Praise and Criticism
Educational institutions run by the Ramakrishna Mission tend toward being non-profit. They use the Mission's motto of "Atmano mokshartham jagat hitaya cha" (आत्मनॊ मोक्षार्थम् जगद्धिताय च in the Devanāgarī script of the original Sanskrit), which translates as, "For self-realization and for the universal good."
Vidyashala has received praise for its emphasis on personality development, for never demanding donations (dubbed "capitation fees" in Karnataka), for its fee-per-cost model, for the high quality of its teachers, and for offering scholarships to poor and otherwise disadvantaged students. Vidyashala is admired for the guiding presence of Vedantic monks on the campus, including scholars and musicians such as the Swamis Shambhavananda, Somanathananda, Sureshananda, Jagadatmananda, Harshananda, Purushottamananda, Venkateshananda, Paratmananda, Atmavidananda, Nityasthananda, and Muktidananda.
Some critics, on the other hand, have accused Vidyashala of elitism because only about a tenth of applicants to the eighth grade receive admission offers. Some eyebrows were raised at Vidyashala's preference to renounce state support rather than accept government intervention in teacher recruitments. Another concern has been that almost all of Vidyashala's students go on to join engineering or medical programs; few take up the arts, the pure sciences, law, journalism, or management.
Recent visitors to comment on Vidyashala include George Fernandes, the former defense minister, who noted that the institution emphasized character and personality, and A. Jayagovinda, director of the National Law School of India University, who praised its "value-based education."
On December 9, 2007, Vidyashala made news for a tragic reason. H.P. Nagendra, a visiting parent and formerly a municipal councillor in the nearby town of Mandya, was stabbed near Vidyashala's gates by a suspected associate of his late political rival Jadeja Ravi. Nagendra died of the wounds in Basappa Memorial Hospital, Mysore, on December 11. Later, the then Correspondent Swami Muktidananda confirmed that the incident was in no way related to the school.
Read more about this topic: Sri Ramakrishna Vidyashala
Famous quotes containing the words praise and, praise and/or criticism:
“‘O glorious Life, Who dwellest in earth and sun,
I have lived, I praise and adore Thee.”
A sword swept.
Over the pass the voices one by one
Faded, and the hill slept.”
—Sir Henry Newbolt (1862–1938)
“Come gather round me players all:
Come praise Nineteen-Sixteen,
Those from the pit and gallery
Or from the painted scene
That fought in the Post Office
Or round the City Hall....”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“The aim of all commentary on art now should be to make works of art—and, by analogy, our own experience—more, rather than less, real to us. The function of criticism should be to show how it is what it is, even that it is what it is, rather than to show what it means.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)