Monday, December 31, 2007

"Moral Education: A Practical Approach" by Professor K.Rama Rao

Opinions & Reviews:

This book on what, why and how of moral education is a product of the author's practical experience as a teacher of a moral education course meant for B.Ed.students. It contains... the rich practical observations of an experienced and dedicated teacher. Its readability is an additional reason, why it should find a place on the shelf of every library.
(Prabuddha Bharata, Vol.93, May 1988)

The author has suggested five broad approaches for imparting moral education - The Direct, the Integrated, the Incidental, the Activity and the Demonstration Approach. He has suggested two techniques under the Direct Approach. The first one is based on 'Reasoning' and the second on 'Discovery'. Both these have been illustrated by several examples... Prof.Rama Rao has stressed the importance of a comparative study of religions....The work fulfils a long-felt need in the methodology of Moral and Spiritual Education.
(The Indian Express, Dec.2, 1986)

The decline of moral values in modern day India, the cynicism with which virtues are talked about and the way society treats its super-rich even when it knows, that the money is ill-gotten all contrast sharply with the reputation for integrity and honesty, we the people of India, had in olden days.. can moral education in our schools help eradicate the malaise? Shri Rama Rao attempts to answer the question in this book.
(Bhavan's Journal, Vol.33, No.24, July 16-31, 1987)

This book is not a bundle of dry precepts but a scholarly exposition of the necessity for moral education for children. It has in it effective means of transforming them. It contains the meaning, objectives, curriculum for different age-groups in the subject, and teaching-learning techniques. The author deserves to be congratulated.
(Taranga, June 28, 1992).

"Moral Education: A Practical Approach"
by Professor K.Rama Rao
Published by Ramakrishna Institute of Moral and Spiritual Education(RIMSE), Mysore-570020
pp.377
Price: Rs.60/-

Sunday, December 30, 2007

Violence, Virtues, Values and Children : Where did we go wrong?

Letter-1:
The articles "Where did we go wrong?" and "Learning to kill for fun" (December 23, 2007, The Hindu) were timely and thought-provoking. When the Virginia Tech tragedy occurred, many of us were sure that such incidents would not occur in India. But we were wrong. It is difficult to restrict the use of guns only to law enforcers and to censor video games before allowing them to be sold in India. Also the increased popularity of shooting as a major sport in India has led to an increase in the sale of guns. Therefore the government should ban shooting as a sport. - A.Ibrahim, N.Parur, Kerala

Letter-2:
The incidents of violence among children are increasing sometimes with fatal consequences. This is a direct result of changing values of society and the excess of violence being portrayed on TV. Further, the older generation is also responsible as they want instant success and do not hesitate to resort to violence. From childhood, a child is exposed to violence and so he grows up to believe that there is nothing wrong in violence. - Mahesh Kumar, New Delhi

Letter-3:
Anjali Gopalan has rightly pointed out that it is the new generation of well-to-do parents who have no time to see how their children are growing up that is responsible for socially deviant behaviour. This shocking incident should serve as an eye-opener. Also, parents' caring attitude will also go a long way in helping shape the child's future. -
K.R.Srinivasan, Hyderabad

Letter-4:
The questions raised by Anjali Gopalan and Mini Krishnan should be assimilated by parents. The visual media has a negative influence on young minds since many films and serials highlight violence and vengeance. As civilization advances, virtues and values seem to take a backseat. - Radhika Kannan, Karaikudi

Letter-5:
Two years ago, we traveled from Gurgaon to Jaipur by train. A large group of students with three teachers from an elite Gurgaon school were in our coach. The children occupied seats reserved for others and refused to vacate them. They were noisy and threw wrappers and empty bottles. When told to put their waste in the bin, they rudely replied that the government had employed sweepers for the purpose. The teachers kept mum throughout. These are students of a school that charges a six-figure fee; every student had a laptop. But apparently, they were not taught respect for law, civic sense or the respect and tolerance necessary to live in a community. - Dr.D.M.Mohunta, by e-mail.

Letter-6:
Modern parents do their best to insulate their children from poverty and the realities of life. They provide their children with money but do not teach them values. They choose the best schools for their children to score some brownie points in a kitty party or cocktail circuits. Aggression is eulogised, and encouraged. A nation such as ours cannot afford to wish away poverty. We need to realise that we are moving from deprivation to sufficiency not to prosperity. Imbalance needs to be addressed, if not our children will probably live in a socially volatile setting which will affect the coming generations. -
Benedict Gnaniah, Chennai

Letter-7:
Anajali Goplan rightly emphasised the need of cultivating social values in children. Children are today witness to violence at home, alcoholism, in movies, television and news. Our society is filled with caste, religious and political antagonism. It is time to rebuild our social values and moral principles. We have to inculcate virtues like compassion, goodwill and cooperation in the minds of young children. - S.V.K.Chandran, Thiruvananthapuram


Letters to the Editor, The Hindu (Sunday Magazine), December 30, 2007

Words of Wisdom-37:

"A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops."

