randomGuy Posted August 8, 2013 Posted August 8, 2013 But Ramayan and Mahabharat besides being religious books, are quite fascinating fictional stories with interesting characters and eras and part of Indian culture.
Detonator Posted August 8, 2013 Posted August 8, 2013 But Ramayan and Mahabharat besides being religious books' date=' are quite fascinating fictional stories with interesting characters and eras and part of Indian culture.[/quote'] But but but they aren't scientific and empirical. You don't go around teaching creationism in addition to evolution to broaden horizons. Where as other books might be scientific :hatsoff:
The Outsider Posted August 8, 2013 Posted August 8, 2013 But Ramayan and Mahabharat besides being religious books' date=' are quite fascinating fictional stories with interesting characters and eras and part of Indian culture.[/quote'] So are thousands of other books, besides the being of part of Indian culture part, which should be irrelevant anyways when trying to impart the best education. By all means teach them as part of a Comparative Religion course.
diga Posted August 8, 2013 Posted August 8, 2013 That's just your personal opinion. Gita is considered a religious text by most parameters of classifying a religious text. But I won't get into the merits/demerits of Gita because that will surely be a religious discussion. Is there any creationism/evolutionism in Gita?..no Once again, I reiterate, its about the moral dilemmas faced by the warrior Arjuna .. and is actually subtext of Mahabharata.
randomGuy Posted August 8, 2013 Posted August 8, 2013 So are thousands of other books' date= besides the being of part of Indian culture part, which should be irrelevant anyways when trying to impart the best education. By all means teach them as part of a Comparative Religion course. None nearly as fascinating and as core a part of Indian culture as Ramayan and Mahabharat. Personally if I have to say, those 2 would be the most fun subjects that I had to study in 6th-7th classes. :)
The Outsider Posted August 8, 2013 Posted August 8, 2013 Is there any creationism/evolutionism in Gita?..no Once again, I reiterate, its about the moral dilemmas faced by the warrior Arjuna .. and is actually subtext of Mahabharata. I have read it and know what it is about.
The Outsider Posted August 8, 2013 Posted August 8, 2013 None nearly as fascinating and as core a part of Indian culture as Ramayan and Mahabharat. Personally if I have to say' date=' those 2 would be the most fun subjects that I had to study in 6th-7th classes. :)[/quote'] That's an opinion and I would have no issues with texts, any texts, being taught in school if they are taught without religious connotations and merely as fairy tales. But you are as aware of the reality as I am, that is not how the cookie crumbles.
diga Posted August 8, 2013 Posted August 8, 2013 I have read it and know what it is about. Ok.. Now stop thrashing BJP for all evils plaguing this country. Some sensible decisions need to be appluaded too. See the link posted by saneindian on the actuall gazette notification by MP govt. Please dont turn this into an ugly battle of one-upmanship
randomGuy Posted August 8, 2013 Posted August 8, 2013 That's an opinion and I would have no issues with texts' date=' any texts, being taught in school if they are taught without religious connotations and merely as fairy tales. But you are as aware of the reality as I am, that is not how the cookie crumbles.[/quote'] The impact of hindu religion(lets say spirituality is different from religion) on peoples lives will automatically diminish in times to come with globalization, awareness, literacy, prosperity, television and internet penetration. Having ramayan-mahabharat in school curriculum wont pose an impediment in it, they are anyways being taught at homes, on TV etc. so let them be a part of curriculum as wonderful stories which are part of our culture.
The Outsider Posted August 8, 2013 Posted August 8, 2013 Ok.. Now stop thrashing BJP for all evils plaguing this country. Some sensible decisions need to be appluaded too. See the link posted by saneindian on the actuall gazette notification by MP govt. Please dont turn this into an ugly battle of one-upmanship LOL! Forcefully teaching religious texts is a sensible decision now.:hysterical:
diga Posted August 8, 2013 Posted August 8, 2013 LOL! Forcefully teaching religious texts is a sensible decision now.:hysterical: deluded, arent you? Its your opinion that Gita is a relegious text.. not mine now interpret whatever you want, but read this before you answer Later, an official release issued here last evening said that apart from Gita, project works have also been assigned to include subjects of other religions in school books. These include - life sketch of Paigambar Mohammad Sahib, Karbala incident, Guru Nanak Dev, Gautam Buddha, Mahavir Swami, Jesus Christ and Nawaz of Ajmer. Lessons, poems and information on Christmas, Bibi Fatima's life sketch, Holi, Id, Diwali, Onam, Dusshera, Guru Parv and Mahavir Jayanti have also been included in school books of various classes, the release said. In Urdu text books, only two messages of Gita have been included and none of them can be regarded as religious or communal in nature, the release added.
The Outsider Posted August 8, 2013 Posted August 8, 2013 The impact of hindu religion(lets say spirituality is different from religion) on peoples lives will automatically diminish in times to come with globalization, awareness, literacy, prosperity, television and internet penetration. Having ramayan-mahabharat in school curriculum wont pose an impediment in it, they are anyways being taught at homes, on TV etc. so let them be a part of curriculum as wonderful stories which are part of our culture. Having them as part of school curriculum is not beneficial in any way either when they are already being exposed to it at home, TV etc. when there are so many more serious educational hurdles to be overcome before that.
