FREEDOM OF DISSENT & DEBATE IN ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS

From one lecture theatre to another, from one realm of subject to another: minutes pile up into hours as the economy of knowledge is regulated in the academic institutions but- unidirectionally! Confining the process of learning within the domain of a classroom wall is the worst any academic institution can do to limit the growth of the ‘Self’. Surprisingly not many endorse the growth of the ‘self’ to the highest level here. The world is suffering from a grave humanitarian crisis, and the need of the hour is not mechanized-robotic brains that have grossly reinforced the default system of easy acceptance to what is being taught and preached in the disguise of obedience and academic brilliance, presented quantitatively in the marksheet; but now the world demands more ‘thinking brains’ essentially; minds that have not submitted before the abstract customs, rather those that are still alive on the diet of logic and rationality; minds that are capable of evaluating the situations on their own, without being dictated what ought to be or how things should work. And all this can only be attained when the academic institutions provides its students with the space for dissent, debate and discussions and encourages independent thinking, no matter how informal the platform is. The thought process of students should not be maneuvered to fit the set of rules already established, rather the ‘thinking brains’ are inherently little rebellious and question the perfunctory beliefs. Students have to be taught that all which is prevalent around is not necessarily the right- the freedom to question is essentially the core value of any learning process. The majority is not always right. What better example than the dialectics of Socrates and its articulation by his student Plato, no matter what the restrictions were in place by the authorities- the philosophy that stood the test of times is evident now, and even in the 21st century where do we stand?
The reform movements in India,were mainly initiated and structured through the medium of academic institutions and also for generation of opinions. To have an opinion, wrong or right is a secondary issue, is the pre-requisite for the evaluation of the system, and to generate opinions is the task and duty of our academic institutions; how well they do it, I can’t say! And ironically crushing of opinions seems to be the new normal of academic institutions, these days.
Fetching degrees alone is not enough to determine the standards of the ‘self’, until you have grown as a better person than who you were when you first entered the gates of your school or college, etc.
Only in the atmosphere where conflicting views are allowed to co-exist and given the platform to assert and prove their points, only there can one explore the ultimate truth and this should be the purpose of academic institutions. As JS Mill recognized: behind a liberal government must be a liberal society. And therefore intellectual freedom should be the extension of social democracy which essentially becomes urgent with the extension of political democracy. Also not to forget, the role of the teacher in immense for this- a good teacher has to show the students where to look but not what to see.
And as Socrates, the great teacher, has said “I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think”-this has to be the purpose of our academic institutions; not inheriting the monotony of facts but to inculcate rationality and reason: to make the students THINK!

—Sana Shah