{"id":469,"date":"2013-07-13T01:28:12","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=469"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:28:12","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:28:12","slug":"31-the-human-mind-vol-17-the-hour-of-god-volume-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/17-the-hour-of-god-volume-17\/31-the-human-mind-vol-17-the-hour-of-god-volume-17","title":{"rendered":"-31_The Human Mind.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

\nA SYSTEM OF
\nNATIONAL EDUCATION<\/b>
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>
\nSome
\nPreliminary Ideas<\/font><\/i><\/span> 
\n<\/font>\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\nONE<\/span>
\nThe Human
\nMind<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n                       
\nT<\/b>HE true basis of education is the study of the human mind, infant,
\nadolescent and adult. Any system of education founded on theories of academic
\nperfection, which ignores the instrument of study, is more likely to hamper and
\nimpair intellectual growth than to produce a perfect and perfectly equipped mind. For
\nthe educationist has to do, not with dead material like the artist or sculptor,
\nbut with an infinitely subtle and sensitive organism. He cannot shape an
\neducational masterpiece out of human wood or stone; he has to work in the
\nelusive substance of mind and respect the limits imposed by the fragile human
\nbody.
\n   
\nThere can be no doubt that the current educational system of Europe is a great
\nadvance on many of the methods of antiquity, but its defects are also palpable.
\nIt is based on an insufficient knowledge of human psychology, and it is only
\nsafeguarded in Europe from disastrous results by the refusal of the ordinary
\nstudent to subject himself to the processes it involves, his habit of studying
\nonly so much as he must to avoid punishment or to pass an immediate test, his
\nresort to active habits and vigorous physical exercise. In India the
\ndisastrous effects of the system on body, mind and character are only too
\napparent. The first problem in a national system of education is to give an
\neducation as comprehensive as the European and more thorough, without the
\nevils of strain and cramming. This can only be done by studying the instruments
\nof knowledge and finding a system of teaching which shall be natural, easy and
\neffective. It is only by strengthening and sharpening these instruments to their
\nutmost capacity that they can be made effective for the increased work which
\nmodern conditions require. The muscles of the mind must be thoroughly trained by
\nsimple and easy means; then, and not till then, great feats of intellectual
\nstrength can be required of them.<\/span><\/p>\n


\nPage-203<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

   
\nThe first principle of true teaching is that nothing can be taught. The teacher
\nis not an instructor or task-master, he is a helper and a guide. His business is
\nto suggest and not to impose. He does not actually train the pupil’s mind, he
\nonly shows him how to perfect his instruments of knowledge and helps and encourages
\nhim in the process. He does not impart knowledge to him, he shows him how to
\nacquire knowledge for himself. He does not call forth the knowledge that is
\nwithin; he only shows him where it lies and how it can be habituated to rise to
\nthe surface. The distinction that reserves this principle for the teaching
\nof adolescent and adult minds and denies its application to the child, is a
\nconservative and unintelligent doctrine. Child or man, boy or girl, there is
\nonly one sound principle of good teaching. Difference of age only serves to
\ndiminish or increase the amount of help and guidance necessary; it does not
\nchange its nature.
\n   
\nThe second principle is that the mind has to be consulted in its own growth. The
\nidea of hammering the child into the shape desired by the parent or teacher is a
\nbarbarous and ignorant superstition. It is he himself who must be induced to
\nexpand in accordance with his own nature. There can be no greater error than for
\nthe parent to arrange beforehand that his son shall develop particular
\nqualities, capacities, ideas, virtues, or be prepared for a prearranged career.
\nTo force the nature to abandon its own dharma <\/i>is to do it permanent harm,
\nmutilate its growth and deface its perfection. It is a selfish tyranny over a
\nhuman soul and a wound to the nation, which loses the benefit of the best that a
\nman could have given it and is forced to accept instead some- thing imperfect
\nand artificial, second-rate, perfunctory and common. Every one has in him
\nsomething divine, something his own, a chance of perfection and strength in
\nhowever small a sphere which God offers him to take or refuse. The task is to
\nfind it, develop it and use it. The chief aim of education should be to help the
\ngrowing soul to draw out that in itself which is best and make it perfect for a
\nnoble use.
\n   
\nThe third principle of education is to work from the near to the far, from that
\nwhich is to that which shall be. The basis of a man’s nature is almost always,
\nin addition to his soul’s past, his heredity, his surroundings, his nationality,
\nhis country, the soil<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage-204<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nfrom which he draws sustenance, the air which he breathes, the sights, sounds,
\nhabits to which he is accustomed. They mould him not the less powerfully because
\ninsensibly, and from that then we must begin. We must not take up the nature by
\nthe roots from the earth in which it must grow or surround the mind with images
\nand ideas of a life which is alien to that in which it must physically move. If
\nanything has to be brought in from outside, it must be offered, not forced on
\nthe mind. A free and natural growth is the condition of genuine development.
\nThere are souls which naturally revolt from their surroundings and seem to
\nbelong to another age and clime. Let them be free to follow their bent; but the
\nmajority languish, become empty, become artificial, if artificially moulded into
\nan alien form. It is God’s arrangement that they should belong to a particular
\nnation, age, society, that they should be children of the past, possessors of
\nthe present, creators of the future. The past is our foundation, the present our
\nmaterial, the future our aim and summit. Each must have its due and natural
\nplace in a national system of education.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-205<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A SYSTEM OF NATIONAL EDUCATION Some Preliminary Ideas  ONE The Human Mind                         THE true basis of education is the study of the human mind,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-17-the-hour-of-god-volume-17","wpcat-9-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469","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=469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}