Thinking critically — really?

[Sinnerman108]

Yes that is what I am saying. At that time the local defence forces were defeated in war by the Mughal Army. After that the British ruled. But what about after independence? The "Liberals" and "Seculars" were in power and they work actively to suppress Hindus and appease the "Minority" vote bank. Why cry now when Sanghis are revolting against your ideology?

How come there are so many ancient smaller temples present to date ?
why didn't anyone destroy them ?

Why was local hindu population also not destroyed along with the temples by invading armies ?

 

[Soumitra]

How come there are so many ancient smaller temples present to date ?
why didn't anyone destroy them ?

Why was local hindu population also not destroyed along with the temples by invading armies ?

So you are saying that we should be thankful that they did not fully exterminate us.

Many Hindus were forced to convert to Islam. Many Temples were destroyed. All this is in recorded history.

This is the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi. You can still see the remains of the ancient Shiva Temple

Right now I cant do anything about the Mughals. They are long dead and gone. But I can fight the "Seculars" who are denigrating Hindus now and still singing praises for the Mughals.

These "Seculars" suppressed us for long. Now it is our time to give them a taste of their own medicine

 

[Sinnerman108]

So you are saying that we should be thankful that they did not fully exterminate us.

Many Hindus were forced to convert to Islam. Many Temples were destroyed. All this is in recorded history.

View attachment 432617

This is the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi. You can still see the remains of the ancient Shiva Temple

Right now I cant do anything about the Mughals. They are long dead and gone. But I can fight the "Seculars" who are denigrating Hindus now and still singing praises for the Mughals.

These "Seculars" suppressed us for long. Now it is our time to give them a taste of their own medicine

NO,
I am trying to do a critical analysis of your claims,
remember the thread title is thinking critically.

So I am trying to ascertain the reasons why there is still a considerable historical surviving assets.

 

[Soumitra]

NO,
I am trying to do a critical analysis of your claims,
remember the thread title is thinking critically.

So I am trying to ascertain the reasons why there is still a considerable historical surviving assets.

I think there were 2 main reasons

1 The sheer number of Hindus - At the time of independence there were around 300 million Hindus. Even considering the population growth during 200 year British Rule there would be 170-200 million Hindus during the Mughal Times. So it is very difficult to exterminate and or convert all of them. But even then they succeeded a lot. Remember Islam is not indegenous to Indian Subcontinent. Still there are millions of Muslims precisely because the Mughals converted millions to Islam

2 The resilience of the surviving Hindus - The Surviving Hindus were resilient. Even the face of war or under discriminatory taxes like jaziya they stood true to their faith. Those who were weak took the easy way out and got converted. Plus there were lot of pockets of Hindu resistance like the Marathas and the Rajputs who took on the Mughals

 

[Zarvan]

A great discussion, potentially, but there will be a deafening silence, quite predictably.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1364911/thinking-critically-really

Thinking critically — really?
Faisal Bari October 20, 2017



TWO quotes from physicist Richard Feynman set the stage. “There is no learning without having to pose a question. And a question requires doubt.”

“I can live with doubt, and uncertainty. I think it’s much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong.”

Higher education has been in the news in Pakistan. When rankings of universities are revealed we find none of our universities are in the top few hundred. When CSS examination results are announced, the dismal performance of candidates elicits comments about the poor quality of our higher education. When university graduates are found amongst the ranks of extremists and fundamentalists, questions are raised about what they are being taught, if anything, in universities. When the quality of research publications is talked about, our universities are found to be wanting. When internationally known academics are ranked, we get to know that we do not have even a few working out of Pakistan.

All of the above are true. The real picture is worse than what we see in these news items or analyses. The quality of teaching I see, even in some of the better-known institutions of the country, tells me that it is quite a miracle that we boast of having 200 odd institutions of higher learning ‘functioning’ in the country. An honest quality audit would force a lot of programmes to shut down. But let us leave that debate for another day.

The remedy, for our higher education woes, usually suggested is introduction of critical thinking: students should be able to think and engage critically with what they learn. This is an eminently sensible position to take. If our students did have the ability to engage critically with learning methods and the content of learning, we would indeed be in a very different place today. But there are some larger issues here that need attention.

