The habit of doing natural works may make our students healthy, strong and agile. They have to handle tools in workshops, this puts a strain on their muscles, making their bodies smart and active. Technical work of minute detail may train them in the habits of methodical work, discipline, observation, attention to details and accuracy. It also cultivates in them the virtue of patience, faith and industry. Above all. they realize the dignity of labor and practically learn that work is worship. At present the manual worker is looked down upon with contempt by the so-called 'educated class'. They place them in the lowest class of society in our country. But with the encouragement of technical education, this superiority-complex will gradually disappear, as it has in many foreign countries.
In olden days manual work was done by slaves. Slavery was a recognized institution in Greece and Rome. But at the present the useless distinction of manual and mental labor is disappearing and the working classes are pushing themselves up to position of power, influence and comparative comfort. The increasing popularity of vocational training has ended the myth that education is meant only for brain-workers. Now a man who has been trained in some department of mechanics or industry can hold his own in society against one who has received purely liberal education. It is admitted, now, that even manual work required mental exercise and thoughts. And so, the skilled work of an engineer, potter or builder is really more mental than manual. It needs more intelligence to be an expert electrician than to be an office clerk, copying letters all the day long.
But extreme form of technical education is subject to certain evils and disadvantages. Liberal education is equally necessary and important to hold the scales in the balance. True form of education is one which aims at full and normal development of all the factors of human personality. Man has a body as well as a soul. He does not live by bread alone. He has not only a stomach but also a mind to think and judge with, and a heart to feel. Canning has rightly said, " A man has to be educated not because he has to make shoes and nails and pins but because he is a man". Mere technical proficiency in some industry or handicraft will not promote a man's human qualities and develop in him those virtue which make a useful man of him, and render his life worth-living. Therefore, liberal education should also be given so that one may cultivate good tastes and fine sensibilities for the appreciation of art, literature, philosophy and religion, with a desire to follow noble ideals and aspiration of life. If liberal education is not given, though well-versed in his professional duties, a technician will be devoid of high morality and high virtues. Thus a man may indulge in bad habits and waste his money which he has earned by virtue of his technical qualifications.
However, in Pakistan there is already an excess of liberal education, and to remedy this excess, there is a great need of introducing technical education in our schools and colleges. It is of great importance. The Five Year Plans promised to solve our problem of poverty and unemployment, but they could not keep their promise Unless a large number of skilled workers are available to execute various schemes all projects will remain only paper documents and will never become a living reality. In other countries full impetus is given to technical education and this accounts for the fabulous prosperity of American and the Russians. It was a deliberate policy of the Britishers to deprive us of technical education. They gave us only liberal education so that they might get a train of clerks to work in their offices, and nothing more. But now, when we have freed ourselves from the yoke of foreign domination, we must re-orient and remodel the system of our education. And make it consistent with our present needs it is only technical education that the future destiny of our country depends. Last but not least, whatever mistakes we have made in the past, we should learn from them, we must make changes to our education system, there should not be any ratings or status in education system, education, on the basis of equality should be given to all.
Read 1st part of Technical Education In Practical Life
In olden days manual work was done by slaves. Slavery was a recognized institution in Greece and Rome. But at the present the useless distinction of manual and mental labor is disappearing and the working classes are pushing themselves up to position of power, influence and comparative comfort. The increasing popularity of vocational training has ended the myth that education is meant only for brain-workers. Now a man who has been trained in some department of mechanics or industry can hold his own in society against one who has received purely liberal education. It is admitted, now, that even manual work required mental exercise and thoughts. And so, the skilled work of an engineer, potter or builder is really more mental than manual. It needs more intelligence to be an expert electrician than to be an office clerk, copying letters all the day long.
But extreme form of technical education is subject to certain evils and disadvantages. Liberal education is equally necessary and important to hold the scales in the balance. True form of education is one which aims at full and normal development of all the factors of human personality. Man has a body as well as a soul. He does not live by bread alone. He has not only a stomach but also a mind to think and judge with, and a heart to feel. Canning has rightly said, " A man has to be educated not because he has to make shoes and nails and pins but because he is a man". Mere technical proficiency in some industry or handicraft will not promote a man's human qualities and develop in him those virtue which make a useful man of him, and render his life worth-living. Therefore, liberal education should also be given so that one may cultivate good tastes and fine sensibilities for the appreciation of art, literature, philosophy and religion, with a desire to follow noble ideals and aspiration of life. If liberal education is not given, though well-versed in his professional duties, a technician will be devoid of high morality and high virtues. Thus a man may indulge in bad habits and waste his money which he has earned by virtue of his technical qualifications.
However, in Pakistan there is already an excess of liberal education, and to remedy this excess, there is a great need of introducing technical education in our schools and colleges. It is of great importance. The Five Year Plans promised to solve our problem of poverty and unemployment, but they could not keep their promise Unless a large number of skilled workers are available to execute various schemes all projects will remain only paper documents and will never become a living reality. In other countries full impetus is given to technical education and this accounts for the fabulous prosperity of American and the Russians. It was a deliberate policy of the Britishers to deprive us of technical education. They gave us only liberal education so that they might get a train of clerks to work in their offices, and nothing more. But now, when we have freed ourselves from the yoke of foreign domination, we must re-orient and remodel the system of our education. And make it consistent with our present needs it is only technical education that the future destiny of our country depends. Last but not least, whatever mistakes we have made in the past, we should learn from them, we must make changes to our education system, there should not be any ratings or status in education system, education, on the basis of equality should be given to all.
Read 1st part of Technical Education In Practical Life
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