I, Robot?

A software engineer working in a reputed software company and his wife treat a minor housemaid (while fully knowing that child labor is a crime) like Fagin treated Oliver Twist. Students of a reputed University go on a rampage and torch city transport buses and destroy private property as a sign of protest. A highly-placed policeman harasses a teenager leading to her death. A student kills a girl who has spurned his proposal. In another incident, a student and his friend throw acid on a girl for a similar reason. See a common thread here? All these are acts of crimes that were committed by 'educated' people. Which makes me wonder whether somewhere our education system and family values seem to have taken a wrong turn in this era of so called technology and development? Or have we forgotten to 'educate' people to do the right thing? How else can one explain all these heinous acts committed by 'well-educated' people? People debate on making the law stricter so that people don't get away after committing such crimes. But why is there no debate on educating people about the lines that should not be crossed in a society? Is it that difficult?

I am glad that we still applaud movies like 'Avatar' (which has an underlying message about how we are at war with our environment) and '3 Idiots' (which talks about how we conveniently ignore to understand the difference between 'training' and 'education'). As the character in '3 Idiots' says, even a dog can be trained to do a job but not everyone can be taught to understand and execute. But once we walk out of the theaters, its life as usual. And so here we are setting new milestones in being brutal and unsocial and trying to get away with it through the use of power, influence and money.

To be honest, while on one side our education system has been successful in creating software wizkids, hotshot managers and respected researchers, on the other hand, its uglier side seems to have stripped us of our humanity and created a person who is indifferent to his fellowmen's life and rights. And shouldn't the parents also be blamed for turning the kids into such wrong-doers while pushing them into becoming over-achieving professionals? The evidence definitely seems to indicate so. Parents and teachers seem to ignore the responsibility of bringing up the kids as proper human beings while striving to create a successful life for them through heavy doses of learning. So the question is whether we will forget to live as human beings over a period of time and evolve into something supremely efficient but totally devoid of emotions because we were not told how to behave while we grew up? I fervently hope not. At some stage, we must outgrow the idea of education as a means of producing trained success-machines and think about turning education into a medium that would help create successful but socially responsible citizens. Only then can we say that our education system has achieved its objectives. Till that time, we will have to watch and read about 'Law & Order' TV series kind of crimes happening in real-life and cringe at the enormity of the crime committed.