The Higher Education Commission and the Planning Commission have always taken a very functional approach to what kind of education our children should have. Even a cursory look at HEC’s draft vision 2025 shows that HEC wants to produce the technicians, engineers, doctors and managers of the future. They are not too bothered about what general abilities all students should have.

A corollary of the above is also the general neglect and disdain with which the arts, humanities and social sciences are treated. Planners and policymakers do not see the value that artists, philosophers or social scientists add to society. ‘We need more engineers and not philosophy graduates’ is a popular refrain in these circles. Clearly, few understand the value of critical thinkers in this society. Most policymakers are still stuck in ‘numbers’ and ‘function’ games.

Even if we stay in the domain of the sciences, we can definitely introduce critical thinking there. But do we have the wherewithal to manage that? Feynman thought ‘doubt’ provided the foundation stone on which learning is built: it is only by trying to prove ourselves wrong that we come closer to better explanations. Is that an attitude that we, as a nation, and our policymakers and educationists, can even tolerate?

We live in a society where space, even for conversations and even amongst friends let alone strangers, has shrunk drastically over the last few decades. Censorship has been internalised by most living in this land. How do we, in such a state and society, introduce critical thinking and doubt as a foundational concept?

We cannot talk critically about religion in this society. Every society, howsoever religious its population might be, will have a few people who do not believe in God or religion. Do we have such people in Pakistan? There must be some. Do they dare come out and declare their existence? Could they come forward and have discussions about their point of views and/or beliefs with all the theists who are around? Could they express their ‘doubts’ about the beliefs of others? Could we, the rest, live with their doubts being openly expressed?

How do we do critical thinking here? Let alone, raising questions about faith, at the moment, we also make it difficult for minorities to preach or practise their religions. Even raising the issue of whether the state has the right to determine the faith of an individual is no longer possible in this country. In Lahore, the city administration went to the point of imposing Section 144 for a month to stop people from talking about sensitivities around khatm-i-naboowat.

This is not just about religion’s domain only. Religion is a seen as a way of life for us. So, the domain extends to economic, social, political and even personal space. Land reform debate is out because the Sharia court thinks it is unIslamic. Is the leadership of a woman acceptable? It is not about competence, it is about what religious interpretations are about. Underage marriage cannot be disallowed because the interpretations do not allow it.

We cannot say anything about what the state thinks is the ‘ideology’ of Pakistan. The road from Mohammed bin Qasim to the making of Pakistan is very linear and causal. If you do not believe that, you are in for trouble.

We cannot talk about anything related to the army. Here too it is not about just defence and security-related issues. It is about all other domains as well. We cannot talk about the army and its hunger for land, its commercial interests from fertiliser to cereal manufacture, its interests in banking or insurance and we can definitely not talk about its role in Pakistan’s politics. We cannot talk about its conduct of the anti-terror campaign, the issue of missing persons and/or the harassment that journalists and social media users/bloggers face. We cannot talk of Balochistan and issues of inequity and inequality in the country.

But for all of the above, we still think that introducing ‘critical thinking’ is the answer to our problems in higher education. What are students going to think critically about? There are very few ‘safe’ topics one can have discussions on in Pakistan.

If critical thinking is to come, it has to come in all domains. Are we ready for that? To me the answer is clear: we are not ready at all. If it does not happen in all domains, it is hard to see how it can happen in higher education only.

The writer is a senior research fellow at the Institute of Development and Economic Alternatives and an associate professor of economics at Lums, Lahore.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2017

Typical liberal crap and nothing else. Pakistani education system needs improvements and will get better but if these liberal fund is think or have delusion that they can take out Islam from our education system than they forget that for good. Also they have issue with Islam they are free to live in west

 

[TMA]

So you are saying that we should be thankful that they did not fully exterminate us.

Many Hindus were forced to convert to Islam. Many Temples were destroyed. All this is in recorded history.

View attachment 432617

This is the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi. You can still see the remains of the ancient Shiva Temple

Right now I cant do anything about the Mughals. They are long dead and gone. But I can fight the "Seculars" who are denigrating Hindus now and still singing praises for the Mughals.

