How to make children imbibe valued knowledge.

The purpose of Knowledge to me, it's importance in daily life and how to make our children imbibe it. Liberate the children of their bondage, knowledge is fire, knowledge is freedom.--- A practical approach. The purpose of Knowledge which is a treasure to me is not only to gather as much Knowledge as possible but also to realise that it's almost impossible to know everything in one's lifetime and therefore to seek something above Knowledge which binds all the Knowledges together like the string of a pearl garland. This string must be something objective which we can feel and not subjective like all the Knowledges considered separately. Something above cast, creed, colour and religion, something related to love ? According to our Vedanta or Upanishads, Knowledge is fire and vice versa, so is it a life force/force of your spirit that we should feel ? Remember Star War's famous dialogue, " Let the force be with you ? Ho, ho, ho ! A collective consciousness ? A bluetooth connection with your higher self ? A Cosmic force of Gravity passing eternally through us perhaps ? After all, our bodies are made of stardust and our soul, fire produced by friction of Gravity ? That makes us stars and sun in the sky ! To the message of the Upanishads I would just like to add, perhaps universal love makes this force much stronger and brings happiness. Thus the stress, tensions, worries of daily living and many psychiatric and psychological illnesses like depression/suicidal tendencies might be prevented and prevention is better than cure ! Sex life will improve and it's now proven that improvement in sex life is associated with a better quality quality of life. There would be lesser incidence of erectile dysfunction/impotency in males and loss of sex libido in women and lesser incidence of divorce too due to these reasons. So it's very important for children to pay heed to their parent's advice and go to school and colleges if possible. The government can help. Learning starts at this age and children are like clay, so they should be moulded in such a way that they not only become productive to the society at large by lending their innovative ideas but also learn the priority of values in life/moral ideals and always strive to become a better person from within at every moment of their being. As charity begins at home, it is often the parents who prove to be the primary source from whom their children learn the values in life. Our Indian culture, tradition, spirituality, everything helps. Sports help to inculcate in them the very important sportsmanship spirit, leadership qualities and physical well being too. A" Life's values consciousness " class may be held at school for half an hour, 2/3 times a week on which no examination is needed ! It's also not absolutely necessary to pass each and every academic examinations or become the topper in class though the effort should be there and neither should parents pressurise their wards regarding this, but it becomes mandatory to pass the toughest examination of life, because life always tests ! To do well academically at school is more a prestige issue of the parents who should remember that such unwelcome pressure on their wards is a reason of unfortunate suicidal rates of teenagers in many countries in Asia. We know that failure is the pillar of success but often we fail to apply and implement it's meaning in real life ! Teenage sex education is very important as they experience the pangs, physical and hormonal changes and natural sexual desires of puberty. Often the parents have to answer from where their little brothers and sisters came and this opportunity should be seized to educate them differently in different age groups, if needed after consulting the relevant text in internet or an encyclopedia. After all they are not fools especially in this age of information explosion and internet ! To grow a habit of reading extracurricular books of various kinds is a great source of Knowledge and filtered television programmes/movies too. Children should be encouraged to develop a hobby at least, if not a passion. This might prove to be very useful/valuable later on.The importance and values of a family life should be stressed upon because this is the home front from where the children develop their emotions of love and bonding. Proper nutrition, especially for the children of poor families can be ensured by the government by providing midday meals at school. Often the parents try to impose and determine the future careers of their children without considering their preferences, this is absolutely wrong and dangerous. Let them be inspired by the life led by their parents and not by so many words ! Let the children act on their impulses and instincts, somewhat supervised. It's not only the biological inheritance of parental genes which determines the success of a child in it's later life but meditation in hard work/every work, merit ( Right type of intelligence, to make life larger and not to become a money making machine as the primary aim from the very outset, money will follow your larger than life children with a never say die spirit, they have to prove themselves worthy for what they deserve. ) and character building go a long way towards achieving it ! If they can follow this, no dark forces can prevent them to get the last bit of inspiration needed to complete rest of their efforts to become successful in life ! I am very sorry to say here that there is absolutely no room for astrology and forestalling any ominous zodiac predictions by making them wear Tabiches, godmen's lockets and precious stones. Children should be encouraged to become their own heroes, to believe in their own abilities, be the miracle themselves ! Let them dream and spread their wings and fly by stretching their own imaginations ! There is no fate but what we make ! Love and simplicity is a force which can move the world ! ---- Dr. Bibhash Chakravorty.