Symposium General Education (An Old and Rare Book)

Foreword It gives me very great pleasure in writing a small fore- word to a collection of papers on "General Education" written by some of our eminent educationists, who have studied this question and devoted some thought to it. What is General Education? In this country, it is only very recently that we have been talking about it. There are still many in this country who do not know what exactly is meant by General Education. I may be, there- fore, forgiven, if I reproduce here the definition of general Education from the Harvard University Report on "General Education in a Free Society". "The term General Education is somewhat vague and colourless; it does not mean some airy education in knowledge in general, nor does it mean education for all in the sense of universal education. It is used to indicate that part of a student's whole education which looks first of all to his life as a responsible human being and citizen; while the term special education indicates that part which looks to the student's competence in some occupation."

How far does our education at present in schools or universities impart that part of education which makes them responsible human beings and citizens? We have embarked today upon an experiment in a democratic form of government. The success of this experiment would largely depend upon how far our educational system is able to produce responsible human beings and citizens. As one connected with our education system both at secondary university level, I feel that so far we have failed to do so, nor have we made any conscious efforts with this end in view. There has been a steady increase in the number of students seeking admission to our universities during the last ten years. It has almost doubled. A very large majority of these students are intellectually immature and their average age is about sixteen. Four years after matriculation, they graduate and go out in the world to earn their living except those who go in for professional education. Those who go in for professional education, particularly, engineering or medical, spend two years more in Science Faculty and after that specialize in their special fields. Those who graduate in humanities are on the whole abysmally ignorant about natural or physical sciences. Those who graduate in sciences are equally ignorant of social sciences or philosophy, The world in which we are living today is much more complex than what it was fifty years ago. We are living today in the atomic age-the age of sputniks and space travel. Our education would be incomplete, if at some stage of our university education-whether we are students of humanities or science we did not have a proper idea of the nature of the physical world in which we are living.

The social problems of the world today have become increasingly complex. We are living today in an essentially industrial and technical age, which has given rise to many social problems which did not exist before.

In our own country, we are trying to recreate a new India with equal opportunities for all and our declared aim is to have a socialistic pattern of society. Every student must have some acquaintance with the social background of the com- munity in which he is living. The study of social sciences is, therefore, just as essential as some acquaintance with natural sciences. It is equally important for him to have some idea of the political organization in which he will have to play his part as a citizen.

This growing complexity of our world and its problems have compelled us to revise our thoughts on education, and we feel that the kind of education which obtained fifty years ago and which probably met with the requirements of those times now needs re-examination. A number of universities in the U.S.A. are devoting their attention to the problem of General Education. In England the new University of North Staffordshire is making a very interesting experiment. It has in the first year a course based upon a series of lectures designed to introduce the students to some of the methods and information necessary to an estimate of the inheritance, the problems and the achievements of modern Western European man. The course is divided into three Sections. The first Section deals with the physical background of the world we live in and of the structure of the universe and of the earth and of the evolution of life in these conditions. The second Section deals with the industrial age and its problems. It would contain short historical, sociological, political and economic analyses of modern society. The third Section would deal with the literary and artistic heritage of the western world and with the understanding and appreciation of music and arts.

It would not be possible to formulate a uniform programme of General Education in all the universities. The need, how- ever, for some kind of programme is necessary. What are the qualities or abilities we seek to emphasise in General Edu- cation? Apart from emphasising that kind of education which would enable him to function as a human being and as a good citizen in the society and the world in which he is living, it should enable him to think properly, to express himself well and to be able to discriminate among values.

I am, therefore, glad that Professor Menon is bringing out this collection of papers on this very important subject. It will serve its purpose, if it provokes some thinking on this very urgent problem. The growing indiscipline among the students, complete lack of responsibility and prevailing frustra- tion among them should-if nothing else-make it imperative for us to give a very serious consideration to it.

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