Kabir

Browsing through a literature community, I got into a mood to read a bit of Kabir. Google- the wise sage of eworld threw up a Sikh religion site that has a nice writeup on him.
First time I realized that Kabir's verse are found in Guru Granth Sahib. That he preached his own flavor of religion (probably a wrong term here I guess it must be more of a spiritual tradition). This is something common to most early Indian philosophers, and most poetry then was lets face it, devotional and philosophical.
This should not have come as a surprize to me. Afterall the "dohas" that I had read in school were in spiritual tradition. Still its a matter of shame that our schools do not really teach the ecosystem that gives rise to such rich poetry. I read some couplets, had a teacher explain some of the meaning behind the words. Meaning behind the words, not the idea. It can be debated that should a school teach ideas or let the pupils think on their own.
Before you say of course - think. Consider the debate in some of the US about school boards trying to foist some 'creationist agenda' on schools. So maybe its not a bad to avoid what might be a spiritual idea being taught in school. So I think. Hmmm, maybe it IS a bad idea to teach this in school as a science. But history, literature often are an understanding of human lives. How can they be taught with honest unless you also discuss the motives behind the lives?
India with its glorious spiritual traditions, of masters who questioned the existing order and preached alternatives does not expose its kids to their past. Maybe that explains the bigotry that is creeping in. Most kids may not even know that we had thousands of years of great minds questioning the present and past and laying out a different future! That is the tragedy. Most Indians have an arrogant pride in their past little realizing that we are making sure its stays a past.