The True End Of Education

The end of Wisdom is freedom.
The end of culture is perfection.
The end of knowledge is love.
The end of education is character.
--Sathya Sai Baba, the great contemporary world educator


Academic knowledge alone is of no great value. It may help one to earn a livelihood. But, education should go beyond the preparation for earning a living. It should prepare one for the challenges of life morally and spiritually. It is because human values are absent in "educated" persons that we find them steeped in anxiety and worry.
--Sathya Sai Baba, the great contemporary world educator

Throughout the 200-year history of public schooling, a widely scattered group of critics have pointed out that the education of young human beings should involve much more than simply molding them into future workers or citizens. Education should be understood as the art of cultivating the moral, emotional, physical, psychological and spiritual dimensions of the developing child. During the 1970s, an emerging body of literature in science, philosophy and cultural history provided an overarching concept to describe this way of understanding education -- a perspective known as holism. A holistic way of thinking seeks to encompass and integrate multiple layers of meaning and experience rather than defining human possibilities narrowly. Every child is more than a future employee; every person's intelligence and abilities are far more complex than his or her scores on standardized tests.

Holistic education is based on the premise that each person finds identity, meaning, and purpose in life through connections to the community, to the natural world, and to spiritual values such as compassion and peace. Holistic education aims to call forth from people an intrinsic reverence for life and a passionate love of learning. This is done, not through an academic "curriculum" that condenses the world into instructional packages, but through direct engagement with the environment.

Holistic education nurtures a sense of wonder. there are many paths of learning and the holistic educator values them all; what is appropriate for some children and adults, in some situations, in some historical and social contexts, may not be best for others. The art of holistic education lies in its responsiveness to the diverse learning styles and needs of evolving human beings.


Education teaches us how to live, not how to earn a living. It ought to guide and prepare a child to use to the full all the faculties that Nature has given him, Physical, mental and spiritual. Holistic education embodies the development of the spiritual, mental, and physical entities. So many people only want to be educated so that they can command a higher salary in the labour market, or that they may be a little better than their neighbours. Education for those ends will bring no happiness; at best, it will brings a sense of superiority which only causes conflict with others. Education which seeks to develop to the full the faculties of mankind brings with it countless interests and opens up innumberable avenues of adventure.

First and earliest comes physical education. Training in gymnastics and games gives a man full control of his muscles, enables him to act swiftly and neatly, and tones up all parts of his body so that it is a good servant to his brain. A well-trained body gives no trouble. The man who owns it has good health and an amount of strength and endurance which gives him power to do all the adventurous thigs he wishes to do. Explorers, mountain-climbers, sailors and athletes of all kinds owe the successes of their lives to a good physical education. And even the ordinary man, who has had the opportunity to do much in the way of pioneering, can taste the joy of life to the full when he strides out through the countryside, exulting in the sense of power which physical education gives him.

Mental education has even more treasures to offer. A man who has studied history, literature and art has access to many beauties that are a closed book to his less fortunate brethren. He has the opportunity to study the lives of great men, and to read the works and see the pictures which have been inspired by the lofties thoughts that men have had through the ages. His training in finding out the best from among all that has been done and thought in the past will enable him to obtain the greatest possible satisfaction out of all that is good and beautiful in the arts.

If his education takes a scientific turn, he has all the wonders of the universe laid out before him. Much has been discovered by science of the way in which the world works. That is wonderful enough, but there is still a great deal more to discover, and a well-educated scientist has the possibility of winning a way through to a fuller understanding of the phenomena that make up our world. Keats has written of the joy of "some watcher of the skies, when a new planet swims into his ken:. The delight of discovery must indeed be one which it would be hard to equal.

Finally, there is a spiritual education. This is hard to teach and indeed the only true teacher of it is Life itself. It teaches its pupils to see that of evil, good can be gained by those who have the will and the courage to look for it. It teaches that all the great things of the world have been found by those who were willing to face pain and hardship in the pursuit of truth. This is the most valuable of all forms of education, because it makes character. Those who look upon life as an adventure and meet all its diversites with joy, will have the best education it is possible to procure.

In 'Adults Learning', Jenny Rogers the author describes this process of experiential learning :
“All learning is best done through active involvement. Imagine that you are a non driver and that you want to learn how to drive. There are three methods open to you: to go to a lecture where a tutor tells you how to do it, to watch a skilled driver at work, or to practice in a real car with a teacher at your side. Would you have any hesitation about which method to choose? What is true for driving, a 'sensory motor skill' is equally true of every other kind of learning, whether it is cognitive or behavioural. The only effective way is to learn by doing”.

By using real-life experiences, current events, the dramatic arts and other lively sources of knowledge in place of textbook information, teachers can kindle the love of learning. By encouraging reflection and questioning rather than passive memorization of "facts," teachers keep alive the "flame of intelligence" that is so much more than abstract problem-solving skill. By accommodating differences and refusing to label children, for example, as "learning disabled" or "hyperactive," teachers bring out the unique gifts contained within each child's spirit.

Because of these facts, most schools or colleges have special internship programs or Internship Abroad for their students. It is possible to find interns all over the world and for companies worldwide to advert their internships. An internship is a short-time opportunity, usually less than a year, where the interns are able to gain experience in a career field that interests them. The work may be part or full time and occurs during the summer or the academic semester. The interns may be unpaid or receive an hourly wage, salary or stipend. The work differs widely from basic administrative activities to duties with more responsibility.

Now, it is predominantly popular culture (the media, music) and schools from which young people can learn about what it means to be human. But culture has it own agenda (not the welfare of children), and schools were not designed to replace extended families, communities, and religions. They were designed to prepare people for the world of work; to give them the skill sets that would help them up the ladder of material success.