Our World: MISSING, by Popular Demand: EDUCATION
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Published: Friday, 25 March 2011 02:10
MISSING, by Popular Demand: EDUCATION
Susan Ockerse – USA
Albert Schweitzer mentioned seven rights for every human being (food, water, shelter, etc.) The seventh was education. Every human being needs education as much as the other six essential rights. Education is as important as any other life sustaining need.
What is education? Each person on the planet probably has his own answer to that question. Does education mean the same as amassing knowledge? Aristotle and Plato differ fundamentally about that. Aristotle maintained that we come into this world an empty vessel and must be filled with knowledge. Plato, on the other hand, maintained that we come with a vast amount of knowledge that just has to be remembered. After all, the word education means to draw out. Theosophists may favor Plato because he was an initiate and must know, but they also understand the principle of reincarnation, that we carry with us the faculties we have acquired from former lives. Through education the individual knows who he is, why he is, and what he has to do. He sees his place in the great scheme of things, the unfolding of life in all its complexity and ecosystems. He realizes that one voice can make a difference, but many united can make all the difference in the world. All this drawing out does not mean that new advances in math, science, technology, and the arts are not provided. The difference is the way in which the teachers present this information. The focus is on the individual. Unfortunately, Theosophists are in the minority. In the United States we have Montessori, Krishnamurti, and Steiner (Waldorf) education schools, to mention three, but compared to the vast number of the population, these schools reach very few. We can all hope that the students who receive Plato’s idea of education will be the ones to make those positive differences. Good education can only provide the foundation for the future, prepare fertile ground for the seeds to grow. As Krishnamurti said, all change must start with the individual.
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