Beliefs, Assertions, and Theories about Education - Essay Example

Beliefs, assertions and theories about education Introduction If seen through the etymological point of view, then education as a word is derived from 'educare', which is a Latin word that means 'to bring up'. Educare itself is related to 'educere', which means to 'bring forth', 'bring out' – both in context of bringing out what is already within. In other words, education is an experience or an act that has a profound effect on the character, mind and physical ability of an individual. Technically speaking, by imparting education society indulges in a deliberate act of transferring accumulated skills, knowledge and values from one person or generation to another. Webster "defines education as the process of educating or teaching". Modifying the word educare further, it becomes educate, which is defined as "to develop skills, knowledge, or character of a person". Socrates, in ancient Greece, contended that education was simply an act of drawing out the hidden potential of a human being. He was of the opinion that education was a means to explore in a student what already lies buried within him. In the same context of defining what education is, the Sophists, who were a group of itinerant educators, were of the opinion that education was a necessary method which enabled students to gain necessary skills and knowledge so as to gain a position in the society. Different scholarly definitions have been provided on education from time to time. However, in present times, when education is talked about; it is mainly done in context of two different meanings. One, it is an instruction given to students at an institutional level. Two, it is a pedagogical science, which is followed by a student interested in education. Education, like philosophy, encompasses all facets of human life and existence (Tate, 1995). It is a reflection on the multifaceted personality which a human being possesses. It is related to almost all aspects of human life and its immediate environment, which gives it a wider connotation and a deeper meaning. Consequently, it is difficult to frame one single definition around education; one reason why philosophers from Socrates in Greece to Dewey in the west and even a number of well-known eastern (notably Indian) philosophers have made their attempts to define education (Chandra, Sharma, Rejendra, 2002). Beliefs, assertions and theories However, if education is to be critically defined, it can be said that it is a deliberate attempt, systematically executed, with an intention to discipline and instruct society. The intention is a harmonious development of a human being -- at intellectual, social, aesthetic and physical level. Whatever is the type of education imparted the elements remain almost the same - an integrated self, a creative mind, a socially useful and viable purpose, and well-founded experiences which can fulfill the abilities and needs of an individual or a collective group of people, or even society as a whole. Today education is taken more as a right to which all humans are entitled to; in the past, however, it was thought right to education can be have had by only a few (HREA, 2000). The paradigms kept on changing as philosophies kept on evolving as generations passed by (Carlos, 1991). Over a period of time, what emerged as a new thought was the concept of philosophy of education. A vested interest has been shown by societies, through all ages, in education as a form of inquisitiveness. Teaching has been at the core of this inquisitiveness and can be said as having evolved as one of the oldest professions. This statement is well-founded and rooted in a very deep philosophy. When children are born, they are innumerate and illiterate, totally ignorant of a culture's norms and values. It is the teachers who initiate them into accumulation of knowledge, which they use in analysing different things, interpreting thoughts, calculating and acting in a certain direction. Education provides them with a tool that enables them to develop a mechanism which helps them sort things in a perspective manner, socially, and ethically. Education provides these innumerate beings with developed faculties to use the skills and knowledge in accordance with their goals. Autonomy takes over illiteracy. This is because education provides an individual with social enrichment. In his book, Democracy of Education, John Dewey (1916) termed it as 'life's social continuity' and has remarked that “primary ineluctable facts of the birth and death of each one of the constituent members in a social group make education a necessity, for despite this biological inevitability ―the life of the group goes on" (Dewey, 3). However, what is intriguing is that education's social importance is, more often than not, underscored too. This is particularly the case when a society breaks down, by a social upheaval or a crisis, the breakdown is often attributed to the breakdown of education (instead of the society) and even educators. It has always been a point of discussion whether education fosters reasoning and inquiry or whether it is merely a tool meant to transmit knowledge. This is where a friction between two groups working in the realm of education arises. One group considers education as progressive and another group terms it as conservative. Much of this tension is ingrained in differing views on what actually are the aims and goals of education. There is a tirade of questions that are asked. For example, what are these skills and knowledge ought to be, is it possible to learn, if learning is possible what does it actually meant to have learned something. Another point of tension is that it is vague to say that a child has inborn capabilities and potentialities at birth; if that is so, how flexible are these traits that can be manipulated by education? It is a war between vocational education and liberal education. More importantly the question again arises which of the two should form a