Eastern and Western education

by Prof. Kirthi Tennakone
ktenna@yahoo.co.uk

We, easterners value education, earn it for prestige, gain employment and continue our old traditions. Westerners, though they have similar aspirations are aroused by education, use it for reasoning and radically seek new avenues for intellectual and material advancement.

India was the first country to institutionalise formal education open to the public. Students from Asia, Persia and Greece visited Taxila (600–540 BCE) to learn art, literature, ethics, philosophy, medicine and martial arts. We have heard the story of the Ahimsaka of Savatthi, later named Angulimala, the son of the chief minister of the King of Kosala, who studied in Taxila and strictly and blindly followed his teacher’s instructions until the Buddha intervened.

Around the same time, Thales (624-545 BC), the son of a merchant in Mellitus, Greece, went to Kemet; an ancient name for Egypt, meaning the land of dark-skinned people and pursued studies in a monastery. Then, Kemet in the African continent was culturally most advanced; the temples served as focal points of learning. Priests taught religion, astrology, medicine and mathematics. Later, Thales returned home and inspired by what he learned, he pondered deviating radically from the views of his teachers. He argued natural phenomena we observe cannot be the works of gods as assumed but allow rational explanation because of their interconnectedness.

Thales correctly predicted a solar eclipse, deduced geometrical theorems logically, proposed a physical theory of matter, told how to divert a river to permit an army to cross a border and invented machinery.

Thales was poor because he abandoned his inherited business for the sake of philosophy. To prove that a philosopher, because of his wisdom, could earn, if so wished, he purchased almost all olive oil presses in Mellitus for cheap months ahead of harvesting time, knowing the weather had been conducive to a superior yield. On the arrival of harvest season, the demand for olive presses escalated unprecedentedly. Thales sold gadgets he purchased, keeping a handsome profit!

Thales of Mellitus, credited as the founding father of Western philosophy and therefore Western education as well, was also the first scientist and deductive mathematician. He was an engineer and an entrepreneur. Thales believed humans should lead righteous life, not hurt others, and abide by logic and reason.

What motivated Thales to think differently? While in Egypt, Thales engaged in inquiries customarily outside the domain of spiritual indoctrination. He estimated the heights of pyramids by measuring the dimensions of their shadows. His teachers in Egypt, though conservative, seem to have encouraged original and new adventures. The Egyptians possessed a good empirical knowledge of geometry and mathematical properties of geometrical figures attributed to a divine plan. Presumably, Thales, having deduced one geometrical property as a consequence of another, realized the interconnectedness of natural phenomena – a harmony or plan that did not require godly intervention.

All subsequent Greek philosophers including Pythagoras, Anaximander, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle were directly or indirectly influenced by Thales. Aristotle’s monumental work initialed modern science in leaping steps by Galileo, Newton, Maxwell, Darwin, Einstein and other stalwarts. The significance of these major scientific breakthroughs exceeds political revolutions, as the American theoretical physicist Richard Feynman said. “From a long view of the history of mankind, seen from, say, ten thousand years from now, there can be little doubt that the most significant event of the 19th century will be judged as Maxwell’s discovery of the laws of electrodynamics. The American Civil War will pale into provincial insignificance in comparison with this important scientific event of the same decade.”

Today, education in Sri Lanka and elsewhere in the East follows the Western pattern in terms of curricula, infrastructure and administrative procedures, making allowances for individual economic and cultural constraints. However, the disparity in attitude remains, accounting for weakness and delay in achieving know-how comparable to the West. Irrational and occult thinking descending from the past of no value meaning, or truth often placed on a higher pedestal. Science is pursued because of its utilitarian worth rather than intellectual enlightenment. Students master everything in the assigned syllabus to excel in examinations, endlessly repeating similar exercises to gain practice. Many earn distinctions, medals and some even claim their IQs exceed Einstein’s. Unfortunately, with all these celebrated credentials, there is not much evidence for groundbreaking original discoveries, creative works and innovations or entrepreneurship on par with the West.

In our country, the education system also separates young people–– those not excelled in examinations or followed arts and humanities in the universities––into two subsets assumed to be of an inferior category. They feel obsessed to engage in vocational studies or trade considering such engagements second class. Others struggle to find employment or take up ideologies and waste their potential. Partly, teachers in schools and universities are to be blamed; years earlier, they were students of the first privileged category but did not change their conservative mindset after acquiring further qualifications. They should be the agitators of curriculum reforms, particularly the introduction of mathematics and science to the arts stream and classics to those who do science and mathematics-a serious deficiency.

During the first half of the 19th century in England, classics plus mathematics were the epitome of affordable education. Both subjects greatly stimulated the mind, but less costly as laboratory work was not involved. Later, interest in the two areas faded as more students moved to Chemistry, life sciences and medicine, rigorous mathematics meant for physics and engineering students. The British colonies followed the same idea to some extent, but subsequently, Sri Lanka omitted mathematics from the arts stream.

At the beginning of this year, the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, said all students in his country would have to study mathematics in some form until the age of 18 years. Critics pointed out this should not be at the sacrifice of areas inculcating compassion, emotional intelligence and ability to build relationships with others. Some education pundits believe classics and history are outdated, maybe but those not exposed to these disciplines have brains that cannot be updated.

Generally, the accomplished student in the East, rigidly follows the instruction of the teacher, masters texts, excels in exam performance and specializes in a narrow theme, but expresses shyness to enter new domains or out-of-the-box thinking. They rarely imagine building castles in the air and strive to turn them into realities. It is not the fault of the student, an aspect of the educational culture and the indifference of the teachers.

Eastern education has virtues not found in the Western system, which we have not exploited. Hindu saints, Buddha and Confucius emphasised ethics as an integral component of upbringing and education. Swami Vivekananda said the purpose of education should be to endow a man, with a super head, heart and hand. This ideal was inherent in Buddha’s teachings. No other religion encouraged free inquiry. Later, the Buddhist establishment seemed to have turned the other way around perpetuating indoctrination and ritualism – slanting society towards incoherency and irrationality. The change adversely influenced our thinking, affecting education.

We also have irrationalities in our views about educational policies. Free education in Sri Lanka has paid its dividends and needs to be continued within our economic limitations. Equally important would be the provision of opportunities for everyone who aspires to learn what he or she desires. Furthermore, examination-based filtering of students eliminates a good portion of the very best. Free education cannot be extended to meet the above issues because modern higher education is costly Economists and educators must enlighten the public on the issue independently of politics.

Our education system is not thoughtfully oriented to realise the folly of pride, myth, superstitions, ideologies, economic misapprehension and the danger of indoctrination. This is why educational reforms are necessary to change attitudes. Teaching in schools and universities and the learning environment in these institutions play a crucial role in fostering the art of education. The classroom or lecture theater should not only be a place to introduce technicalities but also a forum for the expression of stimulating words and discussion. Education does not mean the acquisition skills alone!

It amazes me that association with priests in an Egyptian monastery nearly 3000 years ago motivated the son of a merchant (Thales) in Mellitus, Greece, to open the age of reason and the path to modern education – an opportunity we Easterners missed and not fully appreciated yet.

My late father, Tennakone Piyatillke, told me during my school days that Thales was the most wonderful man.