These "Seculars" suppressed us for long. Now it is our time to give them a taste of their own medicine

Most coverts were willing, a minority were "forced". Most of the anti-Islamic rulers of the Mughal Empire did not want converts for taxation purposes.

 

[Sinnerman108]

I think there were 2 main reasons

1 The sheer number of Hindus - At the time of independence there were around 300 million Hindus. Even considering the population growth during 200 year British Rule there would be 170-200 million Hindus during the Mughal Times. So it is very difficult to exterminate and or convert all of them. But even then they succeeded a lot. Remember Islam is not indegenous to Indian Subcontinent. Still there are millions of Muslims precisely because the Mughals converted millions to Islam

2 The resilience of the surviving Hindus - The Surviving Hindus were resilient. Even the face of war or under discriminatory taxes like jaziya they stood true to their faith. Those who were weak took the easy way out and got converted. Plus there were lot of pockets of Hindu resistance like the Marathas and the Rajputs who took on the Mughals

At the time of partition there were 300 million hindus ?

that number is illogical.

and we are talking prior to partition, i.e the conquest of Hindustan by Muslims.
so concentrate on that time.

 

[Joe Shearer]

Sir g thank you for using easy Angraizi ........ and very well articulated points for Mosami ki understanding.

You are, Sir, excessively modest.

Sir g don't you feel that critical thinking develops with growing age? Our schools and universities (I haven't been to one) are tools of increasing your both written and oral vocabulary (scientific non scientific) and help you count your money. The maximum they do is award you a certificate to help you get a job to feed your dependent family and pay your expenses. In reality its not Aamir Khan style "Three Idiots", studying for fun. Unless the existing education system (that is deteriorating minute by minute and has become a flourishing money making business, in fact a conglomerate a mafia that controls price of lunch box to transport facility) is demolished altogether and a newer system is brought that doesn't categorize children based on two hours exams that they are made to take almost every month, I agree I don't see things getting better anytime soon. And frankly the education system is insulting when it divides humans into good, okay, poor, fine etc etc.

So with existing education system (unless someone is God gifted) critical thinking as an necessary outcome of education shouldn't be expected, in my opinion it only comes when you are done with education and have achieved a job that satisfies your financial needs generously. The point where you are stable and have interacted with many outside people, the point where you choose to read something on your own will, form your own view, compared to an early stage of your life where you were forced to study something in a controlled environment just because you have to otherwise you will end up selling fruit and vegetables.

I beg to disagree. Could I illustrate through personal example?

We brought up our daughter to be an equal participant in family discussions of even moderate importance from the time that she was a little more than a toddler. She absorbed everything quietly at the beginning, but soon grasped the rudiments of discussion: to understand the other points of view, to examine every issue from all points of view, to realise that more often than not, these points of view are in contradiction of each other, and that all should be considered with neutral feelings, in a clinical, dispassionate way, that a discussion should have a conclusion, but would not be invalid if inconclusive, that there might not be a solution to a problem, and therefore, a method of coping had to be found, and so on. By the time she was twelve years old, she had the capability of taking my information about the subject, and casting it in her own way, using her own words, to a great effect. Her presentation on the Buddha and his thinking, and on its relevance to modern life that she made a few years later was extraordinarily mature, and left me very thoughtful and appreciative.

Now that she is working, having finished with a PhD, and manages a husband, also an academician, and a baby who is the light of my life, I can see that bringing in critical analysis had a tremendous impact on her way of approaching life.

The point is not that one needs a PhD to be a critical thinker; even a pre-teen child can be a critical thinker. Just as an illiterate vegetable seller can be a critical thinker.

Where education enters the picture is by broadening the individual's horizon; by teaching the wisdom of others on issues that matter in real life, by teaching how to examine every view presented with critical but dispassionate precision, by putting other examples where critical thinking was applied before the student. All these are difficult for an illiterate vegetable seller to approach without help.

An illiterate person can very well be a critical thinker .................. which may altogether question the need for having education to be a critical thinker ............. this in my opinion means, that keen observation ability and awareness of your environment and surrounding can help polish your critical thinking ability.

You are right, and wrong at the same time.

Certainly a person may be a critical thinking one without receiving an education; but an education helps by immersing the student in the subject; it is to be hoped that this will advance the process of learning several times over the slow method of learning in the school of life.

Its a skill that you can unlock yourself without aid of others? Anyone faced with a situation to survive alone on an island, I guess it will take him little time to become Robinson Crusoe ....... ain't that will and desire to survive unlocking your critical thinking .... enabling you to act and decide?

Not so.

If Robinson Crusoe did not have skills,skills as diverse as carpentry, cooking, tailoring, hunting, he would have died hungry and thirsty, and racked by the weather. The will by itself is not enough, some training is essential.

Anyhow once you become a critical thinker suppose in normal circumstances, again its in your own hands to remain honest, use that ability for overall betterment of society........ or start using that ability for your own agenda by fooling other normal thinking humans like me. In known general terms we call it twisted right? Shouldn't a critical thinker be an upright honest incorruptible person? Or else he is a crook no?

It is also possible to argue that truly critical thinking would bring up the need to be honest, and not to steal, so that one's society can be an open society, not one that has to lock up everything that can be locked up; that critical thinking would bring up the need to be honest in transactions also, that it is not enough not to steal, it is also needed to stop cheating people, or to cheat institutions, such as banks, or cheat the government, and curtail its work for the underdeveloped.

Sir g I haven't been coherent in portraying my thoughts and hope you would get the gist of what I am trying to say.

I hope I have been able to show you some different view points.

An intercourse with barren women wastes millions of sperms ............ and with a condom put on I hardly see the difference between the two situations ......... and a sperm is not a baby otherwise in any normal intercourse committed to produce baby, only one sperm gets to fertilize the egg, the other many get wa[sted.

And sir g I think that rapists should be made to watch live delivery of their own children. I don't know why I feel that it would help reducing their rape urge.

 

[Soumitra]

At the time of partition there were 300 million hindus ?

that number is illogical.

and we are talking prior to partition, i.e the conquest of Hindustan by Muslims.
so concentrate on that time.

"The population of undivided India in 1947 was approx 390 million. After partition, there were 330 million people in India, 30 million in West Pakistan, and 30 million people in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh)."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_of_India

I am backtracking from this point to estimate the hindu population during mughal period

 

[I.R.A]

We brought up our daughter to be an equal participant in family discussions of even moderate importance from the time that she was a little more than a toddler. She absorbed everything quietly at the beginning, but soon grasped the rudiments of discussion: to understand the other points of view, to examine every issue from all points of view, to realise that more often than not, these points of view are in contradiction of each other, and that all should be considered with neutral feelings, in a clinical, dispassionate way, that a discussion should have a conclusion, but would not be invalid if inconclusive, that there might not be a solution to a problem, and therefore, a method of coping had to be found, and so on. By the time she was twelve years old, she had the capability of taking my information about the subject, and casting it in her own way, using her own words, to a great effect. Her presentation on the Buddha and his thinking, and on its relevance to modern life that she made a few years later was extraordinarily mature, and left me very thoughtful and appreciative.

How about the role your parents, your in laws, you and bhabi g had to play to afford your daughter the environment she got in your house. Can role of these generations be ignored? I have limited the contributory generations to her grand parents only ......... but each generation may have contributed however little to afford her the environment that enabled her to process information formulate and think. Her critical thinking came with growing age ........... when the environment around her and before her kept evolving to provide her the opportunity and freedom. The same person if she was born to another environment may have acted differently. Its a skill unlocked by many generations?

Now that she is working, having finished with a PhD, and manages a husband, also an academician, and a baby who is the light of my life, I can see that bringing in critical analysis had a tremendous impact on her way of approaching life.

Education is a tool but not the manufacturing facility of critical thinkers. Society as a whole is what produces critical thinkers, and when can a society produce people with capability of critical thinking? Unless a society is prosperous, conducts its affairs justly, upholds the law and doesn't differentiate between humans ...... some families may produce limited number of critical thinkers but such a society won't let them fit in.

