I feel obligated to tell you that this is not a to-the-point article, but rather a discussion around the subject of higher education. And a vague one at that! But we will talk of facts rather than notions, just not in a very direct way. So I suggest, if you wish to continue reading this, relax! Put your feet on the table, and hold on only to the scroll of your mouse or the down arrow key, whichever you prefer. Lose your ability to be repelled; but feel free to talk back at any time, even though I can’t hear you. What I am trying to say is, don’t just read the article, react to it, respond to it and make views about it as well as the subject of higher education. But stay calm and keep reading. And the louder you shout / laugh / curse or praise, the better. This song might help you achieve that state, so if you feel like it, put it on in the background.
Also, in the entire article, education refers to systematic acquisition of information, irrespective of the field, subject, language or the institution from which it is received. It could be music, dance, astrophysics, microbiology, bull riding, horse riding, cleaning houses, bulldozing, sheep herding, dog breeding or anything else you can think of. It could even be the art of stealing.
And lastly, I feel the need to define higher education, just so we are on the same page, after which I most definitely will tell you about the four dimensions of higher education. You will have to be a little patient. And if you get bored in between, you might want to think about how everything in life will eventually bore you. So you might want to learn to get over that feeling. Just saying! So here we go…
Higher Education: What, Why and How
WHAT: Education that one receives after the age of 16 is called further education, and the one that you get after the age of 18 and which goes on for at least three years, is what has conventionally been defined as higher education.
The information age that we claim to be living in, has through its unfoldings, made one thing very clear. The more information you have, the more you will be valued and higher is the probability that you will be treated with some respect and dignity. Now who does not want that?
WHY: As opposed to primary education, the purpose of which is to curtail your ability to think freely, by just the right amount, so as to ensure that you don’t become a deviant, while preserving enough to keep scope for innovation; higher education has a more specific purpose. It is supposed to make you a master of a specific field. An expert of sorts. And if your higher education fails to make you an expert, well, that will be most unfortunate. So, even if you are planning to learn scuba diving at Andaman islands with the hope to live a peaceful life forever, make sure that you learn something that even your teacher does not understand well. Because only then you will truly educated.
So higher education has much to do with your ability to becoming useful to society, such that your utility could be used and then repaid for in some form of exchangeable capital (cash / kind / favor etc.) around which you could peg your survival. So one might even call it becoming employable. Because we all work in an organisation now. And understand, that employability could be related to any field. It may be research, conducting surveys on the field, making designs, crunching numbers, dancing on the sales floor, conceptualising marketing campaigns, or it might even be about making an attempt to make what some call art. It might even be running an organisation. So, all said and done, higher education is you training to acquire some unique ability that helps you add value to society and hence give the society a reason to let you survive and bloom.
Why you need Higher Education:
Education is probably the easiest way to get these things and don’t be fooled by what you see in movies, most things that look cool on TV, will eat your life and happiness in the real world. But also don’t assume that education only refers to science and or reading heavy books like a geek. Higher education, as mentioned before is your attempt to learn something that no one else knows
The other and more important reason is that if you really want to do something, something more than just making memories, you would need to know things. You would need to know things the way no one has ever known before.
How:
