What is the difference between ancient Gurukula education and modern education?

Which one is
better?
The Gurukula system of education is just another education system that is quite similar to the
residential schools of today but different and better in many ways.

GURUKUL EDUCATION SYSTEM

A lot of people tend to associate Gurukula system of education with Hindus and the system of
education where exclusively Hindu scriptures are taught. This is correct. Yes, it is true. It is one
of the oldest systems of education and is indeed related to Hindus, because no other country or
religion or system in the world other than the Hindus had this kind of education system going in
their country / region.

In the Gurukula system, the students are required to stay and study at the hermitage of a teacher
who imparts to them all the necessary skills required for them in their future. Most of these
children came in from various backgrounds. Some were affluent, while some others were poor.
But once they were a part of the Gurukula, they were all treated equally. There was nobody
superior or inferior in the eyes of the teacher, except for academic prowess.

Irrespective of their backgrounds, the students were taught the importance of service and were
expected to do chores around the hermitage. It was common to see princes and children from
poor backgrounds doing work together like looking after the cows or bringing in fruit from the
orchards or taking water from the well, etc. They ate simple food cooked in the hermitage and
slept beside one another on straw mats laid out on hard mud floors. They were not permitted to
wear any jewelry or silks and were expected to lead the life of a hermit themselves.

This took out all and any sense of privilege that any of them had prior to joining the Gurukula.
They all truly became equals. This was pure holistic education.

Holistic education is a philosophy of education based on the premise that each person finds
identity, meaning, and purpose in life through connections to the community, to the natural
world, and to humanitarian values such as compassion and peace.

These Gurukulas were located outside the city limits, usually in a forested area. The parents and
immediate kith and kin of the students were not permitted to come and meet the children often.
This detached the children from the world they earlier grew up in. For the time that they lived
there, the students were considered to be the teacher’s own family. There was a sense of deep
brotherhood among the children as they grew up.

Children were sent to the Gurukula at the age of 9 or 10 and stayed there until they were about
16 or 17. This phase of a person’s life is when their character molding basically happens. It’s not
science and history that was taught to the children. There were not just sermons. There were
discussions. Children were encouraged to ask questions. They were not expected to just absorb
everything the teacher taught them without questions. Children who never asked questions were
presumed to be a little dull. They were taught values as well… things that their parents might
miss to impart to them out of their blind love for their children. So by the time they were done
with their studies, these youngsters were well-groomed and well-grounded.

MODERN EDUCATION SYSTEM

The modern education system focuses on grades more than the students themselves. The schools
have no interest in the character development of the students. They are only concerned with the
marks the student scores, the number of trophies the students bring back to the school, etc. There
is this overwhelming need to score higher and higher marks. Everything is about marks. A
student may be a spoilt brat, or may be a bully, or may be having family issues, or even
psychological problems. The teacher only takes note of his/her grades.

If the students are scoring well, the teachers get to keep their jobs. So that’s their only concern.
Some schools have counsellors to tackle students’ problems… but they’re mostly useless. By the
time these children muster up enough courage to go and talk to these people, their psychological
state would be rather damaged already.

Although most schools have uniforms (talking about Indian schools here), there is no real control
on prohibiting children from open displays of wealth.

I remember there were girls from my school who used to wear foreign branded shoes to school
while many of us wore regular school shoes. They would talk animatedly about their vacation to
Thailand while the only flight journey for many others was when they visited India once in two
years. Their notebooks would be fancy, expensive ones with pictures of Disney while most of the
others would have to make do with the ones with the bad binding from the school book store. So
this disparity was always there. And it continues to this day. There is always an unhealthy
competition between the students. My father bought a Land Rover. My mother bought me a
Barbie Doll House. We are going to Disneyland next week.

The modern education system has teachers having to abide by strict schedules of teaching with a
certain amount of syllabus to be completed within a stipulated time. They just drone on and on
with only one thing in mind… Examinations. Anything and everything is about the exams.

Take note of this part… this is a sure 5-mark question. When the exams come, you all will blame
me that the teacher didn’t complete the portions. We will have some mock tests before the
exams. ‘EXAMS ARE COMING!’

The problem with this system is that they create replicas of the same prototype year after year.
The students do not develop their ability to think creatively or ‘out of the box’. They just become
human robots capable of memorizing things and reproducing it on paper just to score marks. The
closer the answers are to the ‘answer key’, the more marks they get. So, this is more a test of
memorization than a test of knowledge itself.

The Gurukula system is similar in some ways to the modern residential school system, especially
in that the students stay within the school premises. But it is a fact well known that residential
schools are quite expensive, high-class and that it’s only the really rich kids who actually study
at these places. Also, it is a fact that the Modern Day Education System focuses only on
alphabetical and numerical training given to the children and not the morals of personal, social
and spiritual life. Whereas the Gurukul Education System WAS A FULL PROOF SYSTEM
WHICH NOT ONLY MADE THE CHILDREN WELL EDUCATED, BUT ALSO GAVE
THEM THE REQUIRED TRAINING AND GUIDANCE FOR THEIR PERSONAL, SOCIAL
AND SPIRITUAL GROWTH IN LIFE.

Present day schools charge exorbitant fees and provide facilities fit for royalty. Does it serve the
same purpose as a Gurukula that is essentially free save for the teacher’s fee that the students
give at the end of their studies?
I think not.
The Gurukuls taught the students for free and the Guru would ask for his Gurudakshina at the
end of it all, when the student completes his studies and it used to be different from each student
to student. Every student would be expected to give his gurudakshina according to what he could
either afford or it would be in parallel to what he has studied at his Gurukul. The modern day
schools would only accept money and nothing else and whether the parents could afford the fees
or not - MODERN DAY SCHOOLS WOULD NOT CHANGE THE FEE STRUCTURE FOR
ANYBODY. This was not the case in the Gurukuls.

Hence the literacy rate at the time of Gurukul era was 98% in India.

Also, the modern day schools do not consider the students as the teachers’ family.

The Modern Education System is run by the educational institutions as a Business, whereas the
Gurukuls were not considered as any kind of Business, as it was run by Spiritual Rishis, in the
forest and not by any kind of Business-minded person.

Gurukuls gave Spiritual Teachings as well, whereas the Modern day schools do not give any
Spiritual Techings, as they are expected to be 'SECULAR'.