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wherever mopernization and urbanization are taking place.

Is Western civilization conducive to human wei ..

fare froin an intellectual standpoint? One of its proudest boasts is its system of universal, compulsoryeducation. The question is, what kind of education? In

western-type schools, colleges and universities, on,e

finds no love of knowledge for its own sake. Western

~ .~ colleges and universities have become immense degree factories. Students aspire to a degree not for competence in their chosen field but merely for social and economic advantages.

In view of this totally materia,listic view, the whole Western system of education is

breaking down.

Schools, . colleges and universities have become so corrup~, especially in India and Pakistan, that they have almost ceased to tunction as

centres of learning. In a society where money means everything, it can buy a degree, or a bribe to intimidate

the examiners to give a failing .student passing grades. Cheating on examinations is very widespread. Many

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athletic heroes have gained admission to colleges and universities illegally. This corruption will continue in

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education so long as the materialistic outlook prevails.

Yet the Western ideals of education continue to be

blindly copied all “developing” countries as the panacea for illiteracy and ignorance.

The roots of the American educational system may be found in Europe during the period of the Protestant Reformation. The then new elite was quick to realize that the process of education moulded the minds of the rising generations and . equally quick to insure that the orientation of thdr educational system was secular in nature. rather than religious.

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