Essay on "The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows."
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As a child grows up he/she begins to develop ambitions. Whenever he/she looks at the mirror, he/she sees himself/herself in the persona of his/her particular ambition. Even if this starts as a childish pastime, as he/she grows up the vision acquires more realistic.
This is when education must step in. It is the responsibility of the educators to recognize each student for his/her aptitudes and attitudes. Thereafter it becomes the duty of these teachers to help the student realize his/her ambition. In short the educator opens a window through which the student can go out and achieve his ambition, in the place of a mirror which just reflected his innermost aspirations.
The primary purpose of education is to guide the student so that he/she finds out his/her area of interest. Only an inclusive curriculum could do it. An inclusive curriculum gives the required space for the development of each student’s individual interests. Education is no longer the rote learning of facts but experimenting with the existing knowledge to search out more facts.
It is this window that should be provided by education and educators. A student should be given complete freedom to explore the field in which he is interested. The task of a present educator or teacher is limited to just guiding the students through the above said window and the right paths beyond it to the actualization of their ambition. Education just provides them with a small window and the students must be encouraged to go beyond it and discover their true potential, instead of just peeping through the window and see only that which is pointed out to them by their teachers.
Every one of us, at some point or the other, have wondered at the purpose of our education. Especially when a whole load of school work is piled high! Also, many a time, we have been asked the question as to the purpose of our education. This question is especially posed to a young student. One prompt answer would be ‘to learn’, ‘to gain knowledge’. This would be the simplest and most spontaneous reply to such a question. The student would not even bother to understand the significance of it unless he or she consciously thinks about it.
The quote, ‘The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows’ has a beautiful message to convey. When you are well educated and have a purpose in life, the same mirror which would reflect your image back also shows a whole new ‘you’ who is more confident, knowledgeable and ready to take on any challenge that comes your way! Education opens windows of opportunities that are only limited by the extent of our own efforts! We can go on and on with what we learn, keep learning and make a difference in our life and that of our society too.
Education is not just learning but trying to relate the knowledge gained in real terms wherever possible. That is real education. Be it language, history, science, maths or any other subject. Many people are attracted by science as it has some relevance in real life. I feel languages are equally interesting if one takes the effort to understand the logic and nuances of word and sentence formation. History is learnt to know our past and learn some things from our mistakes, and failures and others from our achievements. Geography is learning about the world we live in. Maths is not just operations or using formula to calculate. Mathematicians have taken pains to give us our formulas and functions. The least one could do while learning, is to understand the concept and apply it logically. Maths teaches us logical thinking. So we do have a purpose in learning any subject. It is up to us to understand the relevance of such education and gain knowledge with a purpose while we go along.
Education next leads us to choose a career path and make a living. How far we take our education to learn and come to this stage depends entirely on us. It is in our hands to make a success of it. We still keep learning hands on while working. Working is another kind of exposure to education. One only grows through learning and improving. Thus, learning is an ongoing process.
World keeps changing and education is a wonderful tool that equips us to face such a world. An educated person could easily adapt to advancements and would know how to work those advancements into daily life. Education also teaches one to think critically. Critical thinking further helps people to understand the concepts of changing world and may even contribute to that change to collectively work towards a better society.
Education really leaves our mind open to new ideas and makes them more understandable. We look at everything with a fresh view and form our own ideas and views. This could only be done through gaining knowledge on those relevant subjects to understand them and then form opinions or views. These could be any type of subjects like our traditions, history, religion, or politics etc.
One more window of opportunity education leaves open for us is to venture abroad, to go and learn there. That opens an even wider scope for learning through newer technologies, science or any other subject we choose to learn. There are also universities that have student exchange programmes leading to cross culture/ cross country learning. Many of them have projects to promote mutual interests of their nation too.
There are absolutely no limitations to the scope for learning through education. It is only limited by the limitations of our thinking! This quote helps to look at oneself with a fresh perspective and improvement.
