Big Think

Rajarian Rekhana on January 21, 2008, 9:49 AM

By adequately addressing those problems. For that, a greater understanding of human potential than the social sciences currently possess is necessary. I grew up in a suburb of New Haven, not too far from the Yale campus. Surrounding on all sides its ivy-laced buildings and manicured lawns was the worst ghetto in New England. The disparity, to me, was a metaphor for the long-standing failure of the ivory tower to provide solutions to the problems of the real world. Our antiquated system of information-based education is, in my opinion, woefully inadequate. For a look at a new paradigm—consciousness-based education—check out mum.edu

I like the name Gyan Veda. Now THAT is a tradition of knowledge worth studying.

Juan M. Contreras on January 23, 2008, 9:36 PM

Thanks for the compliment Rajarr. :)

Your point is well taken. The social sciences emphasize theory rather than application and can lose sight of the real world. At the same time, it seems that social scientists who do try to prevent this unfortunate situation are faced with an indifference that does not allow them to change this status quo. It’s a Catch-22 type scenario.

Rajarian Rekhana on January 25, 2008, 9:44 AM

GV: Yes, a Catch-22. Though social scientists may be sincere, their knowledge has been insufficient to make significant improvements, thus the status quo of indifference to the profession. But every academic discipline today suffers from incompleteness of knowledge, which points to the weakness of our educational system in general, which only focusses on content but does not develop the container—the consciousness of the student. You can go from kindergarten to Ph.D. and not come out of it a better person (often the stress of it makes you worse). The system itself creates the problems it seeks to solve—another Catch-22. That is why a new approach to education is so necessary. Only a new seed can yield a new crop.