source from
where one betters oneself, as one may in
competition.
Let us leave these perspectives alone
for the moment. They have been argued ad
nauseum. Let us look at a facet of comparison
which is the backbone of education and life
and see where we are located.
The notion of betterment appears
to be buried very deep in human
consciousness. To see how deep, one only
needs to watch one's response to somebody
who says'I do not care to be better' .We feel
like ridiculing this unfortunate person,
we feel angry or even experience pity.
We may even feel strongly that this must be
corrected. There is little doubt that we all
believe in improvement of the self. This is a
fact of life for most of us.
Where do the roots of this lie?When a
child is born and grows up, laughing and
playing, everyone is delighted. Each child has
its own idosyncrasies, but each child is also
beautiful. However, this lasts only a short
period. Soon one begins to look at the
neighbour's child like one watches the
neighbour's house or property. And of
course, all children must go to school to
study and be educated. This is the way of the
world. We are afraid if someone suggests that
children can be sent to school late or that
they need not go to school. Those who have
not been to school are considered either
illiterate or backward. Therefore we have to
send our children to school - just like
everyone else. This is a critical juncture. The
child and the parent have entered the arena
of common beliefs and accepted notions.
From now on, in every conceivable way,
the child will be told that what he cannot do
is more important than what he can do. The
child will learn that what he does not know
is also more important than what he does.
Being able to recognize the alphabet is the
first step of the invisible ladder. Being able
to read words is the second. And soon one is
climbing an infinite ladder, much like the
beanstalk that Jack started climbing. Once
this process begins one has to keep moving.
There is an ocean of knowledge to be
attained. We learn to acknowledge this fact
in humility, by saying that we have to learn
more. And having climbed very high above
the clouds one will have to scramble down
to earth and cut the ladder so that the giant
won't gobble one up. But how did we and
our parents forget that every child learnt to
talk and walk without these being considered
as steps on a ladder?
What does self improvement mean?
Does it mean being kinder, less angry, less
selfish, more godly? Or aoes it simply mean
acquiring more than what one had yesterday?
More money, property, knowledge, beauty?
Is not a notion of a step by step movement
buried under this? I have some money today,
it can be measured; I need more money,
I do something to get more money. I know
I am selfish and I understand logically that
I must be less selfish or not at all selfish.
I attempt to make the same kind of effort
to achieve this end. How do I measure
selfishness? How does one measure anger,
hatred, jealousy, sorrow? Is the problem,
therefore, that these cannot be measured but
have to be understood in a totally different
way?Thus there appear to be two facets of
human existence: the measurable and
therefore improvable and that which
cannot be measured or improved.
Accepting the notion of improvement
means accepting comparison. It also means
that desire is justified. My neighbour has a
bigger car, better handwriting, better manners. To want to be like him is of course
right and humble. Whatever one is or one
can do is not good enough. This means one is
deeply trained to see oneself as moving or
improving, however illusory this may be.
This notion is passed on from generation to
generation most effectively.
One may proceed to ask what purpose
the notion of self-improvement serves,
if any? If one has to constantly live with the
feeling that one must improve, it must be a
pretty empty and painful life and, like in the
myth of Sisyphus, one would be toiling
only to find oneself back at the foot of the
mountain after each step.
Is it that the notion of improvement
pennits one to meet the emptiness of where
one is?If this is so, each one of us can continue
to be as we are and yet believe that we are
improving. Or is it that we do not want to
face the fact that in this area there is no such
thing as improvement? After all selfishness
cannot be measured, or anger improved.
Unfortunately we do not see that any denial
of this fact is violence. Is there any way of
accepting and living with the actuality of the
things we want to improve - anger, jealousy,
timidity, smallness, hatred?
Is there a way of observing and
understanding anger and hatred without a
reference point, without comparing it with
something else? Actually there is no way in
which I can grade my anger or sorrow. Is
apprehending without a reference of the
actual the big difference? Also, can we
communicate with each other without any
comparison whatsoever? If not, we are
thrown back into the realms of comparison
and measurement. One whole area of
human existence remains inadequately
understood and poorly lived with.
In our search for the right kind of
education is it not therefore vital to pay
attention to this aspect of human living?
Could this not be the mandate for educators?
This calls for a drastic rethinking of the ways
in which we are currently bringing up out
children. It would mean questioning the
value ofliving by example, exhortation, role
models and so on. It would also mean
examining the use of psychological control,
the place of habit and training in educating
children. For this to happen, educators must
be convinced of the futility of comparison.
Certainly, holding fast to the bastions of the
measurable is not going to take us further.
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