Educational Goals and Rationale - Essay Example

? Educational goals and rationale Educational goals and rationale Different people may have different opinions about the goals and rationale of education. Some people believe that education is a mean for obtaining good jobs or profession whereas some others are of the view that the rationale of education is to make good citizens and to help the people in developing a sound personality. In any case, nobo0dy have any doubt about the utility of education in shaping the life of a person. Learning is a multifaceted and complex task because of the complex elements involved in it. It is not necessary that two people may grasp in depth knowledge in a particular topic using the same learning method. Moreover, it is not necessary that two person who got the same training may have similar knowledge on a particular topic. This is purely because of the differences intelligence and learning styles. Entwistle (1986) has classified learning into three major categories; deep, surface, and strategic (Entwistle, 1986). In other words, some people may acquire only the surface level knowledge whereas others may acquire in depth knowledge. A third segment of people may consider their learning as a strategy to obtain some professional excellence or career goals. In any case, learning or education will never be a waste for anybody in their life. This paper briefly analyses the goals and rationale of education. “The best way for a person to learn depends on the person, of course” (Understanding Different Learning Styles, n. d) One of the major goals of education is to assist the students in their learning styles and to improve their skills in all areas, specifically in science. Different students may have different intelligence levels and learning styles. In such situations, the teacher should try to provide individualized learning atmosphere for the students. Teachers should assess the learning styles of their students and make necessary changes in their teaching styles. For example, some students may find it easy to grasp when the teacher was able to connect the topic with familiar life situations. In some other cases, students develop curiosity when the teacher was able to develop a particular topic from a known situation to unknown situation. Many students like the problem solving method of learning. In any case, the teacher should be able flexible in his teaching methods to cater the needs of all the students in the class. Scientific knowledge is essential for rational thinking or critical thinking. Critical thinking is the much needed quality to enhance learning. In the absence of critical thinking, students will get only the surface level knowledge about a particular topic. As the name implies, surface learning helps a person to learn a topic only at the surface level. The learner may not penetrate deep into the roots of the knowledge in such cases. For example, the knowledge “Atom is the smallest element of matter” is only a surface level knowledge. On the other hand, if the student was able to analyze why atom became the smallest element, what are the constituents of atom, structure of atom, various internal and external forces which bind atoms together in the molecule etc, the student will get in-depth knowledge about the particular topic atom. The goals of education are to provoke such critical thinking abilities in the minds of the students. The third major goal of education is to improve the academic skills of the students. This can be done through a variety of methods. Technology is developing rapidly and these technological developments can help students to improve their academic skills. For example, earlier, students relied on published books for getting more details about a particular topic. However, the introduction of internet has changed the whole scenario. Now students look into the internet first to get specialized knowledge about any topics. The students should be given adequate training in using modern technologies to enhance their learning potentials. Another goal of education should be to improve the creativity skills of the students. Dreaming about impossible things may help the students to make them possible. For example, earlier, people thought that it was impossible to travel to moon or outer space. Many ancient people dreamed of traveling in outer space. Now scientists are able to develop technologies not only to travel to outer space, but also to stay months and years in outer space. In other words, deep learning and creativity helped scientists to convert impractical things into practical things. “Understanding of problem solving, reasoning and numeracy (PSRN) are the major objectives of any educational system”(Areas of Learning and Development, 2010). Both in professional and personal lives, people face a variety of problems. If an educated person failed to solve these problems, the purpose of education can be questioned. Education should enhance the problem solving skills. In fact human life is filled with lot of problems, and all the people may face some problems; simple or complicated quite regularity in their daily lives. If education failed to help people in such situations, it may become meaningless. Much of the current system is oriented around giving students answers. If we only care that students know some fact, then it's fine for us to simply give it to them at some point when they are ready to hear it. But a rational educational plan wouldn't care so much that students know some fact X as that they know how to reason using X. In other words, we should care that they know