8,246
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Line 11:
Line 11: − + − Ancient education system has a dif=ve===We see in the cultures of ancient Greece and Europe that the ideal of personal culture loomed large in the educational system. Ancient Indian system, however, focused on the fact that an individual exists more for society than otherwise. From a very young age, a child is groomed into the socio-cultural fabric of the society with less emphasis on personal subjects such as music, painting and fine arts which were not taken as general education topics. Education was also not dominated by the military ideal hence it was not part of the mainstream topics. + − + + + + +
→Goal of Education: editing
Thus we see that the goal of education is attainment of Self knowledge. Thus people of different varnas irrespective of their gender, social and financial status, received at least the rudiment of literary and religious education, until the first millennium of the Christian era when conducting upanayanas decreased among the varnas and girls were married at the age of 10 owing to several causes.<ref name=":0" />
Thus we see that the goal of education is attainment of Self knowledge. Thus people of different varnas irrespective of their gender, social and financial status, received at least the rudiment of literary and religious education, until the first millennium of the Christian era when conducting upanayanas decreased among the varnas and girls were married at the age of 10 owing to several causes.<ref name=":0" />
=== Goal of Education ===
== Subjects of Education ==
The word Vidya (विद्या), which again devoid of an English equivalent, deals with that procedural knowledge essential for understanding the philosophical and theological aspects of Sanatana Dharma. Ancient seers had holistic perspective as to why a student should be given the knowledge of a certain Vidya ([[Brahmavidya (ब्रह्मविद्या)|Brahmavidya]], [[Bhumavidya (भूमविद्या)|Bhumavidya]], [[Panchagnividya (पञ्चाग्निविद्या)|Panchagnividya]] etc) each of which was one way to achieve the common goal of Moksha. It may appear that preceptors of the ancient ages have focused only on the ultimate spiritual goal (attainment of the knowledge of the the Self) which is more a personal goal for the student. However, one may note that education consisted of imparting Chaturdasha Vidyas (and Astadasha Vidyas) dealt in our [[Vaidika Vangmaya (वैदिकवाङ्मयम्)|Vaidika Vangmaya]] by Gurus to students before giving them the ultimate specialized knowledge, exemplified by many examples of Vedic preceptors even in the more recent millennium.
Jesuitical education aimed at creating an army of faithful and resolute servants of the Catholic church, the goal of which was to establish missionaries and spread the religion. It may be clarified that Ancient Indian system of education projected to be tainted by Brahmanas controlling education, was never so narrow in aim, for the youth they trained often were not subservient unquestioning blind followers but often questioned the traditional beliefs and sought for the rationale in the system. Many new theories of Indian knowledge systems, and siddhantas of subjects stand proud witness to the concept that Indian education always promoted dynamic dharmika thought processes.
Vidya (knowledge), pertaining to a single knowledge system (Brahmavidya etc) of the olden days gradually got absorbed into Vedanta system, a broader heading covering all such specialized topics. Gradually as studying vedas required more understanding, the study of Shad Vedangas, the subjects explaining the Vedas themselves gained more significance. Some of the Vedangas such as Shiksha, Vyakarana, Jyotisha, became highly specialized themselves and needed years of study. Presently Vidya (education) pertains to concept based knowledge systems of Shastras of all kinds. Starting with the [[Shad Vedangas (षड्वेदाङ्गानि)|Shad Vedangas]] and [[Shad Darshanas (षड्दर्शनानि)|Shad Darshanas]] many subjects diversified such as Ganita (Mathematics) and Nyaya (Logic). Ayurveda ramified into minor specialisations with Shastrachikitsa and Kayachikitsa, Rasayana shastra deals with chemistry,
We see in the cultures of ancient Greece and Europe that the ideal of personal culture loomed large in the educational system. Ancient Indian system, however, focused on the fact that an individual exists more for society than otherwise. From a very young age, a child is groomed into the socio-cultural fabric of the society with less emphasis on personal subjects such as music, painting and fine arts which were not taken as general education topics. Education was also not dominated by the military ideal hence it was not part of the mainstream topics.
Jesuitical education aimed at creating an army of faithful and resolute servants of the Catholic church, the goal of which was to establish missionaries and spread the religion. It may be clarified that Ancient Indian system of education colonially projected to be tainted with lines such as "Brahmanas controlled education", was never so narrow in aim, for the youth they trained often were not subservient unquestioning blind followers but often questioned the traditional beliefs and sought for the rationale in the system. Many new theories of Indian knowledge systems, and siddhantas of subjects stand proud witness to the concept that Indian education always promoted dynamic dharmika thought processes. Prabhakara Guru's school developed as he had different perspectives from those of Kumarila Bhatta's Mimamsa theories.
Ancients believed that education was primarily for piety and wisdom, virtue, manners and learning for a useful profession. The more recent education system of the Industrial Revolution age laid emphasis on building a skilled worker bringing in standardization and automation, creating a more robotic uniform workforce, working skillfully, justly in both public and private enterprises. However, our ancients gave more importance to personal capabilities and held that not all people are versatile in a particular skillset and thus differentiation of functions and training was enforced for different classes of people performing various duties.
Ancients believed that education was primarily for piety and wisdom, virtue, manners and learning for a useful profession. The more recent education system of the Industrial Revolution age laid emphasis on building a skilled worker bringing in standardization and automation, creating a more robotic uniform workforce, working skillfully, justly in both public and private enterprises. However, our ancients gave more importance to personal capabilities and held that not all people are versatile in a particular skillset and thus differentiation of functions and training was enforced for different classes of people performing various duties.