To Lead Out

We live amidst an era dominated by rat races and corporate clashes. We are inhabitants of an earth that is governed by social strata and peak productivity. Our current generation's mentality is a product of inherited mindsets and traditions passed down from former generations, and is compounded by the systems and structures of the world around us. A lot of these mindsets often perpetuate existing systems that keep spinning mechanically on and on, passing on to subsequent generations, until perhaps they reach critical points where the systems collapse and are displaced or replaced by revolutionary ideas or innovations of previously held ones. 

One of the systems that we have inherited from past generations is our current education system. Our modern day education system, in most Asian contexts at least, is characterised predominantly by an endpoint of getting the grades, amassing as many 'A's as you possibly can and filling up your resume with longer lists of achievements compared to your peers. 

Not surprisingly, the system remains to today because it is set against a background of the need for an upward social mobility and the need for greater qualifications to compete against a multitude of other seekers for a shot at a better paying, highly-esteemed, white-collar profession that would not only ensure financial security but also allow one to upgrade one's lifestyle to a more comfortable one.

At the face of it, the system does not appear to be harmful in any way. Rather, it may even be seen as the saviour of the poor because it provides people with fair opportunities to strive and improve their standards of living. It is good in this sense because it provides individuals with a means by which they can earn better lives and enjoy the things their parents or grandparents were not able to in their poverty and hardship.

Yet, the more we peer and scrutinise, the more we challenge and examine the system, we discover the inherent meaninglessness that is characteristic of it. 

Firstly, this kind of education system is founded upon the mindset that the ultimate goal in life is to get a better paying job so that you can get a better life. While it is not wrong to desire a more comfortable and affluent life, to set that as the centre of all life's struggles seems to be reducing the meaning and purpose of life to mere competition and survival games, to outdo one another to reach the top of the pack. While that may be good momentarily because it promotes healthy competition which encourages growth, chronic exposure to the system would only foster rivalry, jealousy and pride, which serve to enhance and accentuate the prevailing tensions in relationships between human beings. Hence, instead of forming a generation who can stand in unity to move forward towards a common purpose, it creates instead a divided, individualistic race of humanity who care only for their own ambitions, desires and survival.

Secondly, the system kills and stifles any form of creative expression of individual personalities and talents. The standard of measure of success imposed by the system is such that individuals who garner the most number of 'A's are deemed successful while those who are not able to perform are labelled as failures. Hence, the only measure of success, it would seem, is the ability to ace the exams, often times by gross memorisation and regurgitation. Any other forms of talents and creative personal expressions, such as arts, music, politics, drama, dance, etc. are seen as a waste of time and useless in the pursuit of better income in the future. Hence, these innate individual talents are suppressed and inhibited, and without the proper platform on which these abilities can be nurtured and developed, they often wither and waste away. As an end result, the individual becomes just another 'clone' or 'factory product' amongst many others that keep the system turning like clockwork. 

For me personally, this second consequence of the system strikes close to my heart, and is the source of much of my anger and frustration with the system. I believe I do have many more talents besides studying that could possibly have been better developed and nurtured had I not been part of the system, gifts in music, arts, politics, public speaking, debating and drama. I believe that had I not been boxed into the 'top A scorer' category in the system, I could very well have explored and experimented with my gifts and cultivate the many talents that I have. It is for this reason that I hate the system as it is, and truly I cannot wait for the day when it would finally crumble to dust.

Ultimately, the education system that we are so entrenched in may appear to be bringing good to humanity in the short run, but only results in wasted talents and a whole bunch of individuals who are mere copies of an artificial and arbitrary image of success in the long term. It is meaningless and serves only to breed and manufacture selfish, cynical and petty individuals who are not able to hold any vision for humanity, other than those that promote their ambitions, self-interests and self-preservation.

So what does it mean then to provide education for the next generation? 

The word educate relates to the word educe, meaning 'to lead out'. To educate, I believe, is to lead people out from darkness and ignorance into light and wisdom. It is to guide people, to lead them to grasp and follow a calling that is much larger and greater than themselves and to lead them to respond to that calling to step out and embrace visions for a purposeful life and a meaningful humanity.

To educate is not to impose standards or images of success on people, but to allow the gifts and talents that are budding within them to grow and flourish such that the uniqueness and distinctiveness of each individual being can be captured and released. It is not to create clones and machines doing the same things to keep the system churning, but to raise up distinctive individuals who can carry visions for families, communities and cities, and express and outwork them in their personal and unique ways.

To educate is to lead people to the full knowledge of the Creator and His agenda for this earth and for humanity. To educate is to lead people out of the slavery to the system of small-mindedness, self-preservation and selfish ambitions to the knowledge of the One who desires to bring His goodness and life into every part of His creation and who desires to outwork His plans of redemption and restoration into every sphere of humanity. And in that place of adoration of the Creator and His will, then, to be empowered to pursue bigger dreams and visions to bring life and fruitfulness onto this earth, to step out in faith to call forth purpose and meaning into every part of humanity, and to do so in the unique and distinctive qualities and personalities of each individual human being.

Ultimately, to educate is to "demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and taking every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" (2 Cor 10:5).

And truly, there needs to be a new and living way to educate the next generation, to lead them out of the blindness and slavery of the current system, and into the light and life of liberty, freedom and love.