{"id":4207,"date":"2013-07-13T01:54:10","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4207"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:54:10","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:54:10","slug":"03-education-vol-12-on-education-volume-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/02-works-of-the-mother\/01-cwmce\/12-on-education-volume-12\/03-education-vol-12-on-education-volume-12","title":{"rendered":"-03_Education.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\n <\/span><\/i>Education <\/span><\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\nT<\/span>he education of a human being should begin at birth and continue
\nthroughout his life.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Indeed,
\nif we want this education to have its maximum result, it should begin even
\nbefore birth; in this case it is the mother herself who proceeds with this
\neducation by means of a twofold action: first, upon herself for her own
\nimprovement, and secondly, upon the child whom she is forming physically. For
\nit is certain that the nature of the child to be born depends very much upon
\nthe mother who forms it, upon her aspiration and will as well as upon the
\nmaterial surroundings in which she lives. To see that her thoughts are always
\nbeautiful and pure, her feelings always noble and fine, her material
\nsurroundings as harmonious as possible and full of a great simplicity this is
\nthe part of education which should apply to the mother herself. And if she has
\nin addition a conscious and definite will to form the child according to the
\nhighest ideal she can conceive, then the very best conditions will be realised so
\nthat the child can come into the world with his utmost potentialities. How many
\ndifficult efforts and useless complications would be avoided in this way! <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Education
\nto be complete must have five principal aspects corresponding to the five
\nprincipal activities of the human being: the physical, the vital, the mental,
\nthe psychic and the spiritual. Usually, these phases of education follow
\nchronologically the growth of the individual; this, however, does not mean that
\none of them should replace another, but that all must continue, completing one
\nanother until the end of his life. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

We
\npropose to study these five aspects of education one by one and also their
\ninterrelationships. But before we enter into the details of the subject, I wish
\nto make a recommendation to parents. Most parents, for various reasons, give
\nvery little thought to the true education which should be imparted to children.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 9<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

When they have brought a child into the
\nworld, provided him with food, satisfied his various material needs and looked
\nafter his health more or less carefully, they think they have fully discharged
\ntheir duty. Later on, they will send him to school and hand over to the
\nteachers the responsibility for his education. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There are
\nother parents who know that their children must be educated and who try to do
\nwhat they can. But very few, even among those who are most serious and sincere,
\nknow that the first thing to do, in order to be able to educate a child, is to
\neducate oneself, to become conscious and master of oneself so that one never
\nsets a bad example to one’s child. For it is above all through example that
\neducation becomes effective. To speak good words and to give wise advice to a
\nchild has very little effect if one does not oneself give him an example of what
\none teaches. Sincerity, honesty, straightforwardness, courage,
\ndisinterestedness, unselfishness, patience, endurance, perseverance, peace,
\ncalm, self-control are all things that are taught infinitely better by example
\nthan by beautiful speeches. Parents, have a high ideal and always act in
\naccordance with it and you will see that little by little your child will
\nreflect this ideal in himself and spontaneously manifest the qualities you
\nwould like to see expressed in his nature. Quite naturally a child has respect
\nand admiration for his parents; unless they are quite unworthy, they will
\nalways appear to their child as demigods whom he will try to imitate as best he
\ncan. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

With very
\nfew exceptions, parents are not aware of the disastrous influence that their own
\ndefects, impulses, weaknesses and lack of self-control have on their children.
\nIf you wish to be respected by a child, have respect for yourself and be worthy
\nof respect at every moment. Never be authoritarian, despotic, impatient or
\nill-tempered. When your child asks you a question, do not give him a stupid or
\nsilly answer under the pretext that he cannot understand you. You can always
\nmake yourself understood if you take enough trouble; and in spite of the
\npopular saying that it is not always good to tell the truth, I affirm<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 10<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

that it is always good to tell the truth, but
\nthat the art consists in telling it in such a way as to make it accessible to
\nthe mind of the hearer. In early life, until he is twelve or fourteen, the
\nchild’s mind is hardly open to abstract notions and general ideas. And yet you
\ncan train it to understand these things by using concrete images, symbols or
\nparables. Up to quite an advanced age and for some who mentally always remain
\nchildren, a narrative, a story, a tale well told teach much more than any
\nnumber of theoretical explanations. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Another
\npitfall to avoid: do not scold your child without good reason and only when it
\nis quite indispensable. A child who is too often scolded gets hardened to
\nrebuke and no longer attaches much importance to words or severity of tone. And
\nabove all, take good care never to scold him for a fault which you yourself
\ncommit. Children are very keen and clear-sighted observers; they soon find out
\nyour weaknesses and note them without pity. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>When a child has done something wrong, see
\nthat he confesses it to you spontaneously and frankly; and when he has
\nconfessed, with kindness and affection make him understand what was wrong in
\nhis movement so that he will not repeat it, but never scold him; a fault
\nconfessed must always be forgiven. You should not allow any fear to come
\nbetween you and your child; fear is a pernicious means of education: it
\ninvariably gives birth to deceit and lying. Only a discerning affection that is
\nfirm yet gentle and an adequate practical knowledge will create the bonds of
\ntrust that are indispensable for you to be able to educate your child
\neffectively. And do not forget that you have to control yourself constantly in
\norder to be equal to your task and truly fulfil the duty which you owe your
\nchild by the mere fact of having brought him into the world. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n


\n
\n\u00a0<\/font><\/span><\/i>Bulletin<\/span><\/i>, February 1951 <\/span><\/font> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 11<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

 Education   The education of a human being should begin at birth and continue throughout his life.\u00a0 Indeed, if we want this education to have…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-12-on-education-volume-12","wpcat-118-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4207\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}