Summary of The Five Dimensions of Education
Osho says that great respect for life should be taught because life is very important. The education of the past is incomplete, insufficient and superficial. It does not give any insight into living itself. It is harmful as it is based on competition. Competition creates conflict and destroys joy and friendliness. The present education is exam-oriented. It makes the future important but creates an emptiness in the present life. It is incomplete and insignificant to the present complex and changeable time.
Osho views that there should not be examined in the education. There should be teachers’ observation to decide students’ further study so that nobody fails and nobody passes. The question of examination cannot determine inferiority and superiority. Because of examination, the teachers were of immense importance in the past. Now, the teachers’ knowledge is not sufficient as there is the explosion of new knowledge day by day but they got the knowledge before 30 years. They are out of date. The teachers should not be controllers but just guides. The teaching should not be done in the old fashioned way. It should be through the visual activity as in T.V. If students see something, there is no need to memorize it. The computer can be used to answer students’ questions. The teacher needs to guide them to the right channel to make them awake of the contemporary knowledge. Osho gives the five dimensions of education. They are language, scientific subjects, sense of human, art and creativity and the art of dying.
The first dimension is related to history, geography and language. Every person in the world should know at least two language-one is the mother tongue and the other is English. The international language English connect us. It is the most widespread language so its accent, grammar and communication should be taught correctly. The mother tongue is also important because people can say their feeling and nuances in the mother tongue.
The second dimension is the inquiry of scientific subjects which is tremendously imperfect because it is half of reality, the outside reality.
The third dimension is the sense of humour. Education should not make us sad but happy. There should be language and love in life. Animals also have happiness. We should not kill innocent animals because violence is not a good game for the human being. A man who kills animals can kill human beings without any difficulty. So there happens the case of Palestine where people once wanted to eat human flesh when there was not enough food. Their habit of killing and eating animals made them think to eat human flesh. So education should not be the one that preserves violence.
The fourth dimension is art and creativity. It can be painting, music, craftsmanship, pottery, masonry etc. Creative art should be taught because unless a man learns how to create, he never becomes a part of existence. By being creative one becomes divine.
The fifth dimension is the art of dying. It is the meditation so that we know there is no death, and there is eternal life inside us. It should be in education because everybody has to die and nobody can avoid it. There should be martial arts of self-defence without weapons in education.
Osho concludes that the world should have whole education. All essential subjects should be compulsory. The subjects like music, dance, painting, etc. that students enjoy can be optional. He resigned from the university commenting that the revelling education of the world is not sufficient but sheer stupidity. It is not whole so almost everybody is uneducated.
Exercise for Comprehension
Question-Answer of The Five Dimensions Of Education
a)What is the main defect of modern education according to Osho? Discuss.
Ans. According to Osho the main defect of modern education is that it is incomplete and superficial so it creates competition. Competition is harmful as it encourages violence. It is exam-oriented but not need-oriented of the present life.
b) What condition brings this situation: “Everybody is fighting against the whole world” according to Osho?
Ans. When everybody fights against the whole world, it brings the condition of competition and violence and people become ambitious. Ambition brings conflict and destroys people’s joy and friendliness nature.
c) How does examination create tremendous emptiness in life?
Ans. The examination cannot assess every potentiality of a child. It makes people think learning is less important than the passing exams. It makes the future more important than the present. It sacrifices the present for the future. In this way, examination creates tremendous emptiness in life.
d) Why does Osho think journals and periodicals are more important than books?
Ans. The knowledge explosion is so vast and so fast. Before we complete a book, it becomes out of date because of new facts and new discoveries. Such scientific discovery cannot be included in a book. But it is possible in journals and periodicals as they are published in a short time. So Osho thinks they are more important than books.
e) What is the role of modern teachers? How is their role changed? Discuss.
Ans. The role of modern teachers is to guide the students and show the source of knowledge. Their role changed due to the explosion of knowledge day by day. In the past they were important but now their knowledge became out of date in the changing world. So they are less valuable now. When the knowledge of the books was sufficient, teachers were valuable but now the books are incomplete so the teacher’s knowledge is also not sufficient to meet the present need of children.
f) The writer says two languages are required today. What are they? Explain.
Ans. They are a mother tongue and the international language-English. The mother tongue is essential because it needs to express one’s feelings and nuances. English is needed to connect one with another in the world.
g) What are the three international languages in order? Why should we choose English? Explain.
Ans. The three international languages in order are English, Spanish, and Chinese. But we should choose English because it is known by more people around the world on a wider scale.
h) What is the fifth dimension of education? Elaborate.
Ans. The fifth dimension is the art of dying. It is the meditation so that we know there is no death, and there is eternal life inside us. It should be in education because everybody has to die and nobody can avoid it. There should be martial arts of self-defence without weapons in education.
i)What are the birds that should keep singing in life?
Ans. Love, laughter and an acquaintance with life and its wonders, its mysteries……are the birds that should keep singing in life. Osho mentions this concept in his third dimension as a sense of humour.
j) How does Osho express human folly when it comes to his cause of killing helpless animals?
Ans. He says killing animals is not a good game. It is an irrelevant question to life. To fulfil our needs, no animal has to be killed. A person who kills animals deep down can kill human beings without any difficulty. He/She becomes a cannibal.
k) Why does Osho resign from the university he was teaching?
Ans. Osho was not satisfied with the education system. The education was not significant but just sheer stupidity. So he resigned from the university he was teaching.
l) Why does Osho think all are uneducated?
Ans. All are receiving insignificant education and nobody has looked for whole education. The whole education exists nowhere so Osho thinks all are uneducated. Even those who have degrees are uneducated in the vaster area of life.
m) Write an essay on the five dimensions of education proposed by Osho?
Ans. See the summary.
n) Osho says: The idea of failure creates a deep wound of inferiority, and the idea of success also creates disease of superiority. Give reasons to prove this statement and comment on the letter grade system Nepal is going to introduce. Write an essay in about 100 words on this.
Ans. Really examination system makes students fail and succeed in the class. The exam cannot assess all the behaviour and aspects of the students. Deciding good or bad on the basis of certain questions in the exam is really a wrong way of judging students’ ability and creativity. It is the nature in which a few people are speedy and a few people are a little bit lazy.
Making students fail and keeping them in the same class on the basis of certain weaknesses creates a negative attitude towards education. The questions asked in the exam may not be relevant to life. What is needed in the world cannot be included in the exam. Examination stops students’ creativity and progress. The whole capacity of the brain cannot be measured by the examination of two or three hours. The students who fail feel inferior. They consider themselves weak and never hope to do good in their life. Students who pass the exam become proud. They consider themselves superior. This feeling may also damage their life. So it is a disease.
The letter grade system of Nepal also has the same reasons that I mentioned above. In Nepal, the SEE exam has been considered an iron gate. Being failed and passed is the matter of determining the future of one’s life. Many students suicide after the SEE result. Each student fears the exam. The parents and government also give great concern to it. So, to dismiss this condition, the government has brought a letter grade system in school. No student fails but they are put on different grades-A,B,C,D and E as their performance. They do not feel the wound of failure. They can take the exam again on the subject in which they get low grades. This is one of the scientific and democratic judgments over the students’ knowledge.
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