31 January 2011
It’s not about
the brand
As
we universalise education, we can learn from an oasis of excellence?
Decades ago Sri Aurobindo, the visionary genius, commenting on the
growing clamour for universalising education wrote that “there is
not quite so universal an agreement... on what education is, or
practically or ideally should be... We have in fact entered into an
atmosphere of great and disconcerting confusion.” If I had withheld
the source, the readers would have assumed this to be an astute
observation on the state of education today.
The founding fathers of St Stephen’s College were committed first
and foremost to the meaning and purpose of education, and only
thereafter to the size and scale of its practice. The bane of the
modern age, said Albert Einstein, is that means are pursued to the
neglect of goals. The mechanism, in other words, overrides the
meaning; the process eclipses the purpose. The founders of College
had a clear idea what a Stephanian — the end-product of education —
should be like — and, hence, how it should contribute to fostering a
sane and wholesome society. To them — in the late ’70s of the 19th
century, as indeed to Swami Vivekananda later — education was all
about man-making, the harmonious and holistic development of young
persons, nurturing them to be responsible citizens “alike of heaven
and of earth.”
At a time when this institution is completing 130 years of its tryst
with the destiny of India, it is with mixed feelings that I view the
ever-growing enthusiasm for its educational sanctuary. As against
the 12,000 applications for 400 seats in 2007, there were 28,000 in
2010. Perhaps we should be proud? Perhaps not!
It all depends on why young women and men are desperately keen to be
on College’s rolls. Is it because of the awesome Stephanian alumni
network, ensconced wherever it really matters to be, such that it
pays to bear St Stephens’ stamp, amounting to immanent
job-reservation in important places? Or is it the hype over the
disproportionate representation of Stephanians in Parliament and the
cabinet at the present time? Or, alternately, is it because the
vision and practice of education pursued here is life-enriching and
is, for that reason, to be preferred above all else?
Is St Stephen’s, in other words, an invitation to engage with the
soul of education, or is it a lurid label, a brandname, to be
coveted? This is a crucial question as it affects day-to-day
educational transactions; it will redefine our “heritage,” honouring
it or cheapening it, as the case may be.
Ironically, those who relate to an institution for its brand value
erode its brand value. The reason is simple. Brand value is alien to
the purpose of every great educational enterprise in history. This
would degrade one’s relationship with one’s alma mater into one-way
traffic, subverting character-building. It recasts students into
parasites, and prevents them from developing into responsible,
harmoniously developed citizens.
As St Stephen’s completes 130 years of service to the nation, there
is a need — indeed a duty — to be clear about the basics; for it is
not only by what we do that we serve the nation. It is, even more
fundamentally, by what we are.
To the founders, the teacher-student relationship was the soul of
education. The importance that the character-smiths of the
Stephanian tradition attached to this shaping principle of education
is obvious from even the layout of the campus: 90 per cent of the
infrastructure is residential! The academic and living spaces
comprise a seamless whole. Educational experiences cannot be
confined to classrooms. The campus, indeed the nation as a whole, is
the nursery for human formation.
Second, the total growth of the person, not competition and success,
is the raison d’être of learning. Joy is the hallmark of growth. Joy
morphs into gratitude and enduring bonding. The fact that this
indeed was the case in the Stephanian tradition is amply evident
from (a) the stature of the alumni, which does not have to be argued
(b) the deep bonding that they continue to experience with their
alma mater. You can be only as attached to your college as you have
grown on account of it. It is urgent to note this, as market forces,
gatecrashing the sanctuary of education, today sideline the holistic
growth and character-formation of students. Young women and men are
extremely talented. They achieve a great deal. But will they be a
blessing on the nation? And what will be the substance of their
commitment to realising the India of our dreams?
Finally, its founders envisaged St Stephen’s as a river of blessing,
spreading on the surface of this sub continent, kindling dignity and
hope, unity and brotherhood, competence and conscience, achievement
and greatness. The best come to St Stephen’s. We must send out the
very best. They must be imbued with a sense of duty to serve as
catalytic agents in the unfolding destiny of this great nation. St
Stephen’s is happy to welcome into its fold all who want to
participate in the educational renaissance of India, which has to be
as much a matter of the heart as it is of the head.
Ad Dei Gloriam
Rev. Dr. Valson Thampu
Principal
|