-Henry Brooks Adams

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Words of Wisdom-36:

The great need of our educational system and our educational institutions is inculcation of spiritual ideas along with technological knowledge. Man with mere material knowledge becomes selfish and self-centred. Therefore the present need is to give social purpose to education, so that educated people will not be exploiters of the not so fortunate but be friends and helpers of the poor, the weak and the downtrodden and be dedicated servants of our country and people. – T.S.Avinashilingam, Founder of Avinashilingam Deemed University and Sri Ramakrishna Vidyalaya, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India

Words of Wisdom-35:

That knowledge which purifies the mind and heart alone is true Knowledge, all else is only a negation of Knowledge. – Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Advice to Students from 'Infosys' Narayana Murthy

To those who become politicians:

Have integrity of Thought.

To those who become bureaucrats:

This is the time when your contribution is most needed, to reduce friction to business, to enhance quality of governance and to ensure that all programs that are aimed at making life better for the poor are implemented with efficiency on time and within the budgeted cost.

To those going abroad:

I am one of those who believe that a certain per cent of Indians have to go to new lands… Conduct yourselves as model citizens of those societies… and never do anything to damage the reputation of the country.

General:

Redeem on the pledge and sacrifices the founding fathers of this country took. … Hope is resting on your performance. Make this a country that you and the whole world can be proud of.

Excerpted from “Resurgent India is the responsibility of this generation: Narayana Murthy” by Sarah Hiddleston, ‘Education Plus’, The Hindu, Dec.24, 2007

(Speech delivered by Mr.Narayana Murthy, Chief Mentor and Chairman, Infosys Technologies, to management students from across the country gathered in Chennai for L'attitude, an annual management festival organized by Great Lakes Institute of Management - In my opinion, the advice holds good to all students).

Words of Wisdom-34:

The two most important attributes for students ..... are :

1. The ability to be open-minded; and
2. A commitment to analysing problems based on fact.

Excerpted from “Resurgent India is the responsibility of this generation: Narayana Murthy” by Sarah Hiddleston, ‘Education Plus’, The Hindu, Dec.24, 2007. (Based on speech delivered by Mr.Narayana Murthy, Chief Mentor and Chairman, Infosys Technologies, to management students from across the country gathered in Chennai for L'attitude, an annual management festival organized by Great Lakes Institute of Management)

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Words of Wisdom-33:

I have always felt that the true text-book for the pupil is his teacher - Gandhiji

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Words of Wisdom-32:

If education falls into my hands, I do two things - instil an ideal and teach concentration. Education is complete - Swami Vivekananda

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Words of Wisdom-31:

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world - Nelson Mandela

Words of Wisdom-30:

Education makes a people easy to lead, but difficult to drive; easy to govern, but impossible to enslave - Lord Brougham

Words of Wisdom-29:

Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself - John Dewey

Words of Wisdom-28:

The aim of education is the knowledge not of fact, but of values - Dean William R.Inge

Words of Wisdom-27:

Prejudices, it is well known, are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilized by education; they grow there, firm as weeds among rocks - Charlotte Bronte

Words of Wisdom-26:

The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think, than what to think - rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory with thoughts of other men - Bill Beattie

Words of Wisdom-25:

We cannot hold a torch to light another's path without brightening our own - Ben Sweetland

Words of Wisdom-24:

All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth - Aristotle

Words of Wisdom-23:

Education is the transmission of civilization - Ariel and Will Durant

Words of Wisdom-22:

Children require guidance and sympathy far more than instruction - Annie Sullivan

Words of Wisdom-21:

The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards - Anatole France

Words of Wisdom-20:

The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn - Alvin Toffler

Words of Wisdom-19:

Education is not filling a bucket but lighting a fire - William B. Yeats

Words of Wisdom-18:

An educated man is one who can entertain a new idea, entertain another person and entertain himself - Sydney Wood

Words of Wisdom-17:

Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence - Robert Frost

Words of Wisdom-16:

Only the curious will learn and only the resolute will overcome the obstacles to learning. The quest quotient has always excited me more than the intelligence quotient - Edmund S. Wilson

Words of Wisdom-15:

Nothing in education is so astonishing as the amount of ignorance it accumulates in the form of inert facts - Henry Brooks Adams

Words of Wisdom-14:

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education - Mark Twain

Words of Wisdom-13:

It is little short of a miracle that modern methods of instruction have not already completely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry. I believe that one could even deprive a healthy beast of prey of its voraciousness if one could force it with a whip to eat continuously whether it were hungry or not - Albert Einstein

Words of Wisdom-12:

Education does not mean teaching people to know what they do not know; it means teaching them to behave as they do not behave - John Ruskin

Words of Wisdom-11:

The whole object of education is to develop the mind. The mind should be a thing that works - Sherwood Anderson

Words of Wisdom-10:

Education is what remains when we have forgotten all that we have been taught - George Savile