Shahid Hussain
It is universally acknowledged that critical thinking is the pivot of prudent society. Various social edifices resonate each other to hatch rationality and pragmatism within a person. Socrates, the father of western philosophy vehemently reckons the value of reasoning as; ‘I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.’ The saga of ‘Land of Pure’ depicts otherwise, as an aftermath the whole nation is bearing its brunt. Our social institutions, for instance, education, religion and family subdue the creativity and curiosity of person, since their childhood by using different clichés: hold your mouth[zaban band rakho]; don’t argue [bahas mat karo] and so far so forth. These social attitudes plug the wings of adolescents who just urge to fly and later become inalienable part of their persona, consequently the culmination of passive and impotent society in general. Hence, the overhauling of different social institution is the way out for all these incumbent issues which we are encountering, hitherto. Since its inception, Pakistan’s education system is primarily aimed to carry out nationalistic and patriotic sense, as it is facing several internal and external threats: some of them are real, but mostly concocted. While doing so, our policy makers, nonetheless, have overlooked the basic essence of education and tried to indoctrinate falsified and idealistic notions.
It ultimately makes people more emotional, clumsy and fragile while novelty and wisdom are elusive, as they have extracted from our curriculum. Indoctrination of religion is another reason behind the abatement of rationality from our society. Religious authorities never allow people to raise question by declaring it as blasphemy and heresy. They dogmatize religious ideas by use of both stick and carrot. Perhaps, seminaries are among the few social spaces, where corporal punishments and canning are not only legalized but also deem as token of solvation for their sins. Childers are supposed to follow blindly which usurp their logical urges, resulting into the inculcation of myopic and cynic society. Clutches of traditional norms and values further subdue self-evaluation and self-introspection of people. Being a part of oriental society we ought to accept our elders, whether they are righteous or not. Since our early ages, we are not allowed to ask question or argue to our parents as it is akin with their respect. Parents bulldoze their decisions regarding career selection, education, marriage and such other critical matters, without the consent of their children. Thinking of sane in such society is an insane. Teachers are contemplated as a sacrosanct, to whom we have to subjugate ourselves. Counter argument, disagreement, or have difference of opinion with them are far cry, by declaring it as highly unethical. They also enjoy the luxury of sticks to coercive their students and even justify their illegal and inhuman acts as; those who only understand the language of kicks, don’t understand the language of words [laatonkebhootbaaton se nahimaante]. These pretexts enforce an innocent kid to say ‘ok’ when it is not ‘ok’, which later becomes part and parcel of his personality. The hectic daily routines of their lives also put our youths in a dilemma. They must have to be early riser to get ready for school followed by six to eight hours of schooling. Soon after the school seminaries and academies are ready to exhaust them. At the end of the day they even barely have time to dine or breathe properly; creative activity and even sports and games are out of blue. Such monotonous schedule can only make a person hollow and passive, instead of, ingenious and astute. When a person broad up in such ecosystem: novelty, reasoning and skepticism seem far cry. Their personalities are overwhelmed with rancor and bigots which ensue ethnocentrism and xenophobia.
Wide spread instances of mob lynching, rapes and ethnic violence in our society are some glaring elucidation of rampant evils. Apart from these, person, as an individual is also suffering with severe identity crises and self-doubts. Eliot’s epic work ‘The Hollow Men’ depicts the wilderness of our people and society by letter and spirit as; ‘We are the hollow men We are the stuffed men Leaning together Headpiece filled with straw. Alas’ It is the dire need of time to revamp our education system, by making the curriculum more logical and inclusive. Students are appreciated for being peculiar and curious. Change in religious and family system seems unavoidable to recollect the novelty and the inner being of children along with their confidents.
Last but not least, tolerance, cultural relativity, difference of opinion and pluralism must also inculcate in our society via media, civil society and other social edifices to develop a progressive and versatile society. In short, consciousness of polity is inevitable for human and social development. All most every social institutionhas its due share to make the people think, before going to accept or reject any idea. Unfortunately, the cognitive skills of our people have been expropriated by the dictums of religion and family, since their early childhood. Moreover, our education system also sets apart, the reasoning potential of person by the provision of utopian and falsified notions. Due to these shortcomings, we, as a notionare suffering with sheer level of socio-political, economic and individual turmoil. Therefore, on the right earnest, redeeming of socio-cultural norms and rituals along with the inculcation of inclusive education system are the needs of the hour to redress oursocial and personal traumas.