How Much of Education is Sufficient - Essay Example

“How much of education is sufficient”? This is the question I find asking myself whenever I travel and see a flier or a billboard giving special and “juicy” details about a school. But basically does the school comprise the logo, the teachers and the infrastructure? Does this demonstrate the level and amount of education one can get after attending their classes? What about the education perceived to be gotten from the school, how does it relate to the society? To any layman out there education can mean anything from an organization where someone or some people assemble and they are shown how to write, read and more specifically to think in a controlled stimulus. To me education means more than the custom representation of a room and someone giving the instructions, the teacher, while others takes the instruction, underlying the assumption that these instructions are supposed to be beneficial to the individual. For instance, how many days in the calendar year is someone supposed to attend school and how much of these new skills is one supposed to learn in a single day? This would purely lie on the definition of education and measure of its significance from the learner and the society’s point of view. The classical definitions of education will explain the subject and units one is supposed to take or guided through by an instructor within a given period of time. The time may take weeks, months or even years depending on the education structure of the country with scholarly terms such as terms and semesters in place (Education Review, 6). This would be the total sum of the subject the learner is taken through within the period which in most cases the monitoring of the progress is done through continuous assessment tests and the end of term or semester examinations. This does not give the quantifiable definition of what education is and the subjects of the assessment tests may not necessarily cover the “amount” the learner has acquired. So, what exactly is education and how much does the learner need to “absorb” so as to be termed as “fully educated”? Historians and theorists have come up with definitions in an attempt to holistically define origin of education and the measure to evaluate how much one needs to have achieved to be regarded as “educated”. They argue “education derived from Latin word “Educatum” which means the act of teaching or training”, while others claim “education originated from Latin word “Educere” meaning to “lead forth” or to “come out”. Some theorists like Plato argue that “education is the capacity to feel pleasure and pain at the right moment that develops in the body and in the soul of the pupil, all the beauty and all the perfection which he is capable of” (Mc Culloch, 9). From these definitions and histories we can draw important point of the need to transform individually and the desire to match interests of leading or transforming the society. For the classification point of view, education can be analyzed as both formal and informal in the sense that its intangibility and the modes of transfer are diverse. For instance the formal aspect can be defined as transfer of knowledge and skills in a classroom environment where the instructor explains different phenomenon of writing, reading and application of these skills to the learners. For the informal aspect, the definition is almost the same but differs in the subject matter in the sense that as the formal concentrates on the reading, writing and analytical skills, the informal concentrates with the transfer of habits and lifestyles of a certain group of people across generations (Jeffreys, 3). The lifestyle and habit may be inclusive of traditional writing or reading materials. The degree to which one is classified as educated will be classified in terms of examinations in the formal aspect while for the informal classification the measure can be based on how an individual adapts and conforms to the social norms of that particular group. Several schools of thoughts have come up with definition of education and a relative measure of the level that is required by an individual. This relativity bars someone from discreet claims that he or she is more educated than the other. For instance, Aristotle’s view of education as “Creation of a sound mind in a sound body which develops man’s faculty, especially his mind so that he may be able to enjoy the contemplation of supreme truth, goodness and the beauty of which perfect happiness essentially consists” (McCulloch, 8). From this definition, it is evident that education can only be new and sound ideas channeled to a sound recipient. This shows that the recipient should be eager and willing to learn for the education to be termed successful. The development of the man’s faculty in this sense will be subject to his level of “grasping” the new skills and techniques and the further he can process and assimilate these skills within a given span of time, will define the “much” or the sufficient part of the education. It should be noted our biological diversity, different environmental exposure level and varied human wants and needs will in one way or another dictate the personal definition of sufficient (Secolsky & Doughty, 3). For instance, a high school dropout discussing an advanced arithmetic problem in the midst of college students, his approach to the problem will be faced with some inadequacies compared to the college students. Although this may not be necessarily pegged on the level of education, the focus, aspirations and exposure can play a major role to explain the disparity. Quantifying the definition and application of education will require consideration of the application of the knowledge and skills in a justifiable context which is a subject of the expectation by the individual or society at large. For instance, the justification aspect of educating someone so as to achieve desirable knowledge and skills is purely pegged on both the society and individual’s desire or interests. This can imply that the level of sufficiency in our case will be a factor of what society deems desirable and to an extent of individual’s desire. For example, in the developing nations education to college or university level may be desired by the society but individually one might be interested to pursue a given field to the PhD level. The quantifying factor or the sufficiency level can be pegged on the personal interests which surpasses the societal expectation bringing the issue of relativity in definition and quantification of education. As a student, I am encompassed by the Harvard school’s definition of which an educated person is, “anyone who leaves school with deep understanding of themselves and how they fit into the world, and learnt what some call “soft skills”- complex problem-solving, creativity, entrepreneurship, the ability to manage themselves and the ability to be lifelong learners”. The disconnect between how education gets delivered to the classroom and the desire of students to become good, and well-rounded people should be manifested on the application aspect by the student. From their definition, issues of interests, attitudes and critical thinking take preference and can be used to measure the quantity or the sufficiency of the education that one can claim to have achieved. As an individual in the society one has to think critically about various issues affecting his/her life and draw the implications to the society. This will then be followed by appropriate decisions which should be free from bias, superstitions and prejudices or blind beliefs. This will assist someone to develop a deeper understanding of complex human relationships, explicitly and implicitly define and solve the cause-effect relationships and implement them in his/her society (Wikander & Gustafsson, 14). This covers the aspect of education from the qualitative point of view, the application component and the level of implementation in this case will define “how much” that individual has learnt or is educated in line with the society’s measure. Conclusion Defining education will require analysis of various aspects of an individual and the society. Understanding the concept of education requires not only the focus of infrastructural perspective but also the psychological perception of both the teacher and the student. The all-round development of the society and the skills transfer models to the society member constitutes the “education” in that particular society. Although the quantity of education cannot be numerically stated or the sufficiency claimed in absolute terms, it is a product of implementation of the skills and knowledge achieved through the process of education. This leaves us with a broad definition of education as process of instilling skills of writing, reading, calculating, drawing and knowledge of operating some equipment with which one develops interests in, and attitudes towards social work, democratic living and cooperative management. Works Cited Jeffreys, Michael. Education: Its Nature and Purpose. London: Routledge, 2012. Internet resource. Education Review. Crediton, Devon: Education Pub. Co,. Internet resource. Secolsky, Charles, and Doughty, Denison. Handbook on Measurement, Assessment, and Evaluation in Higher Education. New York, NY: Routledge, 2012. Print. Wikander, Lennart and Gustafsson Christina, . Enlightenment, Creativity and Education: Polities, Politics, Performances. Rotterdam: SensePublishers, 2012. Internet resource. McCulloch, Gary. The Struggle for the History of Education. London: Routledge, 2011. Internet resource. Read More