Money is more important than education!

When we were in 7th standard and had just entered the echelons of the “Secondary block (7-10 grades)” in school, we were exposed to a “debate” for the first time. The topic was “Money is more important than education”. Green House spoke “for the motion” and Red House against it.

We sat in the audience, palms cupped to the cheek, eyes fixed on the 10^th standard gladiators, as they battled it out. It was indeed a clash of the titans! As a Green House student, it was amply clear- on which side of the topic, I stood.

Debating involved a peculiar style. You started your speech with a flowery address, “Respected chairperson (and made eye contact with the principal), members of the jury (and looked at the judges), my “worthy” opponents (and glared at the other House) and my dear friends (and smiled)!” The Green House speaker felt there was no debate at all. It was an “open-and-shut case”. The topic was a “statement of fact”- yes, money is more important than education. What is there to say? You need money to get education. And through education, you eventually want to make money. When both the path and the goal was “money”, what was the debate about?

The argument was clinching- as though the debate was over before the first ball was bowled. Further, he taunted the Red House speakers, “My worthy opponents, did you join this school for free, by any chance? Ask your father! Ask your mother! How much of “hard earned money” was spent on your education! And still…you dare say, money is less important?”

It was now Red House’s turn. Defending education was an impossible task. Red House folks spoke in a pompous monotone, “My dear friends, may I ask…may I ask a basic question? What is education?  Education comes from the Latin word “educare”- to nourish.” All this was too cerebral for us and was met with a round of yawns. The speech sounded like a sermon from a pulpit, as though great-great-grandfather was preaching, wearing a Dadabhai Naoroji cap and stroking his white, flowing beard.

The crux of the Red House argument was this- Education was the “summum bonum” of life. (By the way, what does summum bonum mean?) We are humans because of education. Remove that, and we will all be animals! (This sentence was met with a round of catcalls, but that’s a different matter!) Also, education need not be considered as “pursuit of knowledge” alone. Learning any basic skill is education. And only through that skill, you can make money.

The next Green House speaker tore into Red House’s argument- dismissing it summarily as “baseless and puerile”.  (By the way, what does “puerile” mean?) “Gentlemen! he is twisting the word “education”! By giving it a different spin, he is not sticking to the framework of the debate. The topic is about “formal education” and its importance with respect to money. He concluded with a phrase that has stayed with me to this day- “Red House’s argument has no footing whatsoever- it is like a post-dated cheque on a crashing bank!”

The speech was met with a thunderous applause from Green House. Shouts of “Bravo! Bravo!” rent the air. No one knew what a “post-dated cheque” meant. It didn’t matter. That one phrase was enough- like a sledgehammer, it struck Red House right on the head. Serves them right!

As the debate proceeded, it was unclear what was going on. Education depended on money and money depended on education. It was a chicken and egg problem of mutual dependence, with no clear-cut exit strategy. The speakers were confusing themselves and the audience with them. “Yaar, he is scoring a self-goal yaar, by praising money, when he is supposed to praise education!” the audience giggled and discussed among themselves.

The results were about to be announced. We waited with bated breath and prayed fervently, “Dear God! Please God! This one-time God, let Green House win!”

Red House won!  We were shocked, "How did Red House win? They were blabbering and bleating “meh-meh-meh” like goats! How could they win? As usual, Red House cheated and won!" Red House folks erupted- jeering and thumbing their nose at us, rubbing salt into a festering wound! Teachers had a tough time, restraining boys from opposing camps who caught each other’s collar and came close to fisticuffs! Tension and emotion ran sky high.

Let’s face it- the judgement was partisan and unfair. After all, the judges were teachers who “colluded" with Red House. As educationists, how could they allow money to win over education? We smarted under that loss.  Like Javed Miandad’s last ball six nailed India, Green House snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. We couldn’t look at Red House folks in the eye for a whole year.

The next year, all the houses were shuffled. Some of us, Green House students, now turned Red. And once you got a coat of Red, the worldview changed. Obviously, education was more important than money! What was the debate about?