Thiruvalluvar on EDUCATION

Thiruvalluvar on Education.

What is education ?

It is not mere stuffing knowledge into one's mind . According to Plato, it is harmonious development. Education is the birth right of every human being. Thiruvalluvar gives a guide line, he says both Mathematics ( numbers :எண் ) and humanities (Letters :எழுத்து ) should be studied. Numbers include all science groups, that is the reason why mathematics is called the queen of sciences.

Humanities include subjects like language, history , logic, management, commerce ,etc. 

Modern educationists had made both numbers and letters compulsory till the secondary level of the schooling. Till SSLC, both numbers and letters play an important role in opening the centers and faculties of the brain. They develop the mental activities like understanding, comparing, correlating, inferring , etc.They are like two keys of a bank locker, together they should be operated. It is the professional obligation of every teacher to tap and train the various faculties of the students by using right methodologies.

It is a wonder 2000 years ago, Thiruvalluvar speaks of both science of numbers and humanities and insists that  both should be considered two eyes of an individual. Mathematics is a science of mental activities, it is the gym of mind, through transfer of training, it will help to learn all other subjects easily. A mathematics graduate can get any number of degrees in other subjects. In technical educations the  mathematics is playing a mighty role. Along with the  learning of mathematics, logical thinking is automatically developed. Mathematical models are helpful to solve the  challenging problems of life.

Thiruvalluvar says, one should consider mathematics as one eye and humanities as another eye.

எண் என்ப ஏனை எழுத்து என்ப இவ்விரண்டும்

கண் என்ப வாழும் உயிர்க்கு (392)

 In ancient days Gurukula education was imparted to the children after 6 years of age, it was residential schooling, Guru or Acharya would take care of the harmonious development of a child. A Child was separated from the family like  a baby elephant  separated forcefully from its mother after a few years. It is done for it's individual development, it is a must.

Higher education was imparted in Universities like Nalanda in north and Thirupathiripuliyur in south. There were  libraries with living books. There were cells ( small rooms ), in each cell a monk ( professor ) who is eminent in one particular subject would silently sit and await for the students. Students used to go near the living books and get their doubts cleared. Lord Buddha reportedly visited Nalanda University in his life time. When Chinese scholar Yuanzang visited in seventh century AD, there were 10,000 students studying in Nalanda University.

Before British , education was also imparted in India in Mosques, that is the reason why, in Tamil, a mosque is  called  பள்ளிவாசல்

During British rule,  Christian Missionaries imparted qualitative education. 'Convent school' means ,  " a school run for girls by nuns."
The  contribution of  the 'Convent schools' for the education of the women in India cannot be ignored.

A learned person becomes polished and sharp. His eyes start emitting unseen light of knowledge and face becomes bright. In fact one cannot speak a lie seeing the eyes of an educated person. For uneducated,  the eyes are mere biological organ. Thiruvalluvar says-

Only those who are educated have eyes in the face,

Others ( uneducated ) have only sores in the face. 

sore= wound = புண்

கண்ணுடையார் என்பவர் கற்றோர் முகத்தில் இரண்டு

புண்ணுடையார் கல்லாதவர்

Thiruvalluvar says, one should remain humbled in front of an educated to  learn Once I was travelling in Lalbag Express from Chennai to Bangalore, it was  6 hours travel, I was reading Stephen Hawking book, two Chennai IIT students saw it and started talking to me. They had heard of Hawking popular book, " A brief history of Time ", they wanted to know about it. Their approach was polite and modest which impressed me, I started explaining Hawking's findings along with Einstein's Relativity Theory , I quoted Carol Sagan and Penrose theories. They were so receptive, no vendors and hawkers could disturb us. They remained so humble, I could  not stop explaining from cosmology to Relativity, The train reached Bangalore within no time. 

Thiruvalluvar says,

Like a poor man standing humble in front of a rich,

One should remain modest  in front of an educated to learn,

Others who have not humbled to learn are considered lowest.

உடையார்முன் இல்லார்போல் எகற்றும் கற்றார்

கடையரே கல்லாதவர் . (395 )

Learning is a life long process, I had seen in Berekley University (US ) many retired  men and women attending classes and getting formal education. For informal education listening is the best tool. I had travelled 100 miles to listen Swamy Chinmayanda's discourses on Bhaved gita. When Noble laureate Dr. Amirtya  Sen gave a lecture in  Milpitas, California, I attended and learnt so much on Justice centering Indian Democracy.The 'question and answer' session was so educative , it prolonged for two hours. My question was," Define Justice in your words" His answer was, " Justice is absence of women suppression, absence of slavery, absence of human starvation ,...." 

An Italian proverb says, " from listening comes wisdom ". A  Greek Stoic Philosopher (55 Ad -135 AD) had said, " Nature gave us one tongue and two ears so that we could hear twice as much we speak ".

Thiruvalluvar says, 
Among all the assets, learning through listening is the top most.
(செல்வத்துள் செல்வம் செவிச்செல்வம், அச்செல்வம் செல்வத்துள் எல்லாம் தலை)

Regarding qualitative learning, Thiruvalluvar  says,

One should learn thoroughly without faults and 

remain firmly according to the learning.

கற்க கசடறக் கற்பவை கற்றபின்

நிற்க அதற்கு தக. (391)

(குறை இல்லாமல் கற்க வேண்டும்,பின்பு அதன்படி நடக்க வேண்டும்.)

In this , Thiruvalluvar insists qualitative education, a half baked doctor will be more harmful to the society than a quack. A teacher poor in content will ruin the entire  career of the students.

In 1958, when I met Tamil Scholar Kundrakudi Adikalar( குன்றக்குடி அடிகளார்)

he gave a different interpretation to the above kural, he said,

" One should learn to eradicate the evils (கசடற) in the mind,

Once it is done,  should stand firm without allowing the evils to re- enter."

உள்ளத்தில் இருக்கும் குறைகள் ஒழிய கற்க வேண்டும்,

பின்பு அதன் வழி  குறைகள் இல்லாமல் )நிற்க வேண்டு

ம்.

Finally Thiruvalluvar  asks a question, 

" A learned person can command respect where ever he goes and convert the place into  his land,
if it is the case , how is it that a person can remain  without learning  till his death ?"  ( 397) 

யாதானும் நாடு ஆமால்/ ஊர் ஆமால்/ என் ஒருவன்/
சாம் துணையும் கல்லாதவாறு. ( 397)

In simple words, if an educated person goes to any place , by virtue of his education,  he can considered any place as his land.That is the greatness of education.Kowing this greatness, how is it , some people are not coming forward to learn till their death ?
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