Degree or humanity? Understand the message of real education from the education philosophy of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, why it is most important in today’s times.

In today’s modern lifestyle and competitive environment, the definition of education is limited to just scoring good marks, collecting big degrees and getting a job with a huge salary package. Everywhere from schools to higher educational institutions there is competition only for career and financial success. But can mere bookish knowledge and stacks of degrees make a person truly educated? When incidents like insensitivity, greed and intolerance by highly educated people come to light in the society, then it becomes natural to raise the basic question that what is the real purpose of education. The most accurate and eternal answer to this complex question is found in the education philosophy of former President of India, great philosopher and teacher Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.

Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan clearly believed that the purpose of education is not just to fill the mind with information, but to awaken the conscience of the individual. His famous view was that if education cannot make a person a better, compassionate and moral person, then that education is incomplete and useless. He always stressed that education should be such that it does not just teach a person to earn a living, but also teaches him how to live a life. Unless education includes human values, kindness, truth and tolerance, real development of the society is not possible. According to Radhakrishnan, an educated person is not one who has a bundle of degrees, but one who is sensitive towards the weaker section of the society and has the moral courage to stand up against injustice.

In today’s era of information revolution and Artificial Intelligence (AI), Radhakrishnan’s ideas have become more relevant than ever. Technical skills and professional proficiency are undoubtedly necessary for survival, but technology can be used properly only by a person who has human sensibilities alive within him. If a doctor has a high degree but does not have empathy towards the patient, or an engineer has knowledge but does not have a sense of responsibility towards the environment and society, then such education ultimately proves disastrous. Therefore the modern education system now has to become value-based rather than merely result-centric. We have to teach our coming generations that degrees can get you position, but only humanity can get you true respect and spiritual peace.