The Importance of Education - Case Study Example

Introduction Education is considered as one of the most important aspects of a society and the key driver of change. Over the period of time, the change that has occurred is mostly due to the level of education and general literacy achieved by any given society. As such, all human societies, whether of the past or the present have larger interests in the education and teaching. Teaching is considered as an activity related with the education and is considered as an important and second oldest profession in the world which is often the medium which delivers the overall education and training to the pupils in the society. Though it is quite a fact that not all nations actually channel the required resources and money to improve the overall level of education within the society however, almost every society recognizes the importance of education and what it can achieve. New born children are born as illiterate and innumerate therefore in order to make children culturally aligned with the society and help them to learn the basics of the society; education can play an important role in helping them to acquire knowledge and learning. As such, the education is considered as an important social sorting mechanism within the given society. This also results into an economic and social uplift of the individuals as well as the societies as a whole. This paper will therefore discuss and argue about whether the education is necessary and relevant to the status of the pupils as well as the society as a whole. Philosophy of Education Philosophy of education is considered as the form of applied philosophy and is a normative theory and is focused upon answering the question of what education should be and what disposition education should cultivate within the society. As s such it offers a critical view of the overall objectives of the education and how it should be imparted within the society to make it more appropriate to achieve the desired results. The field of philosophy of education is believed to be lacking the academic cohesion and rigor thus lacking the overall application of theory in practical manner. Part of this problem has been the focus of academics on the education policy rather than shaping the overall philosophy of the education. As such there remains a widespread division between what philosophy of education has achieved so far and what has been the focus of the academics working on the development of philosophy as well as policy of the education.1 There is an increasing disparity regarding outlining one concept of education and as such it may become difficult to suggest as to what education actually encompasses and how it can be comprehended in under one concept. The education having a diverse meaning and association therefore may also require an extensive understanding of how the various components of the education can actually fit together to define the channels through which education can be imparted to the individuals as well as in society. It is critical to first understand as to how the word education or even word educate are being used in the literal sense within the language. Both the words are often used or denote a process of human enterprise through which the goods or anything tangible or intangible can be produced. As such both the words, in effect, are materialized through the institutions and individuals which can transform the overall functions into tangible results. Education essentialism suggests that children shall be at least able to learn the basic knowledge and traditional basic subjects with more depth and understanding. This view of education philosophy therefore clearly outlines as to what is important in terms of learning and pupils need to focus on the learning of basic subjects more rigorously. This is more of back to basics approach which outlines that the pupils must at least understand the basic knowledge and has the ability to use that knowledge in their ordinary life. This also suggests that the accumulated knowledge of any given civilization can actually be passed from one generation to another through student-teacher interaction and therefore must be focused upon communication the knowledge and making it understandable.2 Existentialism is another important philosophical orientation of the education and suggests that every individual is responsible for creating overall meaning and sense out of the life. As such this view suggests that society as well as the religion may not have a significant role in determining what experiences an individual can generate in order to create more meaning from the life. It is therefore critical to suggest that education is one of the critical ways through which an individual can actually create more meaning and generate more sense out of the life. This view puts more onus on the individual and his responsibilities towards life and also suggests that the existence precedes essence therefore the most important consideration for an individual shall be the focus on being individual. Realism is another important school of thought suggesting the knowledge gained through the senses is the real knowledge. As per realism, whatever is actually perceived by the senses is the real entity in the nature and the rest may easily be discarded as non-essential in nature. Realism is important in the sense that it outlines the ways through which knowledge can be acquired and disseminated within the society. The social realism critically suggests that bookish knowledge may not be sufficient and it is more important to actually gain practical knowledge. Social realism therefore is an important step towards understand as to what type of education needs to be imparted and how institutions can actually develop the curriculum and other material to deliver the required knowledge. Social realism therefore advocates the use of travel and other methods to gain direct knowledge without actually emphasizing on the gaining of knowledge through the senses.3 Pragmatism is another view of education philosophy and relates the acquisition of knowledge with the circumstances. It suggests that ideas may seldom come out of the imagination and need to be seen from a particular set of circumstances which can generate them. Pragmatism therefore may outline that the education system may been need based and focused on the circumstances rather than being developed in its ideal form. The private and public sector education may be one of the examples of this.4 A historical look at the overall progress of education system and universities suggest that, over the period of time, universities focused on developing the curricula as well as teaching methods which were central to the theology as a philosophy. Realism has made it relatively easier for the universities and schools to develop the curriculum which is scientific in nature rather than focusing on the teaching of language and literature. Realism therefore put a lot of emphasis on introducing the scientific methods of teaching and observation within the teaching and knowledge gaining methods.5 Role of Education in Life It is suggested that the essential difference between the humans as well as the inanimate things is the ability of the living beings to renew themselves. This critical difference is mostly due to how both actually approaches the life and what factors contribute towards the development of such tendency to renew and not to resist to the force greater than one’s own strengths. The essential process of life actually moves ahead due to certain experiences as well as the knowledge which help propel living beings to live a better and more organized life. As such life is critically dependent upon how wiser decisions we make and the wisdom comes through if one has achieved an acceptable level of education and knowledge to navigate through different phases of the life. A much closer concept to the overall view of life is the process of birth and death which makes education as relatively