Education Is Not Just Filling Of A Pail But Lighting Of A Fire

 

Education Is Not Just Filling Of A Pail But Lighting Of A Fire 

 

“Give me a fish, I will eat it.

Teach me to fish, I will eat for the rest of my life.”

Education is not mere accumulation of facts and figures, as if the student’s brain is a passive bucket into which water is to be pumped. Facts are to cohered and coordinated so that the mind should learn to discern and to discriminate, to think and to infer. 

 

A very pleasant greeting to honourable judges, respectable audience, worthy teachers and my dear fellow mates. Today I, Nita of Jindal Modern School, stand before you to share my thoughts on the quote by William Butler Yeats, “Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire.”

 

The quickest way to put out the fire and passion for learning is to douse it with water through the seemingly necessary filling of the pail. Sit a boy down with the list of dates and important events, and instruct him to memorize them for the test the next day. You will create a boy who thinks history is boring but if you put a historical adventure in his hands he will be sprouting the information with excitement and will have made memories and gained knowledge that will remain with him for a lifetime.

 

How many of you here think that education is job-oriented? I know many of us think that way. This is the basis of educational planning in India that has been changing the formal structure of education in order to make school education self-sufficient. But this is not the real purpose of education. Can anybody tell me what the real aim of education is? I will tell you, the real objective of education lies in disciplining reasoning and emotions. It is to develop critical minds.

 

Today, there is so much pressure placed on a child from an early age regarding his education as parents want their children to excel in their schools but what methods of learning do we use in order to achieve these results?

 

Lessons which are happily taught are easily learnt. Children learn best when they have fun. The best possible learning environment and toy tools allow the child to enjoy learning and they feel empowered to learn. Use this as a weapon and give them as much as they can do. Praise them with their efforts and they will want to do better and in turn they will succeed. That fire has been lit and educators can keep on igniting that fire in the children.

 

Isn’t it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive. It's such an interesting world. It wouldn't be half so interesting if we knew all about everything, would it?  There would be no scope for the imagination then would there? And there would be no fire to be lit?

 

Friends in conclusion, I would like to say that: 

“The aim of education should be to convert the mind into a living fountain and not a reservoir. That which is filled by merely pumping in will be emptied by pumping out. 

 

Duryodhana said, “I know what is righteous, but I do not want to follow it. I know what is wrong or evil, but I can't abstain from it.”

Education must teach us to become self-reliant & righteous men.

 

Thank you..