Forums » Discussions » Education in Theory and Perspective

sokar
Avatar

What is the meaning of education?

Webster defines education as the process of educating or teaching. Educate is further defined as "to develop the knowledge, skill, or character of..." Thus, from these definitions, we might assume that the purpose of education is to develop the knowledge, skill, or character of students.

It is also defined in Oxford that education is the knowledge, abilities, and the development of character and mental powers that are resulted from intellectual, moral, and physical trainings. So, it can be said that someone who already got education will have additional knowledge, abilities and change in character and mental power.

While in Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, it is stated that: Education encompasses teaching and learning specific skills, and also something less tangible but more profound: the imparting of knowledge, positive judgment and well-developed wisdom. Education has as one of its fundamental aspects the imparting of culture from generation to generation (see socialization). Education means 'to draw out', facilitating realization of self-potential and latent talents of an individual. It is an application of pedagogy, a body of theoretical and applied research relating to teaching and learning and draws on many disciplines such as psychology, philosophy, computer science, linguistics, neuro-science, sociology and anthropology.

From the quotation above, it is assumed that education does not merely transfer knowledge or skill, but more specifically it trains people to have positive judgment and well-developed wisdom, better characters and mental powers. Through education, someone will be able to search through their natural talent and self-potential, empower them and finally will result in gaining their self-esteem and better life.

The history of education according to Dieter Lenzen, president of the Freie Universität Berlin 1994 "began either millions of years ago or at the end of 1770". Education as a science cannot be separated from the educational traditions that existed before. Education was the natural response of early civilizations to the struggle of surviving and thriving as a culture. Adults trained the young of their society in the knowledge and skills they would need to master and eventually pass on.

The education of an individual human begins since he was born and continues throughout his life. Even, some people believe that education begins even before birth, as evidenced by some parents' playing music or reading to the baby in the womb to hope it will influence the child's development. For some, the struggles and triumphs of daily life provide far more instruction than does formal. Family members may have a profound educational effect - often more profound than they realize - though family teaching may function very informally.

Education: the purpose, function and in practice

Theorists have made a distinction between the purpose of education and the functions of education. A purpose is the fundamental goal of the process-an end to be achieved, while Functions are other outcomes that may occur as a natural result of the process- byproducts or consequences of schooling. To elaborate these terms, it can be seen in reality that some teachers believe that the transfer of knowledge from teacher to students is the main purpose of education, while the transfer of knowledge from school to the real world or the application of what has been transferred is something that happens naturally as a consequence of possessing that knowledge; it is called a function of education.

Here are some quotations taking from The Meaning of Education: "The only purpose of education is to teach a student how to live his life-by developing his mind and equipping him to deal with reality. The training he needs is theoretical, i.e., conceptual. He has to be taught to think, to understand, to integrate, to prove. He has to be taught the essentials of the knowledge discovered in the past-and he has to be equipped to acquire further knowledge by his own effort" ~Ayn Rand

"The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think, than what to think-rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory with the thoughts of other men." ~Bill Beattie

From the above information it can be said that the purpose of education is to prepare the students to be able to face their life by facilitating them to develop their mind and equip them with "hard skill" and "soft skill" to deal with reality. As the result of this education, they themselves will be able to think, to understand, to integrate and to prove their ability.

Talking about the purpose of education, there are some overviews about it. There are different outlooks between autocratic and democratic regarding education. It is quite clear that each type of world outlook demands its consistent type of education. The autocratic wants the education in the purpose of making docile followers. So, that is why they prefer a type of education whose purpose is to build docility and obedience. In the other hand, Democracy is different from them. Democracy wishes all people to be able and willing to judge wisely for themselves. The democratic will seek a type of education whose purpose is to build responsible, thinking, public-spirited citizenship in all people.

This is also different for the authoritarian society. For them, it is just enough for the leaders to know what they want without thinking about what their people want. It is quite in contrary to what a democratic society wants. For the democracy society, the leaders and the most important - the large majority of the people must see clearly the aims/purpose of the type of education they have. In other words, in a democracy it is essential that the leaders and people have clear philosophy of life and a clear philosophy of education.

strann
Avatar

This is very interesting information, thank you for sharing it with us. I believe that now there are many ways to simplify the learning process with the help of new technologies, for example, you don't need to go to the library for any textbook, you can find it online at any time convenient for you. I also know that you can improve almost all of your study skills with student websites. For example, I used to have problems with writing assignments, usually I couldn't choose the topic that was interesting to me, so it was difficult for me to start doing this assignment. I recently found the free essay topics generator on one of the educational portals and it really helps me create an interesting topic, read some free sample essays on a similar topic and do my writing well.

lukemarsden
Avatar

Move in tunnels in space and jump to pass through holes. Rotate along walls for the safest route. run 3

afan125
Avatar

More the probabilities we provide our kids en route for the education, more we will able them to encounter with their expenditures. And they college paper writing service reviews will income the significant their errands at the early stages of their occupation. And this onwards them to their specialized career as early as ought to be.

afan125
Avatar

I forget the name of that place, where the same statue likes one, which is used as the book cover is present in the reality. I do not know everything about the geographical locations so www.ibuysellprescott.com mostly. The highways are always there for linking these things together.

vigakeje
Avatar

It would become a very cool movie theater here because the location seems very nice. And i love the movie theaters and the Offshorededicated tells us a lot of coolest things about the movies theater. People enjoy their favorite movies in the movies theater and its a great experience too.

najuzyc
Avatar

Many coffee brands are famous and luxurious one. Guatemala Antigua coffee is the one among them which is famous for delicious taste. Always read the aromaconcepts.co.uk ingredients mentioned on their packs for check them either they are real one or not.

lygyfahely
Avatar

The image of this small kitty is looking so good one. I think that many people now show interest in having such GIF images then ordinary one. The epoxy countertops diy can even make these things easier for other people to understand them.

lygyfahely
Avatar

If that watch is no longer available with you then why you share its entire best laser cutter for small business details again with us? Why you are still doing marketing of this product which is not exists now? I think this is one way of making people tense with such things.

jawoku
Avatar

People do a lot of things by making fake accounts on the internet. I had a very bad experience of fake accounts and cheap website hosting is a really very nice website. And sometimes it help us in many thing but sometimes we get in trouble because of these fake accounts.

doxuf
Avatar

Basketball is another interesting game. Girls are also interested in this game. Some tips are given by best laptop for watching movies which are helpful for players to play basketball very well. Girls can do practice and can be professional basketball player.

impossiblegame
Avatar

If you are looking for mini-games to relax, or you are looking for games that are both entertaining and exercise some skills for your kids, Sudoku 247 will be the best choice. Here you can find hundreds of games that will meet your needs. And they are completely free!