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Education in the Caribbean Essay

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Education in the Caribbean

According to Emille Durkheim, “Education is the acquisition of knowledge and the learning of skills. It often helps to shape beliefs and moral values.” Education is one of the very tools through which social change and transformation can be achieved.

Education, and in particular the teaching of history provides a link between the student and society and also a sense of belonging. The teaching of history helps to shape an individual’s belief’s and values of what was taught and passed on through generations. For example, teaching a student about slavery and learning about how their ancestors revolted to claim their freedom can teach an individual to have a sense of …show more content…

Education also teaches individuals certain skills that would be necessary for their future occupation which is usually in an industrial society with its increasing division of labour for example, a developing nation like Trinidad and Tobago which makes most revenue on oil would need more people to work in that sector such as engineers and rig workers. Individuals who wish to pursue this would need to study certain subjects such as physics or chemistry. In pre- industrial society it was common for parents could have passed on occupational skills to children without a need for formal education. Schools therefore, transmit both general values which provide the “necessary homogeneity for social survival”, and certain skills which make available the “necessary diversity for social cooperation”. Industrial society would therefore come together under “value consensus” which is a general agreement by members of society concerning what is good and worthwhile.

According to Talcott Parsons, schools socialize young people into the basic values of society. He maintained that value consensus is essential for society to operate effectively. Schools

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