Stress at individual and social levels distorts our cognition, affect, and conation (perception, feelings, and actions) and leads to, amongst many other evils, the deterioration of international, national, and local education policy and its implementation. The present-day non-holistic (sectarian, prejudiced, vindictive, malicious, mercenary, exploitative, and evil) education (formal, curricular, co-curricular, extracurricular, and informal) is a major stressor that, though it aids in petty pursuits, opposes our blossoming and further perpetuates stress and ill effects in the individual and social life. Let us review the present perspective, policy, and practice of education, as seen around.

Stress EducationEven though education is defined in various ways, and often inadequately or incompletely, there has been a general agreement that education is a process of the blossoming of an individual and society. Hence, it included three domains, which are as follows. The first domain is called AFFECTIVE DOMAIN. This means the state of mind. In simple words, the affective domain relates to how we feel. Thus, when our reason is full of alertness, attention, enthusiasm, buoyancy, affection, concern, joy, tolerance, self-esteem, mutual respect, mutual trust, commitment, dedication, love, romance, confidence, and positive and victorious spirit, we would call it healthy affective domain. In addition, the zeal and

concentration needed in the pursuit of excellence in the intellectual field, tenacity and endurance required in skillful activities, and patience and commitment essential for internally satisfying and socially beneficial (conscientious) actions constitute the affective domain. The purpose of education is to nurture this domain by designing suitable curricula and syllabi.

The second domain of education is called PSYCHOMOTOR DOMAIN. This implies the ability to appreciate skills and perform physical and mental skills with speed, accuracy, elegance, ease of performance, etc. This may involve appreciation and performance of skills such as surgery, playing a musical instrument, playing basketball, or carpentry! The purpose of education is to nurture this domain by designing suitable curricula and syllabi and providing sufficient practical and demonstration classes with all the necessary equipment.

The third domain is called COGNITIVE DOMAIN. The cognitive field incorporates accurate perspective, contemplation, correct perception understanding, conceptualization, analysis and recall of facts and problems, the ability to evaluate, synthesize, correlate, and make decisions, appropriate policies, plans, and expertise in management, administration, etc. All these domains have three components, each viz. Cognition [Perception], affect [Feelings], and donation [Response].

Thus, the cognitive domain would have intellectual Perception, clarity, and intellectual expression; the affective domain would include feeling, motivation, and Response in an emotional sphere such as poetry; and the psychomotor domain would consist of the grasp and internalization of a particular skill, confidence, to perform it and performing it.

Let us now see how, despite these goals, it has come to be conceived as a process of achieving political, economic, scientific, and technological supremacy and thus deteriorated to the present stage, where all three domains are defective, apart from lacking in the spiritual and productive domains. In short, let us see how it has become a major stressor.

For this, a brief consideration of the traditional education system in India would prove useful.

The Traditional Education System in India, in general, ensured that:
a] Careers were not selected based on monetary gains,
b] Careers were not selected arbitrarily based on quirks and whims,
c] Some lucrative careers could not be sought after in preference to the others,
d] All careers ensured income and production from an early age,
e] All careers ensured that the society was benefited,
f] All careers ensured security to all the social groups,
g] All the careers ensured intimacy and closeness between young and old in the families.
h] All careers ensured ethical education and the passage of experience and wisdom from generation to generation.

These were merits. But it is also true that the traditional system was marked by deprivation of scholastic education on a mass scale, apparently unjustifiable availability of education of jobs based on caste, deficient infrastructure for collective scientific and technological efforts, and an element of arbitrary imposition of hierarchy.

The traditional education system has attained the present status of being a major stressor due to several stressful factors, including the onslaught of tempting and impressive individualistic doctrines. Thus, the transition from the traditional system to the present one (whether due to British, American, or any other influence, but basically due to individualistic pursuits) has become a major stressor tearing apart.

The cohesive social fabric of India fails to preserve and nurture the merits and discard and dispose of the demerits. As education shifted from homes, home industries, and farms to nurseries, K.G. schools, schools, colleges, universities, corporate industries, research institutions, etc., the transition became viciously poisonous.

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