The Widening Gap Between Spirituality and Education: Is This Generation Ready for It?

When in the early days there was a matter of education of a child it always comprised the basic understanding of the Bible, Quran, Vedas, Guru Granth saheb and so on. It was considered mandatory to make the child aware about the roots of his religion, the morals and values that the elders had imparted since time immemorial. This helped the child to be spiritually aware of the purpose of life and he or she tried constantly to seek knowledge and experiences which were in the direction of the meaning of life. This also gave space for periodic self introspection so as to be on the right path irrespective of the success and endeavors he achieved. Spirituality always encourages humans to be magnanimous and righteous which helps them to serve with kindness and have respect for their fellowmen.

But as we have entered the 21st century we have entered a transitional phase. The world is constantly changing and developing to be a digitally driven world. A child who doesn't even learn to speak properly can operate an apple device. A child who has enormous bundle of energy , which should be utilized in playing and being creative is a subject to the creativity of the game developers now! Instead of remembering God in the morning we have to check our mail and messenger so that we don't miss something. The idea of good mornings has been limited to good morning texts! Prayer and spirituality could be used to cultivate inner strength in our children but we make them engaged in as many classes/skills/technology as we can so they are not left behind.

We always used to be amazed and thrilled by the beauty of the universe and this life but now we can create life! Where is the beauty left when things are not natural? Technical subjects are increasing and the amount of moral stories seems to diminish somehow.

Our kids are a part of this transition and it will not be easy for them to cope up that easily. I would like to explain with an example. With the increasing population and yet increasing technology there is going to be a tremendous downfall in the requirement of workforce as virtual technology and artificial intelligence will take over maximum workload ! No matter how much we try to make our children technologically advanced ultimately they will have to face failures a lot! It's our responsibility to understand this change and make them also realize that they would be needing much more resilience than human needs right now. Let us pledge to educate our children of this massive change and give them strength to endure it.