The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in

harmony with all existence. -Rabindranath Tagore

Education, according to me is to create a blend of intelligence and character in an individual,

be it a child or an adult, to build a better society. Education is something that enables a
person to take his own decisions wisely and pragmatically. Ever since the existence of
mankind, education has played one of the most vital roles in making our globe look like the
way it looks today. The most efficient way of imparting education has been a system in
which individuals were educated in a specific place, far a particular duration of time and a
certain number of days in a week and with certain rules. Most of us refer to this process of
educating as schools.
Having been raised by a single mother and home-schooled, I have always felt the lack of
drive and social presence that every other kid who has gone to school, around me enjoys.
When I met people who have been to tradition school, I find something missing within me.
Even though I have the same level of knowledge and awareness as the person who has had
proper schooling but sometimes when there is a crisis situation I find them more confident
than me, more spontaneous than me and at the same time more calm than me. I have
never faced any problem such as lack of resources; I have had access to a laptop when I was
kid, I had books, I had internet and all the information on it, but still sometimes, I find
myself tensed and tend to panic quickly on random issues, less social while the my other
contemporaries are more social, relaxed and much more efficient than in teams than me. I
had to put extra effort to overcome these problems and fear of problems when I was
exposed to this world and hence I strongly agree with the author that no technology can
ever replace schools. Schools are something that makes us grow and at schools one is not
taught what to think but how to think. Schools make us capable enough to use our
potentials to the best possible limits in the best possible ways with targets in mind. I feel
these differences when I compare my though process with those who attended proper
schools during their upbringing.
As Postman has highlighted in his article Information versus Education, that we should be
skeptical about the computer technology that has to some extent revolutionised, and will
continue to do so, the educational system in todays world. Schools are losing rapport they
once enjoyed. I would like to mention that schools are not merely a place for sharing
information. School is a place where children learn to live with each other. School is a place
where children learn to respect each other. School is a place where children learn the social
and cultural values. Schools help us understand the world we live in and at the same time
prepare us for tough tasks and the life we have to live after school. The outburst in
information technology may have provided us with diverse ways of access to information
from around the world, in a very effortless manner but how can we compare with the

experience we gain while sitting in a classroom with a group of individuals each different
from each other yet sharing a sense of equality and togetherness.
We all live in a society which has its own set spoken/unspoken rules. Society expects you to
go to school followed by college, get a job, settle down etc. In fact education helps you
become a useful member of the society. An educated member certainly has a greater
chance to contribute to his community. Education helps you become an active member of
the society and participate in the ongoing changes and developments .Aristotle once said
Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all. There is no doubt
that information technology has revolutionized the world we live in, it has surely made our
life easier, and information more ubiquitous than ever. But in any case having access to
some information cannot be considered education, no, not according to me. One may have
the best and the fastest access to all the set of rules of the society we live in but do we have
anything that will compel us to follow those rules?, we may have the information about a
job or a society or a community but can information technology instil in in us the values we
need for a better, harmonic, and loving society. The answer is no. Information technology
may provide us with the best of information, but it cannot substitute the experience we gain
in schools, the things we learn when we lose a high school soccer match the experience of
making friends with like-minded people, the experience of love, the experience of
friendship, the experience of jealousy, the experience of fierce competition to complete a
task at school. The feeling of winning a rugby tournament, the feeling of doing assignments
and homework every single thing we are made to do at school. Thomas Henry Huxley has
said that Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do
the thing you have to do, whether you like it or not. At school we are made to be obedient.

As Plutarch, says The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled. the mind is

not some container to be filled with information but it is a fire the needs to be ignited with
values and virtues, knowledge will follow. At schools we are made to follow some rules, we
have some restrictions, we are taught patience, we are taught to be disciplined, we are
tough to be punctual and over the course of our schooling these values are so deeply rooted
in our nerves that we call ourselves educated civilized individuals. At schools we learn to
accept changes, we learn to overcome our weaknesses, we learn to master our strengths,
we learn team work and at the same time we are allowed to discover ourselves, the real we.
We meet new people and we learn from them, and thus we share a little bit of our
personalities with each other.
Postman is sceptical about the computer technology revolutionizing our education system,
yes today we are facing a crisis of time, everybody wants easy access to everything, and in
order to fulfil our luxuries we are on a way to forgetting our roots. The information provided
by computer has created an illusion that schools will be made obsolete in few years from

now but at the same time I would like to mention that, we must not forget, its the mankind
who created computers and not the computers who created us. Schools have their
importance in building the character of an individual and are not just a place of information
sharing. Computers may be an accessory for a school but cannot be its substitute in any era
be it yesterday, today, tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.

An as Postman has mentioned in his article that Some folks have unnoticed it, but for
almost a hundred years there has been more information available to the young outside the
school than inside. That fact did not make the schools obsolete then, nor does it make them
obsolete now. Computers can only be a source to knowledge and information but it is the
school system that transforms us into individuals who have the ability to realise the value of
computers and the information vaulted in them and will continue to do so.