COVID-19
June 18, 2021
Prof. S. Ramkumar
Education: the Consilient Corridor of COVID 19 learning
(Education has been interpreted and applied over years of human existence in terms of the situations that prevailed at each time. However the essence of education is to prepare learners for the present and the future. For this different knowledge disciplines are important; but more than that the ability to synthesize these knowledge domains into wisdom of practice is key. One of the take ways of the teaching of COVID 19 period throws light what education looks like)
“To the extent the gaps between the great branches of learning can be narrowed, diversity and depth of knowledge will increase” (Wilson, 1999)
The picture depicts the shady doors of “discipline-wise” knowledge opening to the long corridor of a School/ University- the consilient corridor – a corridor wherein different thoughts merge, mingle, and move brightly to bring out the intellectual in a person. The purpose of education is to help to bring out the best in people benefitting the learner and society.
Education is the corridor of confluence of different subjects. The consilience – unity of knowledge from different disciplines apply in the real practice of Life. It’s the consilient corridor in institutions which build the same in the minds of learners. ,
A doctor applying all learnings (which would not have been the theme of a formal degree), to save a patient in COVID 19 pandemic is an example of the Consilient Corridor of Education. Many are part of this life saving education process: Government, administrators, politicians, teachers, students, veterinarians, farmers, NGOs, police, all para medical staff…to name some. This is the actual output of education: to understand, explore and control life.
The consilient corridor (the synthesis of knowledge from different disciplines) is the responsibility of academic institutions; to prepare the learners for any disrupted linearity of life. What we learn in real life is worth many formal degrees, and ultimately education continues.
COVID 19 pandemic is a possibility of realizing what education means and why the consilient corridor in educational institutions are important to be opened up, so as to prepare the mindsets of students for the future.
“We entered a world (around 2007) where connectivity was fast, free, easy for you and ubiquitous and handling complexity became fast, free and easy for you, and invisible.” (Thomas Friedman:Thank You for Being Late, 2016). This points to the need for synthesizing the Zeitgeisten summaries of education through different ages to the technology-era we live in now.
The handling of this pandemic is an example of how best the minds are working to control and prevent the disease – an essence of education.