Youth and Society: Educational Environment in India (An Old and Rare Book)

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"Youth and Society: The Educational Environment in India" is a study of the modes of learning, and it strives to explore the nature and content of morality and choice as it affects the youngsters in four societies.

As a cross-cultural examination of socialization, this study is designed to explore the youth consciousness of social norms, justice and ethics.

The practical utilities of this research are many. One of which is perhaps more important than the others; that is, if empirical theories on the orientations and attitudes of youth point out major inade- quacies, as they certainty do, in the curricula of elementary and secondary school systems, how can the preferred ideas of socialization be incorporated into formal education and curricula development? This study deals with this issue as well, while exploring the images and knowledge children have about the world of grown- ups.

Brij B. Khare was born in northern India near the holy city of Varanasi on the Ganges River. He obtained his Baccalaureate from Agra University, his Master's Degree from Toronto University (Canada), and his Ph. D. from the University of Missouri (United States). He is currently a member of the faculty of the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at California State University, San Bernardino, U.S.A.

Dr, Khare has presented papers at professional meetings in Munich, Mexico City, Moscow, Tokyo, and Bologna, Italy. He spent a year interviewing public and private school children in England, India, Republic of China, and the United States. This book is a part of that endeavour. He is the author of India: Political Attitudes and Social Change (1974), and Things of the Mind: Dialogues with J. Krishnam (1985).

The American segment of this study on "Youth and Society began in 1969 with the help of a National Science Foundation Institutional Grant. In 1981 it was decided to expand this study to other regions of the world, namely to two Western (United Kingdom and United States) and two non- Western (India and China) countries. The purpose was two- fold: One, to study the socialization patterns cross-culturally; and two, to test in other societies the research instruments developed in the United States.

The Indian portion of the data gathering was completed during January-March, 1982. Grateful thanks are due to Dr. Sunanda Patwardhan of Krishnamurti Foundation of India (KFI) for her cooperation in making it possible for me to visit KFI schools. Others who provided valuable assistance while I was conducting the interviews in India were: Mr. A. K. Ananthaswamy, Mr. G. Narayan, Mr. and Mrs. R. Thomas, Mrs. Santhanam, Mrs. Kaushalia V. Krishnan, Mrs. M. Poch- kanawala, Miss Shirin Darashe, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Samuel, Mr. Ajai Khare, Miss Ahalya Chari and Mr. Jaya Prakash Srivastava.

Mr. Achyut Patwardhan and Dr. Padma Mudholkar, who were my guest-house companions at Rajghat, along with Director Chari, not only provided much needed moral sup- port but were instrumental in rekindling many pleasant memories of my childhood in and around Varanasi. Also, I thank all of the teachers there for providing intellectual stimulation during our seminars. I am sorry that because of my total involvement with this project I could not spare but a few hours with my mother, relatives and old friends. Surely a return visit to Varanasi without any research preoccupations could restore our much valued trust and understanding.

This study entitled, Youth and Society: The Educational Environment in India by Professor Brij B. Khare explores the awareness youth have of social norms, justice and ethics in an ex-colonial country which achieved its independence some three-and-a-half decades ago.

Dr. Khare's findings clearly indicate that there is certain amount of apprehension on the part of Indian pupils with respect to national civic life in India.

The studies of the kind that Dr. Khare has conducted are urgently needed. We need to look at the total picture, not just one aspect of education, e.g., how the pupils are doing grade-wise. This important work on the educational environment in India highlights the importance of all aspects of education including the importance of teachers in the process of socialization of youth in India and in developing some of the desired values.

There is an urgency for taking the findings of this re- search very, very seriously. Anyone interested in improving the educational environment of India will benefit from reading this book. Dr. Khare's work will be especially beneficial to policy-makers on school boards as well as the administrators running schools on a daily basis.