Discover the power of empathy in education, as it not only shapes minds but also cultivates compassion and kindness

Empathy elevates Education

Today, I stand before you to emphasize the importance of education in our rapidly evolving world. Education serves as the bedrock of our society, shaping both individuals and nations. However, there is an essential element that we must not overlook—one that starts with the same letter as education: empathy. Empathy, marked by compassion and kindness towards others, is the true measure of our educational achievements.

Empathy sets us apart from those who employ their education for nefarious purposes, disregarding the welfare of lives and nations. While education has undoubtedly brought immense benefits to humanity, it has also been the source of destruction in the world. Extremist individuals, who terrorize our civil society, emerge from educational institutions but lack the crucial quality of empathy. It is our firm belief that education must be inseparable from empathy.

Science & Wars

My friends, it is not literature but science that often bears responsibility for the calamities witnessed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Throughout history, the hands of science have been implicated in numerous conflicts and wars around the globe.

Adam was first Taught to Name, Not Count

There is a general ‘understanding’ among our society that the intelligent students join the science and technology stream, while the average ones fall into the arts stream. Language studies, in their view, demand less brains than scientific topics. They belittle language students as mere memorizers.

Nothing can be farther from the truth. Language is the most important basis of knowledge. Those familiar with the story of Adam and Eve will recall that when the first man was created, GOD chose to teach him the names of things, not the numbers to count them. Names belong to language, not technology. The cue of IQ comes from words, not equations. GOD, in his infinite wisdom, perhaps considered words were more important for Adam to start his life career.

Language & Living

Another perverted thinking in our society is that only doctors, engineers and technologists earn higher whereas students of literature end up as losers in life. Critics fail to recognize the abundant career opportunities available to language students in the modern world, offering both affluence and influence. Media, law, politics, and public relations are just a few examples of promising paths.

Literature inspires. Science informs

Unlike science, literature does not impose truths upon your mind; it ignites inspiration within you. While science informs, literature has the power to inspire.

Healing by Words

Words and phrases of every language have a cultural and geographical context. Hence, not every idiom of every language could be literally translated into the other. Words come to the aid of mending broken relationships. Words can heal wounds which cannot be cured otherwise. Physics and chemistry do not evoke dreams. Poems and novels do.

Writers & Censorship

A writer’s thought is a part of his being. Therefore any attempt to censor his ideas is as good as arresting his mind. At the same time, the writer is a part of the community enjoying all the benefits of the social ecosystem, including safety and security. They are natives of this earth, not the moon. The safety of the community is intricately linked to the safety of the writer. Thoughts, however, are born free and must always remain so. It is the thoughts of social thinkers and reformers that have paved the way for the civilized society we enjoy today.

Guidance at Crossroads

One may come across several T junctions in life where he or she may need to choose between two routes. It is at those decisive moments where we need a guide in the form of a friend, teacher or a parent who will show us the right path to success.

Jaihoon’s interactive session at Ideal Arts and Science College, Cherpulassery, Kerala –India


Highlights from Jaihoon’s interactive session at Ideal Arts and Science College, Cherpulassery, Kerala –India
Aug 10 2016