AoA,
If you step back and spend a few moments on the fundamental philosophical question as to why we are doing what we are doing you will see that these three threads are related. Whether we like/accept it or not the reality of modern world is that it is being run under capitalistic ideology. Under this system, only those things are considered important and worthy of being pursued which are assigned a value in the "market". If something has no price tag associated with it in "market" than it is not worth pursuing. Let me explain. What is the value of bravery, honor etc? Can you trade these in the "market"? obviously not. So why bother "wasting" time in teaching these. Capitalism demands efficiency. It wants efficient conversion of raw human beings into efficient workers for the system. Since the feathers of a chicken are useless for the production of meat so scientists got rid of them and created a featherless chicken http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/05/21/1021882057281.html ( it is quite ugly so look at your own risk ). Similarly bravery, honor, sincerity etc are not traded in the "market" and as such have no "market value" so why bother wasting time on these useless appendages. Just focus and mass produce what is valuable and tradable, and like the feathers of a chicken discard the rest.
With this background one can see the proliferation of eLearning systems and privatized education. These are efficient means of mass producing docile educated workers for the system. I am not saying that public education institutions are bastions of honor and bravery. Why should they be, they are also operating under the same system and ideology. The difference is only of intensity, the basic thought process is the same.
Unfortunately we think that our problem is that we are not "educated" enough. To solve that problem HEC sent thousands of people for higher education to foreign universities. How many of them came back, what research facilities are available for them etc are valid questions but not the core question. The core question is: with more than a decade and all the money and effort put in this exercise have we 1) improved the lot of our poor 2) improved security 3) improved health 4) decreased suicide etc. The obvious answer is a resounding NO. The question then arises why not. In my humble opinion our problem is not that we don't know Pythagoras theorem but that we don't know what is honesty, honor, bravery etc. Until and unless we recognize what is the real problem and try to tackle it no amount of eLearning etc can pull us out of the mess that we are in.
Regards & AH
Nadeem
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