"Educated" Philistines

With the growth of education & even higher education, the exponential growth of the subjects of this essay has become a matter of concern. The lack of due emphasis on culture in the syllabi is the initial reason for this. In the developed countries, unless a student has learnt to play a musical instrument, play a sport & learnt a foreign language, he/she may not be eligible for University education. In our country, cursed with Macaulay's idea of providing clerks for the East India Company, the desired criteria remains an education with material rewards & power over fellow citizens.

Even the "cream" of the educated like IIT graduates & medical professionals remain Philistines as far as the arts are concerned. In spite of having a presumably higher IQ, their cultural tastes remain with the lowest common denominator, like Bollywood films, Pop/Rock music & T20 cricket. The best of culture like literary classics, classical music or even Test cricket are "a bore meant for old fogies." It is a matter of national shame that more guitars are sold here than sitars, even though the greatest guitarists like George Harrison & Jimi Hendrix would rather give an arm to be able to play the Sitar.

The other reasons are premature economic independence which acts worse than a knife given to a baby. A knife can only physically hurt a baby, whereas early access to money may ruin the complete life of the recipient. The other reasons are the modern attitudes of the young preferring peer company rather than family. This again pulls them down to prefer low company as nature left to herself, lets gravity take its course. The modern concept of "Generation Gap" is an artificial, pernicious doctrine which has broken up more families than divorce. The story of Shravan Kumar, who lost his life serving his parents (in Ramayana) may appear ridiculous to a generation which finds its greatest happiness in "hanging out" with friends!