Theory and Practice of Education - Literature review Example

Theory and Practice of Education: How Important is it that Education is immediately and Obviously Relevant to the Interests of the Pupils and to Lifein Society? Name: Institution: Date: Introduction Education is one of the most adequate ways of striving for a more hopeful, curious and just world. Education is a wave of positive changes in the society. In different communities of the world, education serves as a means of passing history, knowledge and societal values to the next generation. In most parts of the world, education is accessible, honest and equitable to all members of the society (Newman, 1852, p. 30-40). In education, the role of school is adequately defined; to encourage and empower, facilitate and ensure that children are equipped with the right knowledge and understanding to prosper in life. Education is therefore the societal tool of both maintenance and change since through education a society can be transformed into an entirely new one. All what needs to be done is to properly educate the children of the current generation since they are the one who holds the future (Bubb, 2009, p.15) Over the recent past, the field of education has attracted a lot of interest from many researchers of the world as a result of its varsity and complexity. Different scholars as well as philosophers of the world have over the years devised various theories, models and concepts regarding different aspects of education. This has further brought about contradictions since it is hard for most individuals to find the most appropriate concept, model or theory of them all (Hardie, 1962, p. 30-32). With new theories, concepts and models coming into play, arguments amongst different scholars of the world have ensued on several aspects of education. Theory and practice is one of such aspects that for centuries has attracted a lot of debates across the world (Dewey, 1916, p. 450). The core source of all the contradictions, arguments and debates surrounding education is the fact that it is hard to separate schooling from education even though the two are different. For centuries now, human societies all over the world have been investing a lot of their interests and resources in education activities. Education has over the centuries grown to be recognized as one of the oldest forms of professions of the world (Arnord, 1869. P.34). Different individuals and different societies have channeled adequate resources to support the education activities and institutions present in the different societies (Bold, 2011, p. 53). Moreover, there is no actual definition of education (Warnock, 1977, p.52). But according to many scholars of the world it involves gathering of knowledge adequate enough to make one reach his or her goals in life or accomplish an undertaking (Cole, 2002, p. 40-45). Some scholars view education from just the formal part of it. This makes education sound more appropriate for the younger generation more than the elderly members of the society (Carr, 2003, p.42). Frankena (1956, p. 94-98) argues that education is a process that literally begins when a child is born and ends when one dies. An individual is normally born with no knowledge and no ideas of any cultural beliefs and values of the society but dies with plenty of knowledge, ideas and experiences of life that are normally passed to the next generation (MacIntyre, 2009, p.234). Education does not therefore solely involve the formal part. Education is a bit diversified and one can learn from a school, a church or even from other people (MacIntyre, 2009, p.236-237). Nevertheless, not all societies of the world channel resources in support of education and in this case the formal education. Some societies do not see the importance of educating their children in schools. They only value unity of the members of the society and a good life (Peters, 1973, p.75). Also, a number of individuals in civilized societies of the world such as the American society do not see the need of taking children to school and even if they do it, they are hesitant. It is just that the American law makes it quite strict on education matters. They argue that not all successful members of the society are educated and hence education is that important in life. According to Archambault (1965, p.63), they perceive education as a form of social-sorting mechanisms in the society where individuals are favored according to their academic achievements. Nevertheless, they embrace the presence of the societal institutions such as school and believe that they exist to help individual have a good life as long as in doing so they do not interfere with the lives of others (Adorno et.al, 1950, p.107-120). On the other hand, the bigger population of most societies of the world feels that education is vital for the well being of the society at large since the future of the society lies on the younger generations (Bell, 1993, p. 87-90). To the supporting groups, the only way to keep the society alive is through education and every child has to therefore go to school so as to become a better person in the society. With all these contradicting statements, how important then is it that education is immediately and obviously relevant to the interests of the pupils and to life in society? Arguments for When a child is born, he or she comes to this world with no idea of what is right or wrong. Family members are always the first educators of the child. Education in a child therefore begins right from the minute the child is born. According to psychologists of the world, the child has that natural talent to capture information and in a creative way process the captured information and adequately keep it as knowledge (Best, 1995, p. 57). After birth, the child bonds with the mother or the caregiver first. The caregiver or the mother, therefore has a higher chance of giving knowledge to the child in the early stages of life more than anyone else. The mother or the caregiver therefore plays a vital role in shaping the attitudes, behaviors, values, habits and even the skills of the child even before starting schooling. As the child grows, he or she learns a lot from the extended members of the family. The