NASCA Learning Centre
“We often discuss what is a good education? I feel, that when it comes to education, we talk about, or write about only things to do with the intellect.
Education, or grooming any person, is not about the head or the 3 R’s (Reading, Writing, ‘Rithmetic). Those are certainly important but aren’t the only things. So, I came up with this alternative to the 3 R’s, which are the 3 H’s.
Yes, a child should have a bright ‘Head’, which contains all the Algebra, the Calculus, the Physics, and everything. But along with that, you should have skilled ‘Hands’, so that you can do things on your own, and not have to depend on your mother or father.
Today’s children are very good at their Maths, but depend on their mothers to tie their shoe-laces! What kind of miserable people they would be if left alone in a jungle?! With all their cleverness in Physics or Chemistry, if left alone in nature, they’d turn into failures in minutes!
These academic toppers wouldn’t know what to do, and hence fail, because they are only taught to work with the head. They are not trained in how to survive … how to take care of themselves or others, or how to care for nature, grow their own food and so on.
What good are your distinction marks and medals, if you can’t live even a day in the forest?
Today, the world is full of problems because people with bright heads, but unskilled hands and closed hearts exist. Everyone is selfishly bright and thinks only for themselves. Then we’re surprised at what is happening around us.
Hence, the third H is the ‘Heart’. It is good to have brains, but a clever head and very skilled hands are also what it takes to become a pick-pocket or a Bin Laden. Yet, if you have a good heart, you will be guaranteed that your head and hands will work towards helping people, rather than harming them.
Sonam Wangchuk spoke with Suhana Bhatia
(Republished with permission: This story was first published in www.indiapages.com)
