“There are indeed many precautions to imprison a man in what he is as if we lived in perpetual fear that he might escape from it, that he might break away and suddenly elude his condition.” – Jean-Paul Sartre.
I believe that I was born with myself and fear. I belong to a village in India where there is no government or private bus facilities. Professionally, my father is a farmer and my mother is a housewife and they earn and we eat from that. I went to an elementary and high school near my village.
I was not a bright student, but I involved myself in the educational process. Why am I writing this about myself and fear? Because I was confused. I was not a high scoring student, but I enjoyed the schooling process. But why was I not scoring high? I am allergic to exams, which did not help me to think.
I don’t know why I feared examinations. When I was sat in the examination hall my whole body used to sweat, this was my fear of examination during my education.
Another aspect of fear in my education is that of teachers. My teachers were cultured traditionally, culturally and socially, whatever the norms of the society, particularly at the time of schooling. I was used to saying Namaskar, touch the feet, walk like a simple boy who did not know the fashion in such a circumstance.
I was weak in mathematics because my teacher was strict in my studies and solving math questions. If I did not do my homework, he punished me and I feared him. That fear did not help me solve the question or do the homework. So since then, mathematics has been a struggle because fear killed my curiosity in the schooling process.
Culture and traditions are good for socialisation in society, but the culture of inequality, injustice, discrimination, caste, etc., kill creativity. And I can feel how the culture of inequality affects the human mind.
I am talking here because at the time of schooling, those who were slow learners were avoided by other stakeholders in the schools. Those who came from a rich family and upper-caste category were participating in all the activities. Unfortunately, that was not happening to me while I was in school. This was the story behind my schooling and how fear killed my curiosity towards learning.
I agree that one might be inclined to suppose that determinism destroys human freedom. But freedom helps to overcome the fear in front of any stakeholders of the school. Human social relations in terms of innate freedom and equality is another way of development in the schooling process when teachers make the students equal and free thinkers in the schooling process.
Belief is that freedom influences the students to participate in the education process and there will be no conflict in the learning. So I always emphasise on freedom of the students in the teaching-learning process where the idea of fear does not come to mind. As per my interpretation in my experiences, I understand that for those who fear everything anywhere, there is a need of providing freedom to the individuals for their development.
Thomas Hobbes said that human freedom is compatible with determinism because it does not consist of free will, rather exists in the absence of external constraints.
I do not agree with this statement because it becomes controversial in nature where we talk about free will in educational settings. That is a thing in my schooling I was suffering that I was not aware of. When I understood that my self and fear came with me when I was born, I tried to go back and saw that I was born with myself and fear.