schooling for credentials vs. competence
The open window period for learning allows children to absorb information in moments. The window closes for many reasons however. And with it, the child-like brain is left behind, leaving the adult with no encouragement to learn again. Mediocrity becomes the standard.
Become a child again and learn anew
Child development experts have long documented how children can learn ANY language to which they are exposed regularly from age 3 to 8. They can develop native accents, natural flow of grammar, syntax, diction, and vocabulary, even if they genetically arise from a very different region of the world. We can see evidence in every culture of young children speaking languages of “other cultures” and children who travel frequently or have multi-cultural exposure can easily speak 4-8 languages without any confusion. This occurs in low-IQ and high-IQ verbal children. Take a person after age 10 and try to exposure him/her to a new language. They will not learn as easily. High school students struggle to gain the accent of another language.
Experts also know that skills can be taught to young children very quickly. Music is commonly taught to children as soon as they gravitate toward a particular tone or rhythm of sound. Fascination with building or painting or sports is also encouraged. Called hobbies in English, these extracurricular elements are considered flukes or random until ten years of consistent effort might show proficiency. Some parents actively coach or bully their children to develop a talent. Others sit on the sidelines and marvel at their children’s ability.
The open window period in human life closes however. And with it, the child left behind, neglected or not encouraged becomes mediocre. Tutors and guides, teachers and coaches are the modern-day, watered-down version of a guru. Because most of these modern-day guides are often mentally immature, undisciplined in their own lives, or un-well-rounded, they cannot take students from their place of desperation and isolated lostness to a higher plane.
Ancient wisemen of India knew these issues. They saw them repeat in waves over several generations. They knew that mediocre teachers occurred when they were not connected to their hearts and to nature, or when they had been abused while learning, mentally traumatized and unable to focus. Disconnected from their emotions, disenfranchized from their dreams, or disrespected during their childhood, these children grew up into teachers, intending the best but falling short because they themselves had not done the work of healing.
Compounded to this is the western notion that healing the heart’s sentiments, issues of emotion, and instinctive feelings that connect with the soul are irrational and all part of things that support the mind, its fear and lostness, such as religion. These have no place in the solid and logical realm of science that evolves to discover truth and an objective reality. Western thinking has evolved by separating the wild horses and dragons of the mind from the tamed thoroughbreds and bulls of culture, repression, and socialization.
Meanwhile, in the small villages where connection to nature is easy and plentiful, vedic teachers quietly gather children who are curious and eager to make sense of the world. They observed and surrender to things they see but cannot deconstruct, such as the synchronic movement of a thousand geese or the huge coconut that ants can carry for a mile. Phenomena are not magic even when they are not understood by the naked eye. Ancient Indian sciences understand patterns and use inference that correlates with clinical evidence. Witnessed evidence is not violently denied or opposed, as science and medicine do today. Bias is a major factor in all science that does not observe patterns and understand inference. Medicines that are not understood are labeled as Magical Remedies.
Phenomena are not magic even when they are not understood by the naked eye. Ancient Indian sciences understand patterns and use inference that correlates with clinical evidence. Witnessed evidence is not violently denied or opposed, as science and medicine do today. Bias is a major factor in all science that does not observe patterns and understand inference. Medicines that are not understood are labeled as Magical Remedies.
Vedic schooling has been teaching children by using patterns of nature for 10,000 years, not delineating what truth is, but inspiring and describing how to discover truth by developing young minds into effective open sieves that gather information and know how to make sense of the world. This prepares them as lifelong learners.
Today, as so many young adults cannot read properly, cannot calculate, cannot focus their minds, cannot analyze problems critically, cannot understand mathematical patterns, cannot hand-eye coordinate, cannot prepare their own meal, and cannot engage in meaningful deep conversations, we are moving into a society in which the funding for experts and professionals is now given to the meek and unable. Without true competence, a credential has become the key to gaining the fake and false claim of ability, to get a job, to fill a seat and claim benefits for health care and loans and luxuries.…all without true competence in basic skills for that job.
Completing any task today is rewarded as an accomplishment, without honest judgment of quality or true capability. If someone points it out, s/he is a troublemaker. when incompetent people are credentialed and the standard is set low so that they can emptily fill posts that require competence, society is damaged. The year 2020 in the Common Era (CE) of the Gregorian calendar, with the global handling of the pandemic, is a hallmark and testament of this phenomenon.
week39. TheSouthAsianTimes
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Dr. Bhaswati Bhattacharya is a Fulbright Specialist 2018‐2023 in Public Health. She serves as Clinical Asst Professor of Family Medicine in the Department of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, NY. Her bestselling book Everyday Ayurveda is published by Penguin Random House. To order an autographed copy, write to bhaswati@post.harvard.edu.
www.drbhaswati.com