The Importance of Education - Assignment Example

College: The Importance of Education Introduction The concept of education is d several years ago during the reign ofAristotle, Plato and the likes. Various philosophers and scholars perceived the concept of education more or less differently but most of them held similar meaning. The term ‘education’ originates from a Latin word ‘Educare’ meaning to nourish or lead forth. According to Aristotle, education is the ‘creation of sound mind in the sound body’. Another prominent philosopher and scholar, John Dewey describes education as the development of all the activities in an Individual so that one can manage to take his environment. Similarly G.S. Thompson notes that education is how the environment influences an individual to bring about permanent changes in the behavior as well as habits of an individual. Therefore, the term education is a pedagogical process as well as a component that nourishes the body, mind, soul of ignorance. This study focuses on different key aspects as well the as the context of education. This is coupled by objectives and importance of having education in place (Brayl & Murray, 1998). The concept of education This study views education in two aspects. These are the narrow aspect and the wider aspect. Narrow aspect In the narrow education aspect, the field of education is necessary in imparting instructions in schools or colleges. Here, there is direct involvement between the teacher and the student interacting with one another. There is a well stipulated order in which the education process has to be delivered. For instance, the key areas of focus include; objectives of education, curriculum, teaching methodology, including discipline in the educational process as well as application of evaluation techniques. The narrower aspect of education is purposefully directed to the development of a child through schooling. This means that the powers and behavior of the child is altered deliberately for a specific intention on the development of the child (Paulo,1993). Wider aspect In the wider concept of education, there exist informal, non-formal and formal forms of education. Here, education is considered a life long process beginning from the child’s conception to the time of death. According to Dewey, education is the progressive acquisition of experiences and abilities in which one incorporates throughout his life in the control of environment as well as reaching the limits of possibilities. These two approaches are very important in development of human beings in particular. Generally, the understanding of the concept of education can be viewed in the most appropriate way. There are two concepts of education that are most relevant in the contemporary human development. First, we have the ‘Banking concept’ and then the ‘Modern concept’. The modern concept In the modern concept of education, there is a great emphasis on the shift individual development to national development. Here, education does not only focus on the social change but also on the national development. It is believed through national revolution, there will be realization of economic gains. This is a concept that most countries have adopted and others being encouraged to adopt in order ascertain national development that is now thriving the development process of the modern countries. This has been particularly important in social, economic and political interests of national development. The banking concept The banking concept of education is teacher-student interactive concept. This is the most important in the formal or non-formal modes of education. The teacher is perceived to give or deposit knowledge while the student is the receiver of that particular knowledge. The teacher communicates and gives instructions as the student listens, memorizes and practices the communique of the teacher. Here, the teacher uses evaluation methods to find out if the communicated information was well incorporated by the student. The information that would have been well incorporated and memorized by the student, it will be long stored for personal, social and economic development. The context of education The present and future aspects in terms of individual development of the mind, body and soul of ignorance is a very interesting area of study including many sociologists. This is because; it is through education that people change their habits and behavior. Education is a social function; Education is basis of bringing change to the society. These changes are evident through various aspects like economic, moral, cultural, social as well as scientific changes in the society. Education helps in the reconstruction of the society and in managing the society’s environment (Paulo,1993). Education is the need for the modern age; the modern age is reigning in science. There is demand of education in every aspect of national and international facilities. This has greatly raised the need for adult education, social education as well as non-formal education. Education is life; education is a process that takes place throughout one’s life. Every time, an individual is always learning something and sequence of learning continues to replicate until his death. Education is a bipolar process; the process of education involves the interaction between the teacher and the student. This is an imitation of a magnet with has two poles. The teacher manipulates the mind of the student to attain certain objectives through mutual co-operation hence making the life of the student more promising and successful. Education is a tri-polar process; just as noted by John Dewy, the process of education is important with the effect of social environment. This means that education is a concept that touches most social aspects of human beings (Brayl & Murray,1998). Hypothesis The null hypothesis of the study of the concept of education is quite evident to the whole being. Education is a fundamental process that sharpens the well being of an individual. In this sense education is the ladder that many people climb to effective living. Education is a requirement to the development of a whole child to adulthood. Education not only the process of acquiring knowledge but also a process that initiates development in the social life, body and facing out ignorance. Therefore, education is linked to social as well personal growth. Another important hypothesis of taking a study in the education concept is that, national development is directly proportional to the number of people educated. Methodology The methods of disseminating information from the field include the use of direct interviews as well as use of questionnaires. Direct interviews; Direct interviews were conducted to various levels of people according to the level of education like, primary, secondary, college as well as universities. This included questions concerning formal, non-formal or informal education. This would help in examining the intellectual power of an individual in regard to personal development as well as social growth not limiting contribution to the national development (Wolcott,1995) Interviews were also made to people of different age groups; for instance 5 to 10 years, 11 to 15 years and so on. This was particularly important in examining the level personal development with age. It was essential that an individual’s knowledge progressively widens as he continues to grow up. We also used literature information from the library. These included books and journals. Use of questionnaires; Questionnaires were also used. The content of the questions were mainly divided in to three main sections. For instance, what is the main form of education do you prefer? Informal, formal or non-formal; what is your supplementary form of education your normal education process?; What are the personal and social changes that have taken place with the view of acquiring education? Limitations of the methodology Conducting the research using the two methods of questionnaires and interviews were marred with various challenges. It was a tiresome process of conducting interviews from different people. This involved walking one on one on foot so that we meet different levels of respondents. Some respondents considered their level of education private hence they could not disclose the information concerning their educational experience. Some people seemed to be so busy and they couldn’t be patient to provide adequate information. Another main challenge in using these types of methodology included biasness of the respondents in filling the questionnaires. Some respondents could not provide information concerning their real life experience in acquisition of education. The use of literature materials had different views with different authors. These difficult especially in gathering uniform information from different authors. Conclusion Therefore, from the findings it was found that education is the growth and development of an individual in relationship with the existing environment. The revolutionization of education has played a key role in personal development, social living, as well as improved living standards. With education, we get the final product of getting an educated and an enlightened individual (Brayl & Murray ,1998). Works Cited Paulo, Fredd. “Pedagogy of the Oppressed”. New York: Continuum Books, 1993. Bray, Michael & Murray, Tony. R Methodology and Focus in Comparative Education?,London: Prentice Hall,1998. UN (1989) United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child Wolcott, Hill. F. “The art of fieldwork”. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press,1995. Read More