child learns more about the sustainability of the society; the cultural norms, beliefs and even values. The extended members of the family may be other elderly siblings, grandparents or even the parents. These are the individuals who have greater experiences in life and hence have more wisdom than the child. Eventually, the child begins schooling. Schools are normally social institutions established by the government for the purposes of education (Glover and Law, 2002, p. 60).The children eventually meet with the early school teachers who are now next to their parents. It is from the teachers that the innate capacity of the child begins to be exploited (Wilson, 2011, p. 23-24). At first, it is even hard for the child to attend school or even stay in school. Within no time, the child develops the need to study and gets used to school. The child further makes friends. Such friends are probably from the same neighborhood or class. Through the knowledge the child acquires in school, he or she starts growing psychologically and further differentiates right from wrong. Further, the teacher directs the child on how to well relate with others in school and outside school. This is gradually important to the child since he or she grows up to become a respectful member of the society. Through education, a child gains knowledge about life and learns more about norms, beliefs and values of other societies of the world and even other religions of the world. This way, the child is able to respect others regardless of their color, race, gender or even ethnicity (Robinson and Neaum, 2014, p.25). In school, children gather lots of knowledge not only from their teachers but also from their friends which is vital for their future well being (Hayes, 2008, p.11). Education therefore does shape the lives of the pupils in school as it most importantly adds value to them and transforms them into valuable assets of the society (Gerver, 2010, p. 17). Through the primary education, children get to discover who they really want to be in life (Kerry, 2010, p. 20). They discover the talents they have and even start setting up adequate goals in life. More education helps them achieve these goals and it is from these achievements that they are able to give back to the society in future. A society can never survive without education since education shapes the life of the society through the young generation. (Arthur et.al, 2005, p. 34).Through education, the society is able to grow, abolish poverty and further enhance the social statuses of it’s every individual member. Education therefore has a direct impact of the lives of pupils and to the lives of everyone who is into contact with them (Arthur and Cremin, 2010, p. 43). Education not only makes children knowledgeable but also lays a strong foundation in their lives that they base for the rest of their lives (Goepel et.al, 2014, p. 21-24). With education, it is possible for the children to adequately provide for themselves and for their families in future. Well educated persons make rational decisions that not only benefit them and their families but also the society at large. It is the interest of every child to grow and make a change in the society (Safford, 2010, p.34). Education therefore equips children with the right materials to be what they want to be in life. The society has to function and for it to do so it has to have productive members. This can only ascertained through education. It is of significance to know that the basic knowledge acquired in the primary school level alone is enough to make one survive in the world of today (Gerver, 2011, p. 39). However, education should give more to the society than just mere surviving skills. The individual members have to become productive in their own way so as to prosper. Some scholars of the world view education in the early stages of life as that what allows many persons acquire the ability to think and reason for themselves (Briggs, 2014, p. 10-12). Such persons are sharp and very quick to reason and when it comes to making decisions when in a tight spot, they always do it right without hesitation. Such minds are quite important to the society since they become leaders who are capable of effecting changes to the lives of the others in the society. There can never be change without leadership and the society can never prosper without leaders. Since individual members of the society require some sort of leadership to the make it in life. In fact, there is a contradiction on whether the best leaders of the world are born or made. According to Swaroop & Prasad (2013, p. 39), leadership is not a talent but a skill which is normally acquired through education. Therefore, great leaders in the societies can only be made through education and not through inheritance. Arguments against Some scholars of the world have always held something against education right from the beginning of times. They tend to believe that it is not only through education that different talents in different pupils can be nurtured. The children alone can still grow up and become very important members of the society and further contribute not only to the social well being of the society but also the economy of the entire community at large. According to Adey and Shayer (1994, p. 49), in a situation where an individual has adequately made achievements academically, there is always a discrepancy between the individuals academic achievements and his or her cognitive ability. Does this mean that the schools are not doing enough? Every child is born with an inborn ability to be creative, to process information and even think differently. Some researchers have revealed the fact that these abilities do disappear from pupils at the time when the child is forced to acquire and store inappropriate information in his or her brain that is actually insignificant. But because the teachers dictate it, these children are forced to memorize answers so as to do well in a test. Even with the highest academic achievements, such individuals do not fully utilize their cognitive capacity. Most of the social institutions in our societies where we take our children for education mainly focus more on feeding information to the children without giving