Gandhi on education. His critique of WESTERN, particularly English, education was part of his critique of Western ‘civilization’ as a whole. Barry Burke EXPLORES his vision. contents: early life · swaraj and swadishi · on education · references · links · how to reference this piece The real difficulty is that people have no idea of what education truly is. We assess the value of education in the same manner as we assess the value of land or of shares in the stock-exchange market. We want to provide only such education as would enable the student to earn more. We hardly give any thought to the improvement of the character of the educated. The girls, we say, do not have to earn; so why should they be educated? As long as such ideas persist there is no hope of our ever knowing the true value of education. (M. K. Gandhi True Education on the NCTE site) In a piece published some years ago, Krishna Kumar, Professor of Education at Delhi UNIVERSITY, wrote that ‘no one rejected colonial education as sharply and as completely as Gandhi did, nor did ANYONE else put forward an alternative as radical as the one he proposed’. Gandhi’s critique of Western, particularly English, education was part of his critique of Western civilization as a whole. There is a story that, on arriving in Britain after he had become famous, SOMEONE asked him the question: ‘Mr Gandhi, what do you think of civilization in England?’ to which he replied ‘I think that it would be something worth trying!’ Early life