The Principal of a CBSE school in Kerala attended a
motivation course. Consequently, he decided to give more autonomy to the staff.
That was one of the lessons he had learnt during the course.
‘Now you decide what to do in your
classroom and other places of your influence,’ Principal now tells a teacher.
‘Will I be paid more?’ The teacher
wants to know.
‘Money is not what matters,’
Principal says. ‘What matters is your contentment.’ He tells the teacher about
Maslow’s pyramid and the importance of self-actualisation.
‘Will I be paid more?’ The teacher
repeats his query.
Principal takes out a book on motivation
theory and asks the teacher to read it.
‘Will I be paid more if I read this?’
Dogmatism is the tendency to assert
one’s prejudices or beliefs as undeniably true without consideration of
evidence or the opinions of others. Dogmatism is very faithful to one’s beliefs
or prejudices. Canine loyalty.
The dogmatist will go on insisting
that his religion, culture, language, ideas, prejudices, whatever, is the best.
He will deliver eloquent speeches with or without the help of teleprompters to
force-feed people with his prejudices. He may never realise that the people are
not interested in those things at all because dogmas mean nothing in the
struggle for survival – unless they mean survival itself.
When survival becomes a problem, it
is easy to inject any dogma into people’s veins. People will be ready to kill
for the sake of dogmas provided you make their survival dependent on that. A
lot of dogmas have begun to reign supreme in India now because of this.
Where dogmas rule, wisdom vanishes.
Those who know, do not speak. Those who speak, do not know.
The principal in the above anecdote
had converted what he had learnt in the course into certain dogmas. Instead of
looking at what can really motivate his underpaid staff, he tries to force his
dogmas on them.
Dogmas make us blind to the real
problems. They make us filter out evidence that goes against our beliefs. They
make us incapable of tolerating conflicting perspectives. We avoid certain
important truths merely to uphold our dogmas. CBSE
has dropped certain lessons from the syllabus because of its dogmatism. Topics
on ‘democracy and diversity,’ Mughal courts, and poems by Faiz are some of the
lessons that got the axe.
Shutting out certain unpleasant
truths is how dogmatism deals with them. But that is not the right way. We
should look at the realities from many sides, evaluate them and make informed choices and decisions. Otherwise, we will have a nation of citizens who follow
certain prejudices doggedly.
PS. This
post is part of #BlogchatterA2Z 2023
Yesterday’s: Capitalism is fated to be sad
Tomorrow: Euthanasia
Where dogmas rule, wisdom vanishes !! How true ! And why are we erasing the past ? It is a truth and the future generation has the right to know it.
ReplyDeleteWe are rewriting history, aren't we? That's how we create a new India!
DeleteHari Om
ReplyDeleteLittle by little dog(ma)s nibble away at rights and freedoms... YAM xx
Precisely.
DeleteAkin to dictatorship.Nicely penned.
ReplyDeleteIt's already a dictatorship.
DeleteProbably the message of the century... Very sad about CBSE pushing agenda in kids education.
ReplyDeleteCBSE has become a pawn in the government's hand. It's very inefficient too now.
DeleteEven our children are not allowed to think freely. It is indeed a sad state of affairs.
ReplyDeleteA nation of distorted minds is what India is becoming.
DeleteDogmantism…..life in a nutshell.
ReplyDeleteFor some.
DeleteCertainly dogmas blind us, but i do not agree the country will be ruled by any dogmas soon. What happened with cbse, if true is certainly not called for yet i do have hope for our nation, because we cannot fight one dogma with another
ReplyDeleteWhen the regime changes, the approach will change too.
DeleteThe basis for ethnocentrism
ReplyDeleteWhatever is happening now doesn't promise anything better than that.
DeleteWhere dogmas rule, wisdom vanishes. Those who know, do not speak. Those who speak, do not know. You said it. Unfortunately we have already become a nation with a sizable chunk of its citizens following certain prejudices doggedly. Sad but true.
ReplyDeletePainfully true.
Delete"People will be ready to kill for the sake of dogmas provided you make their survival dependent on that" this is the way the rulers rule no?
ReplyDeleteYes, Harshita. Killing is essential to ruling.
Delete