Vivekananda’s Thought on Western Education—A Postcolonial Perspective

Writing in the late nineteenth century Vivekananda saw how education was a tool of mass control. In fact the creation of the “inferior” native brought to birth the politics of the White man’s burden of civilizing the “barbaric” East. Vivekananda harshly criticizes this imagery of the Oriental. He sought to take back charge by affirming the presence of the divine self in all. Renowned post-colonial thinkers like Franz Fanon, and Edward Said have written extensively about this type of cultural and psychological control over the colonized in the 1960s. This paper looks specifically at Vivekananda’s ideas on education, to bring out the nuances in his philosophy and politics.

Vivekananda criticized Western education, calling it negative because it only taught the Indian masses to feel ashamed of their ancestors, their religion, and their culture. This critique makes Vivekananda a pioneering cultural critic of colonial domination. Vivekananda however was not totally dismissive of the role of education in building a strong nation. He lauded the West for educating their people in a way that made them inventors and great thinkers, and where the masses enjoyed material comforts. For him, education was a spiritual training of the mind, such that it would become the perfect tool for application in practical life through invention and industry.

According to Vivekananda, the remedy to the ills of Indian society lay in practical Vedanta as the universalizing aspect of all Hindu sects. He sought to impart an education that would be a blend of the best practices of the East and the West. The scientific knowledge of the West with the spiritual practice of the East would build a nation of strong-willed, self-confident citizens. Vivekananda’s criticism of the Western education system leads the way to post-colonial thought of the mid-twentieth century across the globe.