Who would ever deny the fact that education has been defined in multifarious ways. To some,education is purely academic; following the norms and conventions of the academic world where there is a transfer of knowledge from the educator to the pupils and subsequent assessment of that knowledge is carried out through various forms in order to understand the proper transmission of knowledge and the usability thereof.
Have we ever delved deeper? I mean, have we ever looked beneath the surface and tried to understand the true meaning of education?

It is undeniable that education prepares us for a 'better' life - a life that is rich; a life that is prosperous; a life that makes us socially acceptable, and finally, a life that completes the whole picture for us. But the enigma still remains...does all this education give us a resume that is totally complete with regards to what we desire to achieve in our lifetime?
Had it been so,we would not feel so worthless, incapable, undesirable, unloved, and most importantly - incomplete.
In my honest opinion, an education is a phenomenon that renders wholeness in human beings. We have to feel whole and think about the intangibles that would render wholeness to our lives. As Helen Keller had rightly said, "The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart".
After all, we cannot simply have a top view of education; it is imperative to look at it from all angles and fill in the plug holes to complete the whole picture and assimilate it in our lives.
So...then what?
Is it not that we should try looking at education through a different lens? it is imperative that we should.
As educators, parents, teachers and pupils, we all should look at it from a collaborative perspective. We need to make it social, reflective and creative.
It is high time that we shed the shackles of age-old and traditional ways that have become so creatively redundant. Being creative is vital - from our own perspective and from an education perspective as well.
Education systems teach us numeracy, literacy, science and social studies but undervalue the root ideas - the ideas on which the entire system of education is based on. Ideas that have always existed but never valued. Such ideas have been overlooked, if not ignored. And therefore, we have attained higher degrees combined with huge success but bore the brunt of an irreplaceable loss - the loss that comes with not being creative and hence the dismay of having to live with hackneyed beliefs and customs.
Creative juices should be invoked by teaching creative writing and critical thinking to young minds and honed in a proper way just so that these children grow up to be well rounded individuals. Creativity and creative studies should be traditionally honored in academia just to pave the way for some innovative methods in education that will just not focus on human success that is tangible but also play a significant role on the intangible side of human success .
In the realm of Mark Twain's words, "throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover".
The best way to do this is to prepare young children to adapt successfully in our increasingly complex world by teaching them logic and reasoning skills (both verbal and non verbal) and steer them towards fulfilling both personal and professional responsibilities. A careful blend of academic skills and these 21st Century skills would provide an expanded view of education in these young minds and help them realize their full intelligence and potential.
Swati Lahiri