how to use X in an argument, or how X might be disputed, or how to find facts similar to X, or how far X can be pushed. For this to happen, students must have goals that lead them to care about reasoning with X. They must be given situations in which they come to care about how X might be disputed or how it might be used to bolster some point they wish to make. An education system that offers such environments cannot be oriented around facts. It must be oriented around questions (Students Should Learn to Question, n. d) “Self-awareness, managing feelings, motivation, empathy and social skills are some other major objectives of education”(The national strategies, 2010). A person’s mind has got lot of hidden faculties and education should help him in opening these hidden faculties. There are many cases in which people failed to prosper in their lives even though they got adequate education. This is because of the fact that education failed to open up the hidden faculties of mind. For example, there are many cases in which students forced to select some courses against their will. In some cases, the parents force them to select a particular course against his will. A student who likes to study art subjects may fail to prosper in subjects if he is forcefully injected into the science stream. Education should help a student in enhancing his existing skills more effectively rather than trying to cultivate certain skills. Motivation is an important aspect which controls education and without intrinsic motivation a student cannot excel in his studies. Unfortunately, most of the educational systems are heavily dependent on extrinsic motivators and students forced to study topics which are interesting to them. Another goal or rationale of education is “to develop in the student a sense of right in relation to the surrounding world. This involves helping him to be aware of the world and its ways that affect him, without developing a craving for becoming a part of its system”(Goals for education, n. d.). Children during their early stages may not have adequate knowledge about the rights and wrongs in their life. It is difficult for them to segregate between the rights and wrongs because of the different philosophy of life and belief structure in this world. The rights of one person need not be the rights of another person. For example, Christians advocate single wife for a person whereas Islam has no problems with having more than one wife for a person. Such contrasting beliefs and knowledge may often create dilemmas in the minds of the students. Education should be able to dilute all such dilemmas and streamline the thinking process of the students in the right path. In short, the ultimate aim of education is to guide the students towards truth. Conclusions The ultimate aim of education is to make a person in identifying truths and to segregate between the good and evil. Education should also enhance creativity, critical thinking and problem solving skills. It should also assist students in understanding their learning styles, and to improve their academic skills through the use of technology and other available facilities. References 1. Areas of Learning and Development, (2010), Retrieved from http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/node/132713 The above article stresses the importance of problem solving, reasoning and numeracy in education. The importance of numbers, calculation, shape, space measures, etc in education is beautifully explained in this article. 2. Entwistle, N. (1986). Approaches to Learning in Higher Education: Effects of Motivation and Perceptions of the Learning Environment. Retrieved from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED271074&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED271074 This article provides some knowledge about the importance of motivation, perception and learning environment in education. This article divides learning into three broad categories like surface, deep and strategic and provides in depth analysis of each method of learning. 3. Goals for education, (n. d.), Retrieved from http://www.anabaptists.org/ras/goal4edu.html This article provides around 13 objectives of education. To indoctrinate the student in truth, To develop moral responsibility, To develop in the student a sense of right in relation to the surrounding world, To develop skills necessary for life and service etc are some of the goals of education mentioned in this article. 4. Students Should Learn to Question, (n. d). Retrieved from http://www.engines4ed.org/hyperbook/nodes/NODE-29-pg.html This article asks children to question everything in order to find out truth. It criticises current educational systems and argues that current educational system is fact oriented rather than goal oriented. 5. The national strategies, (2010), Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL): Improving behaviour, improving learning, Retrieved from http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/primary/publications/banda/seal/ This article analyses various aspects of current education and learning methods. It stresses the importance of Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning and the necessities of modifying current educational system to improve and learning of the students. 6. Understanding Different Learning Styles, (n. d.). Retrieved from http://www.ndt-ed.org/TeachingResources/ClassroomTips/Learning_Styles.htm This article gives some elementary idea about different learning styles. It also stresses the importance of healthy learning environment in promoting education. Read More