What are the benefits and drawbacks of the guru-shishya system?

Although it is gradually dying out in India, the traditional guru-shishya relationship has played a major role in enabling Indian music to develop to an extremely high level. The system of patronage, in which kings, nobles, and other people of wealth supported gurus and enabled them to spend all their time playing, practicing, and teaching also played a major part in the process. Because the shishya lived and studied only with the guru, he or she received an education that was very different from that of a Western student, who generally has many teachers.

In the West, the idea of a liberal education, in which students are given basic education in a number of subjects and later specialize more, has been tremendously influential. The Indian approach, however is at the other end of the spectrum, providing specialized education over a long period of time with a single teacher.

Write an essay describing how the liberal education you have received has affected you. Would your education have been better or worse if you had focused more on a few areas or a single area? What are the benefits and drawbacks of a liberal education? What are the benefits and drawbacks of the guru-shishya system? Which system do you prefer? If you could design your own system of general or musical education, how would it work? (minimum word count: 200; please see rubric).