Sreejith K's Blog

Education not a scale for culture, or is it?

Culture is a difficult term to define. Dictionary.com says culture is the totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought. Almost true, isn't it?

But then the question comes, how can we define culture. How can we distinguish something which is inside the culture or whether it's outside it? How can people be cultured?

I had a debate with my roommate over this. He says education induces culture. I couldn't certainly agree to that. I have seen a lot of indecent, uncultured people among the highly educated class. In my company, where only engineering graduates and their equivalents are supposed to work, I see a lot of unpleasant behaviours. Most of them don't pull the chair in after lunch, neither do they keep quiet when having lunch, they make rush when there is any sort of distribution, whether it's a cake or food coupons, they seldom stand in queue and much more.

Of course these are not big crimes compared to what we see outside. I don't believe all the guys riding their bikes on the footpaths are illiterates, neither do I feel that the guys who never minds the signals are unaware of the rules. People who don't walk on the footpaths might find a reason that footpaths are also washing stones of the people who live close to the roads, but is that a good enough reason? Are footpaths the place to wash clothes even if they don't have enough space at their homes? Are people doing right by blocking roads for celebrating festivals and marriages? For shivarathri my road from house to main-road was blocked because the temple on the way was conducting celebrations on the road and so I had to drive a kilometer around the place. Where did the culture go?

I certainly don't agree that education is a scale for culture. Education does not induce culture in. Culture generates from common sense, from the feeling of love and respect towards other beings and the system and from being polite and being wise.

Seeing all these chaos all around the place, I'm beginning to doubt about myself. Am I cultured?

2006-03-14 09:54:36 GMT

Comments (7 total)

Author:ibru_man

After REading this, I'm also began to think that am Educated..In my point of view, Education is what that brings culture. Rest all are nothing but rubbish.
Be cultured..

2006-03-14 10:07:39 GMT

Author:cyber_prince_ind

Culture generates from common sense, from the feeling of love and respect towards other beings and the system and from being polite and being wise. Agree
If the education and Literacy can be the bench mark of the culture,then Nammude 'daivathinte swantham naadu' enne oru culture(d) land aayene (with due respect to all good people there and NO RESPECT to those spoil that great culture )
You can feel some culture in the tribals in the jungles and cant see some from those so called "educated"
Call me for next debate :)

2006-03-16 05:34:08 GMT

Author:arunravi_red

Who defines culture? As always the educated.. the rest simply live the culture. And each being in his/her own hemisphere, evaluate the others. Its partial, biased and subjective. I find no point in being cultured. All the most we can do is to find ourselves. (Allelum cultured aavuka ennathokke ninne sambandhichu valya paniyalle jithe..:) )

2006-03-18 18:07:14 GMT

Author:mgmrm

Culture is something which stems from the empathy-the ability to put ourselves in other’s shoes-without the foolish thought of bringing the whole world according to your wish-the flexibility of mind to accept what the world offers to you.

There is a saying in Sanskrit meaning ”the one fourth of one’s knowledge is from the parents, another one fourth from the teachers, again one fourth from the friends, the remaining are the acquired!” Culture originates in one’s mind as a contribution from all these 4 categories of knowledge-providers!

The way one perceives any form of knowledge in the education process is dependent on the environment where he/she is brought up!
The first lesson to be learnt from home is that of love. From that bond of love originates the feeling of security. It carves an able human conscious about other’s feelings. If such an open, warm attitude is nourished at homes, we can guarantee the reflection of the same in the society as well.

Education is a process, which makes the field of culture more fertile, in one person. A fertile land can’t guarantee a wonderful harvest without a proper implantation or care given. Similarly, education cannot guarantee a cultured person at all. There are a lot of other variables making towards it.

The simplest way one can adopt is being child-like. That means by learning to forget things easily. A child can smile always as there are no stains of past bitter incidents in its heart. It forgets things easily. This will help us a lot in keeping a friendly attitude towards the entire world-without any unnecessary barriers in mind towards anyone or anything-and culture starts right there!

2006-04-06 06:07:55 GMT

Author:aunair

Absolute definitions are very difficult to make, eventhough we pretend/try to make
FINAL definitions. One reason is that definitions are always time bound. Meanings
of words change from time to time. Another reason is - to define something perfectly
you will have to define all the components (ie; words) in your definition absolutely.
Digging DOWN or UP like this this way you will end up like - Brahma and Vishnu
who once tried (and failed) to find the upper end and lower ends of Shiva.

But let me try my part.

The word culture is very much related to the society.

Culture of a person -to the core- is the degree of his/her adaptability to the society.

Society can contain any number of individuals, aiming at the well being and ultimate
goal(which is unknown to every one) of man kind. The perception of well-being and the
ultimate-goal is up to the society, like a cloud ball, can change shape very often.
The size and geograhic population-distributions of the society also affect these
concepts.The soul of a small society ( eg. a tribal village) can be different from
the soul of a big society( say a big nation like CHINA).

A good-cultured person:- a person is considered as cultured when one feels that he is
good to be in the society.

Cultural program:- these programs are believed to contribute for the well-being and
ultimate-goal of the society.

Indus valley, Mesopotamian culture :- Buildings, other physical achievements etc. are
part of the culture as they are supposed to attribute the well being of mankind. Religion
philosophy,literature, arts etc. are also considered to elivate man to higher states.

Education is not culture. Eduction is not a bech mark of culture. Education process is
only one of the means by which one can aquire culture and be more adaptable to the society.

The subject is a complicated and deep one it seems. :-)

2006-04-06 07:10:02 GMT

Author:mgmrm

Sreejith, u mean only 'well-mannered' by the word 'culture', in this post? :-)
In a wider sense, I feel it quite relative..:-)
The simplest example is in India, close friends in the opposite gender is watched with a frown by the society,whereas in US, friendships between the ones in the same gender is suspiciously looked upon.

2006-04-06 08:26:45 GMT

Author:m_lekshmiferrai2000

your this blog made to think about the culture.."Education is not a scale for culture" ya..i feel.becoz i feel culture is something that man develops by his own..when a child is born..as he/she is growing would develop culture by seeing other's in the society..(especially child would develop from home.by seeing his or her parents or brother or sisters behaviour...)..best way i can say is hw our indian culture is different frm other countries...but what ever may be i have seen some people they change there culture..after some years..so..i feel even if a person is educated or not ...he would be cultured only if he/she wants to be...cultured..
so..i belive it is purly in the individual thinking,decision to be cultured..

2006-05-12 21:23:15 GMT

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