Do you know sir what pains me? Most of the houses in my Islamic country has a book covered in colorful piece of cloth kept in high shelves, never to be understood and read properly ........... do you know sir that book invites humans to think critically over the signs of creation, universe, earth, human and their evolution itself? And do you know sir that book has laid down state responsibility too mainly focusing on to free humans of all the troubles and problems that create hindrance and distract humans from pondering over the signs and creation and evolution? The last Messenger peace be upon him I believe in, he was illiterate sir ........... but he brought a revolution in the most backward societies of his time. The major step to bring that revolution in thinking was creating a trouble free environment for his followers. The hardships in form of outside threats and constant fighting were there but environment within city of Madina was conducive for people to think and overcome social taboos and ills of past.

The point is not that one needs a PhD to be a critical thinker; even a pre-teen child can be a critical thinker. Just as an illiterate vegetable seller can be a critical thinker.

Sir the point is ....... one needs a peaceful prosperous (be it moderate) environment to unlock this skill. If I had money and freedom of movement I would also be wandering in Africa playing with elephants close to nature.

Where education enters the picture is by broadening the individual's horizon; by teaching the wisdom of others on issues that matter in real life, by teaching how to examine every view presented with critical but dispassionate precision, by putting other examples where critical thinking was applied before the student. All these are difficult for an illiterate vegetable seller to approach without help.

What sort of Education system? The one that tests your knowledge based on 2 hours exams that you take or the one that is efficient enough to polish your god gifted talent? You may be lucky I may be lucky that we had professional teachers ......... but is everyone that lucky? Should we blame the individual, society or the state or the people who steal others work and try preaching everyone their twisted understanding of critical thinking.

It is also possible to argue that truly critical thinking would bring up the need to be honest, and not to steal, so that one's society can be an open society, not one that has to lock up everything that can be locked up; that critical thinking would bring up the need to be honest in transactions also, that it is not enough not to steal, it is also needed to stop cheating people, or to cheat institutions, such as banks, or cheat the government, and curtail its work for the underdeveloped.

So apparently the OP stole your points ............ what do we call this? intellectual dishonesty?

I remember from my early teen memories, my teacher once said in our class if you stop telling children "don't tell lies, don't lie ........... they would never come to know what telling a lie means".

Considering its related to Pakistan and its people, so again I would refer to personality of Muhammad peace be upon him .......... he was illiterate ......... but he was honest and truthful. Unless the intention behind bringing a revolution is honest and sincere .......... its a disaster we wish to bring.

 

[Joe Shearer]

How about the role your parents, your in laws, you and bhabi g had to play to afford your daughter the environment she got in your house. Can role of these generations be ignored? I have limited the contributory generations to her grand parents only ......... but each generation may have contributed however little to afford her the environment that enabled her to process information formulate and think. Her critical thinking came with growing age ........... when the environment around her and before her kept evolving to provide her the opportunity and freedom. The same person if she was born to another environment may have acted differently. Its a skill unlocked by many generations?

I never denied that role. My only point was to highlight the responsibility and maturity, the ability to think critically that arises from encouragement of that habit even at an early age.

Education is a tool but not the manufacturing facility of critical thinkers. Society as a whole is what produces critical thinkers, and when can a society produce people with capability of critical thinking? Unless a society is prosperous, conducts its affairs justly, upholds the law and doesn't differentiate between humans ...... some families may produce limited number of critical thinkers but such a society won't let them fit in.

I COMPLETELY agree with this. It is very well put.

Do you know sir what pains me? Most of the houses in my Islamic country has a book covered in colorful piece of cloth kept in high shelves, never to be understood and read properly ........... do you know sir that book invites humans to think critically over the signs of creation, universe, earth, human and their evolution itself? And do you know sir that book has laid down state responsibility too mainly focusing on to free humans of all the troubles and problems that create hindrance and distract humans from pondering over the signs and creation and evolution? The last Messenger peace be upon him I believe in, he was illiterate sir ........... but he brought a revolution in the most backward societies of his time. The major step to bring that revolution in thinking was creating a trouble free environment for his followers. The hardships in form of outside threats and constant fighting were there but environment within city of Madina was conducive for people to think and overcome social taboos and ills of past.

I appreciate that, and am reminded of the famous Constitution of Medina, which has now attracted the attention of political scientists and religious historians, and general historians too.