priority. Another overlap occurs when it cannot be decided whether education is for personal development or social development. When it comes to teaching, which is the thin line that divides training from indoctrination. In order to sort this out, educations argue that philosophy of education is a must. It is because philosophy provides an underlying theory to do a critical analysis on education. The philosophy of education provides a framework through which general theory of education can be criticised, a systematic reflection and critical evaluation on these theories can be done, and thus synthesise educational values with educational facts. In other words, when educational problems are solved through philosophical methods, it can be said a philosophical process enabling one to reach a set of results or conclusions, is at work. These problems can include interpretation of the world, human nature and the universe and their association with man, interpretation of ideals and aims of education, components embedded in the educational system and their relation to each other, relationship of education with political order, economic system, social progress, educational values and cultural reconstructions, and more importantly education's relationship with theory of knowledge. It is interesting to note that education is differently seen by western philosophy and eastern philosophy. In each case philosophy is driven by the geographical boundaries and cultural beliefs held by the people in each geography. In each geography education acts as a carrier of a philosophy being followed there. This can again be divided by traditional and progressive philosophy. For example, in western culture, traditional philosophy of education terms it as hierarchical and authoritarian, in which subject-centered curriculum is followed (Banks, 1997a). Content forms the point of emphasis and reference, in which accuracy and knowledge are essential. In the traditional philosophy there is a predominance of factual evidence, and emphasis is on the wrong and right of a product, which in this case is education. Ostensibly this "product" needs to be measured and tested before being put to use. According to the traditional philosophy, individual strength can be maximized by following a choice a between different types of schools or curricula. Progressive philosophy in the same culture, on the contrary, considers egalitarianism in education, where the emphasis is child-centered, skill-based, experiment-based and experience-based. Feelings and creativity are given more preference over facts and criteria consider skills that are task-based. In the progressive philosophy, co-operation forms a top priority and opportunities are supposed to be equal. Equality is considered a construct for results that are not biased. Beliefs on education in eastern school of thought are mostly dominated by Indian philosophy, which has been broadly classified into orthodox and heterodox groups (Taneja, 2002). Orthodox group believed in Vedas, the Indian treatise on knowledge whereas the second group did not. Those who believed in the same fall in the Asthika system group and are followers of such schools as Nyaya, Sankhya, Vedanta, Mimansa, Yoga and Vaisesika. The heterodox group belongs to Jaina, Buddha and Charvaka systems. When beliefs on education are viewed through the prism of eastern philosophies, a concern is seen as much and equally on aspects of life as on imparting knowledge to the learner. This is probably why eastern philosophy terms education as "vision of life" or "Tattva Darshan". Some scholars have suggested that this philosophy on education begins with a note that is pessimistic but builds up to a great realisation on value’s of life as it progresses. The discussion as it has taken place above relates education mostly to the philosophical thought. Most of the educational theories are speculative educational thoughts that explain, guide or describe educational practices. The speculative part of this thought has been passing on from one generation to another from the time of sophists and Greek philosophers till date. The difference is that today it is being seen in the context of terms like pedagogy, curriculum, andragogy, education policy, learning, leadership and organisation. Several strands of sociology, history, philosophy, psychology and critical theory inform this educational thought. Theories of education, on the other hand, can be descriptive (like that in science) and normative (or prescriptive) (George, 1964). Theory of education refers to a postulation in the normative philosophy, which outlines norms, goals, and standards on how the process of education should be carried out. The second one of descriptive nature refers to a hypothesis which has undergone investigation and has been verified by observation. The first one enumerates the goal whereas the second one supports the evidence through concrete data. In other words the second one is capable of helping the first one realise the goals set out for (Jonathan, nd). It can be said that the evidence-based descriptive theory provides a scheme which is conceptual and binds together several particulars that are discrete. This can be further elaborated through cultural theory of education, through which it can be demonstrated how culture can act as a unifying force between a variety of facts about what and how people gain knowledge (Phenix, 1963). Similarly educational psychology gives rise to what is known as behaviourist theory of education, and sociology of education gives rise to functionalist theory of education (Webb and Jordan, 2010). In other words, theory of education as applicable today can be deemed as accomplishing three things: i) the face of practice (this means when something is theorised, it means the act of either reflecting or thinking as against doing), ii) an explanatory model or generalisation (this can refer to constructivism as a specific learning theory), and iii) a knowledge body (these may refer to some