प्राचीन भारत में शिक्षा (डॉ. ए.एस. अल्तेकर - गुरुकुल एवं बौद्ध विहार शिक्षण इतिहास)

Chapter II. SOME EDUCATIONAL PRINCIPLES AND POSTULATES. Education for all—Education a serious proposition and marriage incompatible with it—Education to begin in childhood and not to stop with graduation—Student’s cooperation important—Rod to be used very sparingly—Importance of habits, routine, association and imitation— The Gurukula system—The role and importance of the family—Various theories about Nature vs, Nurture—Influence of the caste system—The system once flexible, Brahmanas and non-Brahmanas teaching each others’ subjects—Its influence on the curriculum of Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras in later times—Caste system and Buddhism. Introduction: It is desirable to discuss now important educational principles and postulates accepted and assumed by ancient Indian thinkers. This would facilitate the proper understanding of the evolution and history of the different aspects of education that would be described later on in the book. It has to be observed at the outset that principles and postulates have not been systematically and comprehensively discussed in any ancient work; they have to be gathered from diverse and scattered sources and inferred from educational practice. Education should be thorough : We have seen already how education was regarded as a source of illumination and was expected to enable its recepients to meet successfully the difficulties and problems of life. It was therefore insisted that it should be thorough and efficient. The educational system did not aim at imparting a general knowledge of a number of subjects; its ideal was to train experts in different branches. Printing and paper being unknown, books were very costly and libraries