Sir the point is ....... one needs a peaceful prosperous (be it moderate) environment to unlock this skill. If I had money and freedom of movement I would also be wandering in Africa playing with elephants close to nature.

Ideally, yes. But one should be able to display this faculty (of critical reasoning) even in difficult conditions. I ask you to read up on the background of Boethius and his book, The Consolation of Philosophy. While you may not have the time to read this very personal testimonial, written to a very high standard of learning, I am persuaded that you will absorb and appreciate the circumstances in which it was written.

What sort of Education system? The one that tests your knowledge based on 2 hours exams that you take or the one that is efficient enough to polish your god gifted talent? You may be lucky I may be lucky that we had professional teachers ......... but is everyone that lucky? Should we blame the individual, society or the state or the people who steal others work and try preaching everyone their twisted understanding of critical thinking.

A very good point. I believe that the education imparted by the Krishnamurthy schools is a very good example of what education should be (disclaimer: Krishnamurthy appals me; I have no confidence in his brand of metaphysics, which is just very well delivered mumbo-jumbo).

So apparently the OP stole your points ............ what do we call this? intellectual dishonesty?

That was a joke. My jokes seem to have a kind of nuclear impact on their auditors; half of them drop dead, the other half are transformed into two-dimensional shadows of themselves.

I remember from my early teen memories, my teacher once said in our class if you stop telling children "don't tell lies, don't lie ........... they would never come to know what telling a lie means".

A curious assertion. Not one that I feel entirely comfortable about.

Considering its related to Pakistan and its people, so again I would refer to personality of Muhammad peace be upon him .......... he was illiterate ......... but he was honest and truthful. Unless the intention behind bringing a revolution is honest and sincere .......... its a disaster we wish to bring.

Can there be any dispute as to that?

Where the dispute will arise is in my scepticism that the revolution that ensued was honest and sincere.

I do not believe that religion offers any opportunity for permanent progress. But I do not want to enter into a religious discussion in this forum.

 

[RISING SUN]

NO,
I am trying to do a critical analysis of your claims,
remember the thread title is thinking critically.

So I am trying to ascertain the reasons why there is still a considerable historical surviving assets.

Yes there are, quite a few of them at the cost of learned people lives. I am born n braught up here in Varanasi, living in Mumbai. I have come back to VARANASI to celebrate Deepawali. I had shared the pics of religious temples of city's temples. Some of these were attacked very recently however still we have lived together and will continue to live. I will request my friends to post those images here ASAP. Will be going to see more in this week before I head back to Mumbai. Saying nothing happened is equal to spreading misinformation. If nothing happened, then what is this given in below links.

The temple stands on the western bank of the holy river Ganga, and is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas, the holiest of Shiva temples. The main deity is known by the name Vishvanatha or Vishveshvara meaning Ruler of The Universe.

The last structure was demolished by Aurangzeb, the sixth Mughal emperor who constructed the Gyanvapi Mosque on its site. The current structure was built on an adjacent site by the Maratha ruler, Ahilya Bai Holkar of Indore in 1780.

The temple has been mentioned in the Puranas including the Kashi Khanda (section) of Skanda Purana. The original Vishwanath temple was destroyed by the army of Qutb-ud-din Aibak in 1194 CE, when he defeated the Raja of Kannauj as a commander of Mohammad Ghori. The temple was rebuilt by a Gujarati merchant during the reign of Delhi's Sultan Iltutmish (1211-1266 CE). It was demolished again during the rule of either Hussain Shah Sharqi (1447-1458) or Sikandar Lodhi (1489-1517). Raja Man Singh built the temple during Mughal emperor Akbar's rule, but orthodox Hindus boycotted it as he had let the Mughals marry within his family. Raja Todar Mal further re-built the temple with Akbar's funding at its original site in 1585.

In 1669 CE, Emperor Aurangzeb destroyed the temple and built the Gyanvapi Mosque in its place. The remains of the erstwhile temple can be seen in the foundation, the columns and at the rear part of the mosque.

