The commune of my vision will have a five-dimensional education. Before I enter into those five dimensions, a few things have to be noted. One: there should not be any kind of examination as part of education, but every day, every hour, observation by the teachers; their remarks throughout the year will decide whether you move further or you remain a little longer in the same class. Nobody fails, nobody passes – it is just that a few people are speedy and a few people are a little bit lazy – because the idea of failure creates a deep wound of inferiority, and the idea of being successful also creates a different kind of disease, that of superiority.
Nobody is inferior, and nobody is superior. One is just oneself, incomparable. So, examinations will not have any place. That will change the whole perspective from the future to the present. In the future the computer is going to prove of tremendous, revolutionary importance. The teacher should be only a guide to show you the right channel, to show you how to use the computer, how to find the latest book. His function will be totally different.With these considerations, I divide education into five dimensions. The first is informative, like history, geography, and many other subjects which can be dealt with by television and computer together.
In the first dimension also come languages. Every person in the world should know at least two languages; one is his mother tongue, and the other is English as an international vehicle for communication. The second is the inquiry of scientific subjects, which is tremendously important because it is half of reality, the outside reality. They can be imparted by television and computer too, but they are more complicated, and the human guide will be more necessary.
And the third will be what is missing in present-day education, the art of living. People have taken it for granted that they know what love is. They don’t know…and by the time they know, it is too late. Every child should be helped to transform his anger, hatred, jealousy, into love. An important part of the third dimension should also be a sense of humor.
The fourth dimension should be of art and creativity: painting, music, craftsmanship, pottery, masonry – anything that is creative. All areas of creativity should be allowed; the students can choose. There should be only a few things compulsory – for example, an international language should be compulsory; a certain capacity to earn your livelihood should be compulsory; a certain creative art should be compulsory.
And the fifth dimension should be the art of dying. In this fifth dimension will be all the meditations, so that you can know there is no death, so that you can become aware of an eternal life inside you. This should be absolutely essential, because everybody has to die; nobody can avoid it. And under the big umbrella of meditation, you can be introduced to Zen, to Tao, to Yoga, to Hassidism, to all kinds and all possibilities that have existed, but which education has not taken any care of. The new commune will have a full education, a whole education..
OSHO
