Unlearning the Wrong is as Important as Learning the Right

posted on Jul 31, 2021

Mathematically, the negative of any negative quantity is a positive one. Similarly, the absence of wrong thoughts, concepts, and ideas can be as good as a positive mental frame. You cannot fill your brain with constructive ideas if you already have junk scribbled all over it. Hence, if you wish your kids to groom into an individual, ready to learn and absorb the positive from life, it is critical that you teach the child the art of unlearning at first. Never forget that scientific progress has always used previous knowledge as a stepping stone and not a refuge for new knowledge.

At Gurukul The School, ranked among the Top 10 CBSE Schools in Ghaziabad, we believe that to make the young minds walk on an illuminated path in life, it is vital that they maintain a productive thought process. However, it requires a continuous and steady cycle of removing what is unnecessary. For example, even if you do not indulge in direct charity, abstaining from extravaganza can be a wise way of not allowing the greed of physical wealth to lure you. All you have to remember is that sometimes, the absence of negative can also be perceived to be positive.

Unlearning paves the way for the up-gradation of knowledge

As we all know, knowledge can never be a unidirectional stagnant process; and instead, it has always been a dynamic and ever-evolving one. Therefore, the very definition of knowledge indicates that it remains specific to the information and understanding of the time. Once we move from one time to another, our level of information and understanding of the natural world and its phenomenon change, which also works to alter the preconceived notions. The same holds true for children as well.

Children start learning things based on elementary ideas and eventually move on to more complicated explanations as they grow up, and their brain becomes capable of processing complex analysis. In order to grasp the new information, the young minds automatically unlearn the ideas and notions they were once thought to be the limit of knowledge. For instance, take a close look at the process of a software update, and you will understand that unlearning lies at the core of progress. Haven’t you unlearnt Windows 98 long back to welcome the updated versions of it?

Unlearning makes the mind wider and more appreciative

When we refuse to accept ideas that challenge popular notions, we confine our thinking abilities within a self-defined cage. If Nicolaus Copernicus would have never questioned the age-old concept regarding Earth’s movement with respect to the motion of the sun, we might have never known the reality behind our planetary arrangements.  

Have you ever thought that Nicolaus Copernicus was born in a society that believed that Earth never moves, and it is the sun that makes rounds of our planet? Even he must have been taught the same during his early years. But when he proposed the notion that the Earth orbits the sun, he broke through the limits set by ancient knowledge and paved the way to the new era of science.

Had the unlearning process had not made his mind broader and more appreciative, he could have never come up with such a revolutionary idea. It is hence important to teach the kids to be flexible with knowledge and never to keep any prejudices regarding any available information. With more inventions taking place around the world, you never know which notion is going to get tossed over tomorrow.

At Gurukul The School, positioned among the top 10 CBSE schools in Ghaziabad, we believe that knowledge is like a gushing river. If you try to trap it within your hands, it will simply pass you by. Instead, keeping the mind open for new ideas and ready to unlearn as and when needed is the best way to go with the flow. We firmly believe that learning is a relentless process of unlearning, learning, and relearning. And if we really wish to groom our kids into enthusiastic, lifelong learners, it is vital they are taught the significance of unlearning the wrong in order to make way for the absorption of more righteous, more updated knowledge.