explanatory models or they may even not, but when talked in the sense of theorising it means developing certain bodies of knowledge) (Thomas, 2007). One interesting aspect of normative theories to note here is that they could put forward both factual inquiries and philosophical thought about human beings, along with psychology of learning, but at the end views are propounded by this theory as to what the education ought to be, what all must it cultivate, why should it cultivate the same, what forms must it take and for whom and how. Most of what it propounds revolves around what is or is not good, what are basic premises about this world and humanity and conclusions got by combining these two premises (Frankena et al, 2002). As on today since education serves both economic and political needs, its functions have been, to some extent, been dictated by these two factors. The outcome is a raging debate between educators and sociologist and the result is emergence of at least three new theories, which are the conflict theory, the functionalist theory, and the symbolic interactionist theory. According to the conflict theory education is meant to preserve the power of dominant sections of the society and thus maintain social inequality. Conflict theorists state that the purpose of educational system is to practice sorting, even as there is not any substantial evidence being provided how this is made possible. But conflict theorists stand their claim on the argument that schools sort along ethnic and distinct class lines. They further state that schools target working class for training to finally make them accept lower-class positions in the society. This trend is termed as "hidden curriculum" by conflict theorists (CliffsNotes.com, 2013). Conflict theorists tend to give many reasons for their claims. One of them is related to property taxes (for example in the United States) which go into funding the schools. As a result of this a disparity takes place in the educational system. Affluent tax payers get affluent and better schools for their children, whereas the not-so-affluent parts of the society do not get that privilege. Since the inflow of taxes is directly proportional to how better teachers (because of better salaries) can these schools afford, they stand at a greater advantage of providing better education to a select class of society. In such districts where this trend is prevalent, conflict theorists argue that the population is predominantly white. Because of better schooling these students stand greater chances of getting into best colleges and finally into professions that promise them higher pay scales and perks. Functionalist theorists, on the contrary, believe in the general premise of education that it is primarily meant to spread knowledge and impart basic skills to the forthcoming generation. This theory, which was popularised by Emile Durkheim (born April 15, 1858; died November 15, 1917), argues that education helps propel masses into society's mainstream. He preferred to name this as "moral education"; an effective tool to mobilize people "to be one" in the wider social context formed by diverse cultures. According to the functionalist theory education provides social control and transmits core values in a society. It is noteworthy that even functionalists see the function of education as "sorting" but not the type of sorting that was above discussed in case of conflict theory. Functionalist refer to sorting as a method of separating learners on the basis of merit. This type of sorting has been referred to as social placement by sociologists like Kingsley Davis, Talcott Parson, and Wilbert Moore. Most of these sociologists saw sorting as an effective method of providing benefit to the society. Sorting, in the long run, leads to interpersonal connections, called networking in this modern parlance. In all functionalists see education as a medium to change as well as preserve culture. The symbolic interactionist theory looks at education from a totally different perspective. Symbolic interactionists link it to the classroom happenings, keeping special emphasis on teacher expectations. Symbolic interactionists argue that students' perceptions, performance and attitudes are an outcome of teacher expectations on students. This theory came into light after 1968 landmark study by Lenore Jacobson and Robert Rosenthal. This was a practical study done on a cross-section of students, who were selected randomly between good as well average to bad students. The research found that students fared better when teachers expected them to do so. The growth was proportionate to the teacher expectations. Conclusion As seen above the debate is on. But it would only be partial to address and vote for one particular theory and oppose another. The struggle to agree or not to agree with any one model of learning is still prevalent today among education theorists and practitioners too. History is witness to the fact that vis-à-vis learning, dominant philosophies of the relevant period, have been reflected than anything else. But one idea which has as a matter of act going by the side of all times and all theories is the Socrates' dictum that a man rightly trained is the one who would embrace virtue. The man could a teacher highly trained or a learner with a high aptitude for learning (Infoplease.com, nd). References Banks, J. A. (1997b). Multicultural education: Characteristics and goals. In J. A. Banks and C. A. M. Banks (Eds.), Multicultural education: Issues and perspectives (3rd ed., pp. 385-407). Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Carlos S.N. (1991).The Ethics of Human Rights, Clarindo Press Oxford Chandra S. S., Sharma, R., Rejendra, K. (2002). Philosophy of Education." New Delhi, Allantic Publishers. CliffsNotes.com.(2013). Theories of Education. Available http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/topicArticleId-26957,articleId-26914.html. Accessed April 22, 2013. 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