more important in the overall context. This becomes necessary due to the inherent fact that the new generation of any society i.e. the new born and young children are always immature whereas the grown-ups of the society are always mature and knowledgeable. Since the new born individuals of the society are the future of any society therefore to close that gap, it is important that education shall play its role. Education therefore needs to be exercised as one of the key ingredients to make life more appropriate and reduce the gap between the mature and immature individuals of the society. The importance of communication is critical because it helps to communicate the experiences and in reality modifies the disposition of the parties engaged in communication with each other. It is therefore critical to understand that every interaction within the society which takes place between the individuals is actually educative in nature. The educative efforts within the society therefore serve as a link between the old and the young within the society. The importance of education in the ordinary life of an individual is also important because the society has increasingly became complex in nature and to better navigate in this complex world, it is important that education has to play its part in helping an individual to better understand the complex relationships between the individuals and other component parts of the society. Further, the increasing complexity of the society and various structures which exist within the society therefore gives rise to the important question of how the role of teaching and learning needs to be shaped in such complex and changing environment. The increasing complexity of the society therefore makes teaching as well as education critically more difficult to be used for establishing the link between the young and the old of the society. There is a need to address the split between the knowledge acquired through the direct experience and the knowledge which is gained through formal education and with the help of teachers. The complex nature of the society and growth in the overall complexity of the knowledge may further complicate this.6 Environment also plays an important role in helping education to work as a disposition factors within the society. In order to foster the society’s progress and help individuals to better understand the complex web of relationships within the society, a fostering social environment is necessary. This can be achieved by setting up an environment which is conducive for the education and which can actually help young to partake different assignments within the groups to which they belong to. Social environment is important because it can simplify the factors of disposition of the environment, idealizing the existing norms as well as creating a balanced environment. As such, at the individual level, education not only helps to better understand the society but a conducive environment is also necessary. This social environment can actually help to increase the disposition of the education and further improve the overall delivery of education through various existing channels in the society. For wider disposition of education within society, a good social environment therefore is necessary.7 Education, individual and Society The above discussion clearly established the need to address the issue of whether and how the education can actually help an individual pupil and the society. For an individual, it is critically important to actually learn as to how to deal with the society and the several of its complex structures. With increasing complexity of the society, it may be difficult for the individuals to perform and exist in the society. The emergence of different social classes and their relationship with the modes of production makes it necessary that individuals shall give due preference to the education. Without being educated, an individual may not be able to navigate through the life in terms of work, earning as well as the ability to live a decent and acceptable level of life. The overall benefits of this will therefore be passed on to the society also wherein society will be benefited from happier and learned individuals. Since education also works as a social function, its importance within the society and for individual therefore may be of significant importance. As a social regulator, education can actually help pupils to navigate through different segments of the society and properly fit themselves into the relevant class and groups. Education actually enables the individuals to move within their social groups and also Having a well skilled human resource base which is educated as well as skilled can offer a greater opportunity to the society to increase its economic well-being as well as individual well-being also. As such both the society as well as the individuals will benefit from this and the education is both relevant and beneficial to them. Education also helps to achieve the critical thinking and build the capabilities of the individuals to actually think critically and scientifically. The realism which advocates the use of scientific method is achieving the knowledge therefore clearly encourages developing the critical thinking ability within the individuals. This actually helps pupils to develop their reasoning capacity and also they are guided by the reason rather than their emotions. A critical thinking actually develops the ability to make better decisions and improve the overall outcome of such decisions.8 Education also helps societies to actually avoid indoctrination as both are not only different but also require a different set of values to be implemented. Almost every civilized society discouraged indoctrination and encourages the alternative of education as both are distinct and separate. Indoctrination may actually make individuals rigid and not open to critical thinking and reason. Lack of openness to the critical thinking and reason may create fundamentalist or rigid tendencies within the individuals which can be detrimental to the society as a whole. Conclusion Education philosophy has evolved over the period of time and there has been an increasing emphasis on how and when to achieve the knowledge and education. One of the key aspects of the education and its importance within the society is the fact that it is centrally recognized by all the societies. Despite the fact that all the required resources may not have been diverted towards the betterment of education within the society however, its central importance is intact within all the societies. Over the period of time, it has been suggested that the education is a diverse term and can embody different aspects of knowledge and how the same is actually achieved. In a democratic society, its importance is manifold because it also has an impact on what kind of education institutions is developed and what curriculum is being taught within such universities. It is critical to note therefore that education not only shapes the policy making of the societies but also help them to achieve a better and more organized society. For pupils, education is important and relevant as it allows them to easily move within the social groups they belong to get better work and hence more earning opportunities besides helping themselves to build a more secure future which can improve their overall standards of life including that of their families. References 1. Dewey, J. (1916) Democracy and Education, (Free Press edition, 1966) 2. Lewis, C.S. (1943) The Abolition of Man 3. MacIntyre, A. (2009) God, Philosophy, Universities, Rowman and Littlefield 4. O’Hear, A. and Sidwell, M. (eds), (2009) The School of Freedom, Imprint Academic  5. Oakshott, M. (2002) The Voice of Liberal Learning, Liberty Press 6. Peters R.S. (ed), (1973) The Philosophy of Education, Oxford University Press 7. Warnock, M. (1977) Schools of Thought, Faber and Faber 8. Woodhead, C. (2009) A Desolation of Learning, Pencil-Sharp Read More