The Outsider Posted August 8, 2013 Posted August 8, 2013 deluded, arent you? Its your opinion that Gita is a relegious text.. not mine now interpret whatever you want, but read this before you answer You are the one who is deluded into thinking Gita is not a religious text.
randomGuy Posted August 8, 2013 Posted August 8, 2013 Having them as part of school curriculum is not beneficial in any way either when they are already being exposed to it at home' date= TV etc. when there are so many more serious educational hurdles to be overcome before that. There is no harm. In school books, they will get the correct(n not varying and incomplete) versions of these fun stories which are an integral part of Indian culture. Other hurdles have nothing to do with teaching ramayan-mahabharat. Sorry for derailing but about whats needed in school education - I have talked in another thread about the need of teaching English(from 1st class), Computers/internet(from 6th class) before when many kids currently drop out of school. I am not a fan of English language but our internet is in English unlike China, whose websites are in their language. We(people like you and I) pay all our bills, book all our tickets, search for jobs, businesses, study, mail, gain info, get aware, entertain etc on the internet. Plus English is needed from basic things (like in using ATM, opening a bank account) to high studies.
The Outsider Posted August 8, 2013 Posted August 8, 2013 There is no harm. In school books, they will get the correct(n not varying and incomplete) versions of these fun stories which are an integral part of Indian culture. There is no harm if they are being taught as fables and stories. There is severe harm if they are being taught as a moral code or religious dogma. Other hurdles have nothing to do with teaching ramayan-mahabharat. They do. There is only a finite amount of time. And if the choice is being made to teach good literature, it should strictly be on literary merits. Sorry for derailing but about whats needed in school education - I have talked in another thread about the need of teaching English(from 1st class), Computers/internet(from 6th class) before when many kids currently drop out of school. I am not a fan of English language but our internet is in English unlike China, whose websites are in their language. We(people like you and I) pay all our bills, book all our tickets, search for jobs, businesses, study, mail, gain info, get aware, entertain etc on the internet. Plus English is needed from basic things (like in using ATM, opening a bank account) to high studies. Agree, except I would introduce computers much earlier and I have nothing against English.
randomGuy Posted August 8, 2013 Posted August 8, 2013 There is no harm if they are being taught as fables and stories. There is severe harm if they are being taught as a moral code or religious dogma. They do. There is only a finite amount of time. And if the choice is being made to teach good literature, it should strictly be on literary merits. 1. As I said, there is no danger on Hindu religion(suppose spirituality is different) having a strong impact on our lives in the wake of globalization, awareness, literacy, prosperity, television and internet penetration. 2. I consider because of being an integral part of Indian culture, the Ramayan and the Mahabharat should be taught. 3. Imo, Sankshipt Ramayan and Mahabharat are pretty good Hindi literature quality-wise for 6th-7th classes. 4. There is lots of time in school. :)
Laaloo Posted August 8, 2013 Posted August 8, 2013 1. As I said, there is no danger on Hindu religion(suppose spirituality is different) having a strong impact on our lives in the wake of globalization, awareness, literacy, prosperity, television and internet penetration. 2. I consider because of being an integral part of Indian culture, the Ramayan and the Mahabharat should be taught. 3. Imo, Sankshipt Ramayan and Mahabharat are pretty good Hindi literature quality-wise for 6th-7th classes. 4. There is lots of time in school. :) It should be taught but it shouldn't be mandatory. For those who want to learn about it, they can. For those that don't want to, they don't have to. It's pretty simple really. Why force something which in itself was never meant to be forced? :dontknow:
Desi Cartman Posted August 8, 2013 Posted August 8, 2013 Yes let's teach kids about vastra haran and dumping a pregnant wife from the "epic" stories. Although in case of madarssa it really doesn't matter because those kids are screwed anyway.
The Outsider Posted August 8, 2013 Posted August 8, 2013 1. As I said, there is no danger on Hindu religion(suppose spirituality is different) having a strong impact on our lives in the wake of globalization, awareness, literacy, prosperity, television and internet penetration. When I look around in India I don't see globalization, awareness, literacy(as in education, not being able to write one's name), prosperity, or internet penetration. Don't generalize your upper middle class or upper class lifestyle to India. 2. I consider because of being an integral part of Indian culture, the Ramayan and the Mahabharat should be taught. That's your opinion. Does not change the fact that they are religious texts. 3. Imo, Sankshipt Ramayan and Mahabharat are pretty good Hindi literature quality-wise for 6th-7th classes. Again, your opinion. In my opinion, there are better texts available, which are not ridden with religious baggage. 4. There is lots of time in school. :) No, there is not. I am sure children putting in 14 hour days to get into some engineering or medical school, will disagree with you as well.
Yoda-esque Posted August 8, 2013 Posted August 8, 2013 Off topic, but the Mahabharata has to be one of the most epic sagas ever written. It is simply incomprehensible how nobody has written a work of art even remotely as close to it since.
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