In 1742, the Maratha ruler Malhar Rao Holkar made a plan to demolish the mosque and reconstruct Vishweshwar temple at the site. However, his plan did not materialize, partially because of intervention by the Nawabs of Lucknow, who controlled the territory. Around 1750, the Maharaja of Jaipur commissioned a survey of the land around the site, with the objective of purchasing land to rebuild the Kashi Vishwanath temple. However, his plan to rebuild the temple did not materialize either. In 1780, Malhar Rao's daughter-in-law Ahilyabai Holkar constructed the present temple adjacent to the mosque. In 1828, Baiza Bai, widow of the Maratha ruler Daulat Rao Scindhia of Gwalior State, built a low-roofed colonnade with over 40 pillars in the Gyan Vapi precinct. During 1833-1840 CE, the boundary of Gyanvapi Well, the ghats and other nearby temples were constructed.A 7-feet high stone statue of Nandi bull, gifted by the Raja of Nepal lies to the east of the colonnade. Many noble families from various ancestral kingdoms of Indian subcontinent and their prior establishments make generous contributions for the operations of the temple. In 1841, the Bhosales of Nagpur donated silver to the temple. In 1835, Maharaja Ranjit Singh donated 1 tonne of gold for plating the temple's dome.

The twelve jyothirlinga are Somnath in Gujarat, Mallikarjuna at Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh, Mahakaleswar at Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, Omkareshwar in Madhya Pradesh, Kedarnath in Himalayas, Bhimashankar in Maharashtra, Viswanath at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, Triambakeshwar in Maharashtra, Vaidyanath Jyotirlinga, Deogarh in Deoghar, Jharkhand, Nageswar at Dwarka in Gujarat, Rameshwar at Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu and Grishneshwar at Aurangabad in Maharashtra.

Many leading saints, including Adi Sankaracharya, Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Swami Vivekananda, Bamakhyapa, Goswami Tulsidas, Swami Dayananda Saraswati, Sathya Sai Baba and Gurunanak have visited the site.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashi_Vishwanath_Temple
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Temple_Of_Vishveshwur_Benares_by_James_Prinsep_1834.jpg
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fil...mple_Of_Vishveshvur_by_James_Prinsep_1832.jpg
http://varanasi.nic.in/temple/kashi.html

 

[VCheng]

Typical liberal crap and nothing else. Pakistani education system needs improvements and will get better but if these liberal fund is think or have delusion that they can take out Islam from our education system than they forget that for good. Also they have issue with Islam they are free to live in west

Where does it argue in the article to remove religious studies from the education system? All it is arguing for is the importance and tolerance of critical thinking, that is all.

 

[niaz]

First of all let us agree on what is meant by critical thinking? I understand from the article posted from Dawn that ‘Critical thinking’ means freedom to ‘criticize’.

Admittedly critical thinking often involves following less popular approach to resolve a problem, but critical thinking is neither the accumulation of information nor does it mean being critical of everything. I would define it as “Ability to think clearly and rationally about a problem; to identify inconsistencies & mistakes of the past so that a systematic & realistic solution can be found”. Critical thinking helps us in acquiring knowledge and winning arguments but its primary role is in finding ways and means of finding solution of the everyday problems
Sadly in Pakistan, everyone is ready to point out faults and criticize without suggesting a workable solution.

Most political & governance issue have already been analysed to death on the TV and nearly every thread in this forum is directly or indirectly related to the matters of Defence. I shall therefore limit my comments to Religion and Education.

Religion by definition is a dogma; hence there little room for critical thinking. Difference of opinion and critical analysis is therefore limited to the interpretation of rulings of Quran & Sunnah in light of the changing environment. Islamic scholars have been analysing & debating such issues since after the passing away of our holy Prophet (PBUH). This being precisely the reason why we have so many different sects among the Muslims. Islam also permits “Consensus & Qiyas” in the matters not explicitly clear from Quran & Sunnah.

Consensus means agreement after a discussion and ‘Ijtehad’ is the direct result of Qiyas. Until the Abbasside period, there were many scholars & philosophers who indulged in the debates about religious matters. There was no dearth of critical thinking & analysis. Debates among the Mu'tazalites & Asharites were common place during Al Mamun & AL Mutawakkal era. This encouraged 'out of the box' thinking and research, which in turn resulted in the Muslim dominance in Science & Technology.