the children time to process the information and make use of it. Does this add value to their lives? Great achievers of the world such as Bill Gates and Thomas Edison never finished school. Why did they succeed in life? They succeeded for they had a goal right from the beginning. They also had a chance to research on their own and process the information and adequately make use of it. Today, most pupils are just in school to gather knowledge that they may not at all help them. They are also there to get high grades after which they will get good jobs and give back to the community. But, what have they achieved on their own? They just went to school so that they can please their parent and teachers. There are so many pupils right from the time they join school become less concerned with education. For such pupils, all they need is motivation. Motivation in children mostly results into success not only in education but also in other deeds in life (Gilbert, 2002, p. 15-18). Inside the classrooms, instead of the teachers giving such children the motivation they need they in turn brand them as failures since they measure the performance only through what the child can be able to memorize. A written test is the only measuring tool that is used and any child who does not clearly put down his or her thoughts is a failure. The natural skills, visions, ambitions, creativity, the knowledge processing capabilities and even creativity that a particular child possesses no longer counts. Exam tests alone cannot be used as the only tool to assess the capabilities of a child, nor can they measure how the mind operates. Knowledge acquired through education that is possessed by a person has no value because it is not yet processed since it is not put into use. Unfortunately, our primary schools today are neither for the interest of the pupils nor for the well being of the society. In today’s schools, kids are only taught how to memorize words and store them in their brains after which they are given a test based on the knowledge they memorized. Right from the primary school, the child grows to only use the memorized knowledge in his or her brain as the only tool to change the society. These individuals end up failing the entire community since they do possess knowledge, but they have no value for it, hence they cannot adequately perform the challenging tasks or even solve critical problems in the society. In most institutions of early learning, teachers do punish children in case of a mistake so that the child adequately realizes that mistakes are wrong. It is of crucial importance that a child is punished in the early stages of life since mistakes and punishments are a crucial part of the learning process in a child (Marland, 2002, p. 25). After the punishment, the child becomes aware that whatever he or she had done was wrong. However, it is also of great significance that some of the teachers adequately limit some of the punishments to children in schools because sometimes punishments have more severe consequences to the child than just correcting a wrong. For example, a pupil who keeps on failing does not mean that he or she has to be punished every time he or she fails. The child needs more support to make it or simply the fact that he or she feels that he does not belong in school. Extra punishments to such a child may in turn damage his or her self-esteem and make him or her feel like a looser. This is dangerous to the child since he or she may stop appreciating his or herself. With time, he or she may find no value of being in school, drop out of school at a very early age and eventually get involved in criminal activities or even drug abuse. The society will now be having even a greater problem. Is this what we take our children in school for? Must all the kids go through school to become important members of the society? Some people have made it in life without necessarily being educated. All what matters is that the child fully follows his or her dreams so as to live by his or her expectations because it is of significance. Conclusion Education is important to the interest of pupils in school and to the well being of the society and to some extent, it not important at all. Different individuals have different experiences in life and therefore they may view this idea differently and also differ in views and perceptions. For those individuals who have made it in life through education, they will of course be quick to hail the efforts made by the teachers to prepare young minds for the future of the society entirely dwells on them, whereas for those individuals who have been able to make it in life on their own will not appreciate any efforts made by the primary teachers to equip young minds with the adequate knowledge and skills to face the world. In both cases, the end result is to give back to the society and on both occasions, the objective of giving back to the society is met. To some extent, it may be hard to determine which side to agree to and which not to agree to. Both sides have a point to make and it is up to an individual through his own life experiences to keenly evaluate both explanations. In conclusion, the most important thing to note in this case therefore is the fact that children are the future destiny of any given society. Teachers therefore have a duty owing to the society and the community in general. Teachers should in this case make sure they delegate their duties accordingly so that children are able to lead the way. Also, the teachers should give a chance to the children to be creative or do what they love doing most since it is unjust to deny them a chance to fully exploit their talents or exhaust their cognitive capabilities. Bibliography Adey P.S. and Shayer,M. (1994) Really Raising Standards: Cognitive intervention and academic achievement,Routledge. Adorno, T. W., Frenkel-Brunswik, E., Levinson, D. J., and Sanford, R. N. (1950). The authoritarian personality. New York: Harper and Row. Archambault, R. (ed.), 1965, Philosophical Analysis and Education, London: Routledge. Arnold, M. (1869) Culture and Anarchy, (There is a Cambridge University Press edition, edited by Stefan Collini, 1993). 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