Unfortunately, Ijtehad was banned after the end of Abbasside Caliphate putting an end to critical thinking. IMHO this is the primary reason why after the 13th Century, Muslims lost their predominance in science.

After the advent of Wahhabi movement in the 18th century, critical thinking in matters of religion became a crime and solution of modern problems had to be found only amidst the Islamic doctrines developed by scholars of 13th Century or earlier.

Since there has been a growing tilt towards Wahhabi beliefs after the bigot Zia era, anyone with differing point of view could be declared ‘Kafir’ deserving death. I would agree that critical thinking in the matters of religion is not possible until such time we reverse the march of Wahhabis in Pakistan.

I have not come across any constraints toward critical thinking regarding education or higher education. Solution of the problem is also known to every one as they have been talking about it for the last 70 years. For example most Pakistanis would agree that without excellence in Technology & Applied Sciences, no nation can keep pace with the 21st century.

Dismal performance of our universities is a fact but it is not due to lack of critical thinking. Studies have identified the reasons for the falling standard of education in Pakistan:

Most important input for increasing the standard of education being the quality of teaching staff and the curriculum of the Primery & Secondary schools. Our Primery teachers are the least qualified and lowest paid. Teachers at the Secondary schools are not much better.

At college and university level, very few teachers are devoted and dedicated and almost all the matters relating to the appointments, transfers, promotions, incentives etc. of the institutions take place on political basis completely disregarding the requirements. Nepotism and inducting the staff on quota system has created a working environment which is not conducive for good education because politicians choose their relatives / supporters for induction without the least consideration of their teaching ability and /or administrative skills.

The text books are the next most important teaching aid and must be prepared with the utmost care to make it suitable for comprehension by the student of the class for which it is meant; however most text books have been distorted to suit religious or political bias.

Low quality of the curriculum and combination of the courses lack relevance to the aspirations of the individual and the development needs of the country. There is a 4 tier system, the Gov’t schools, private schools, the elite schools and finally the madrassas.

Norm these days is not the acquisition of knowledge but to get a piece of paper called a degree or diploma; hence fake degrees are in vogue. Society in general does not consider the persons presenting fake degrees dishonest or shameful.

Some of the solutions suggested include introduction of a uniform system of education so that children of all sections of society have equal opportunity to prove themselves. Additionally GOP needs to take 5 important steps in this regard.

- One medium of instruction should be introduced. In the present day international environment of competition, English is extremely important. Although Urdu will remain common language, English has to be given preference if a choice is to be made.


- Text books should be provided free of cost at all levels and for all the public/private institutions.


- There should a common curriculum for all students whether public school or private schools.


- All students should be made to take Matriculation & Intermediate examination. This does not stop students from taking the ‘O’ level or ‘A’ level exams if they wish but these should be in addition to and not in replacement of Matric & Intermediate exams.


- There is no reason why a degree from a Pakistani university should not be at par with degree from any UK or US university, but for this solid primery & secondary education is a must. Therefore our secondary school diploma (F.A) holder should be at par with the ‘A’ level diploma holder or the one having the ‘International Baccalaureate’ at least in Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry & Biology. This requires improvement at the secondary level education.


- Next step is providing well paid, qualified and motivated faculty /teaching staff to the University and you have the recipe of good higher education standards.


Obviously there is no lack of critical thinking here but the real problem being the callous attitude of the society and because government of the day lacks the political will to allocate sufficient resources towards the projects which do not provide opportunity for a making a quick buck on the side. Whatever little is allocated is also squandered away. Remember ‘Ghost Schools’.

I have only tried to portray that a lot of critical analysis towards improving education standards in Pakistan has already been carried out. I do not claim that my proposals; which are mostly from the existing studies; are meant to be panacea for improving the education standards in Pakistan.

 

[VCheng]

- Text books should be provided free of cost at all levels and for all the public/private institutions.

Sir, just the cost of this one item alone is so high that it cannot be implemented given the present economic priorities, before we even get to the other suggestions. Adding other necessities like actual school buildings with furniture and labs etc. only make apparent the chronic and huge under-funding of the education sector over decades, and totally inadequate to deal with ever-increasing number of school age children. Higher education can only come after this foundation is somehow set right first.