How do you define education? Some may have a very simple definition to answer this question. However, the definition of education is much more encompassing than one might think. If your definition didn’t make you think of philosophy, experiences, and theory than you might want to rethink your understanding of education. Furthermore, why do we educate? Everyone’s opinion on this subject is somewhat connected between expanding experiences to producing “good” citizens. This paper seeks to explore the various definitions of education, as well as, find valid evidence to support the answer of “why do we educate?”
Education: How We Define It and Why We Educate
When people hear the word education most immediately think about
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Although, there are some specifics that were found to be common. For example, Coulter and Wiens (2009) conducted an experiment which they entitled “The Educated Person.” For this experiment, they asked several different types of people of all ages and backgrounds to pick one person in his/her life which they deemed to be “educated.” Although, their responses were divergent, there were in fact similarities found among them. Namely, they found that most of the people picked as “educated” by the participants, were older, had more life experiences, and many had humility as a common characteristic. What I found fascinating was, of the people they chose, none of them had any “formal education.” I have said for years that some of the most “educated” people I have ever met don’t necessarily have a formal education or a degree, but they do have rich life experiences. I was happy to see that Coulter and Wiens confirmed my thoughts in their book, Why Do We Educate?. Further stated in their book is the notion “Education introduces us to worlds we might otherwise never encounter thereby reshaping our vision of the world we think we know.” (Coulter & Wiens, 2009, p. 32). A perfect example of this is the research and readings I did for this paper. It opened my eyes up to new avenues of exploring the craft of educating. Without this class, I may have never come to question my educational philosophy or my
Some people might like education, others might dread it and really don’t see a reason to continue learning about it. Today, for teachers and professors it’s easy to them to tell how the education they teach is effective for an individual student. As we know, education is being taught at school, home, and a little of both. For America today, most children attend preschool, kindergarten, elementary, middle school, high school, and college. Depending on the pupil's career choice, it can take up to 20 or more years completing their schooling system, Usually, during the middle and or high school years in America, professors teach you valid things pupils will be using in life.
When the definition of education is looked up in the dictionary it comes out as “a degree, level, or kind of schooling”. While attending a university or obtaining a degree is largely viewed as being educated, there are many other ways to become educated rather than a degree with your name on it. Gerald Graff, and Mike Rose show their personal experience of being educated without a degree. Being educated is different for everybody, and regardless it’s the person’s personal experiences and lessons that lead them to thrive for an education in their own unique fashion. Mike Rose, professor at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, comes from a family of blue-collar workers.
Education at its best is a process of teaching people to explore ideas about themselves and the world in which they live, to ask questions about the experience called “living” and to embrace ambiguity, to notice the unusual without fear and to look upon the ordinary with new eyes.
Education is the most vital part of man’s existence. The concept of education started in the ancient days and continues to the modern age. Education has existed before this current age, but modern education has been labeled as the most significant part of any possible profession. This assumption is not making waves in the United States of America only, but in the whole world wide. Despite the unique and distinct languages that exist throughout the world, young and developing minds still seek education and new knowledge as technology keeps changing. Education is the backbone and the platform in which we build and develop our own unique ideas that has become
In his essay “What Does It Mean To Be Well-Educated,” Alfie Kohn challenges the current standards that people consider crucial in order for a person to be considered well-educated and explores some interesting questions that help provide the reader with a completely different understanding, perspective, and possibility for standards of good education. At the beginning, Kohn explains how people can argue about the purpose of education, but then fail to realize and recognize whether or not education has truly been successful. Then, Kohn provides the reader with an example of his wife, a successful physician who completed her study for doctoral dissertation in anthropology from Harvard, yet still lacks some educational basics that people consider necessary factors to possess in order for a person to fit in the defined group of well-educated individuals. (Kohn 231-232). After that, Kohn explores some definitions that people set as essential measurements for determining whether or not a person is well-educated and explains why all these standard definitions fail to either evaluate a person’s knowledge or make a person knowledgeable. For example, many people consider test scores, seat time, job skills, and memorization of facts as indicators of well-education. However, Kohn explains that sitting in class for a certain amount of time, “reducing schooling to vocational preparation…to suit the demands of employers,” receiving high results on tests, and memorization of pieces of
Proper education can bring a person something that is known as educational power. Power in an individual’s life that can lead them to eliminate guessing because they now know. That person can now serve and understand
Malcolm X once said “education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today”. From adolescence to adulthood almost every person is put through schooling. As one gets older in age, the education they obtain becomes more rigorous in order to stretch their minds far beyond two plus two or what color the sky is. The strategies of critically thinking and being able to analyze/decipher information in front is them is reinforced routinely in the educational system. With this being said, the purpose of education is to aid in enhancing one’s qualification, socialisation, and subjectification skills within the society regardless of how or where one’s education was obtained.
There are several different concepts surrounding the topic of education but most problematic is in regards to the aims of education within society. With several aims proposed by educational philosophers there is confusion surrounding what education is for and which type of education best suits the individual. Lewis (2015) posed that education promotes student learning and potential as well as fostering of community and self esteem within a school environment. Overall education is the defining product of good citizens in contemporary society, with diverse cultures, social norms and political standpoints. Liberal, vocational and wellbeing education will be discussed throughout arguing that a combined approach to education is most relevant within modern society. The ethical obligations for teachers within education will also be discussed.
Education has existed throughout history in one form or another. The process of passing down accumulated information from one generation to the next has been present in every human society, past and present. From the young listening to the stories of the elders around the hearths of the ancient world, to pupils being instructed in the alphabet in a one room schoolhouse on the American frontier, to the present day online teaching sessions; the tradition of teaching and learning has been a constant in the ever changing world. Education has been and continues to be used for many purposes, chief among them being the creation of an educated citizenry, the empowerment of that citizenry, and improvement of the
Some people may argue that being educated can come in two forms; formal education and life experiences. Being educated means to have learned a skill and knowledge that can be used throughout life (Gaff 4). Everyone is educated in some way, some people are just better educated than others. Different people will acknowledge that an educated person has other concepts than formal education (Pring 10). Miranda expresses formal education considering her social class, family background, and as an art major. Fred exhibits being educated through life experiences; works at the county
Education can be defined as a learning process in which a student and a teacher are involved. The work of the teacher is to pass on the message to the student while the student understands and applies what has been taught. It is also considered as a process of developing skills, knowledge and character of an individual. Education, whether formal or informal, has a function both to the individual and the society, these functions are either manifest or latent. There is a distinction between the manifest and latent functions in that the manifest functions are those that are intended whereas the latter are the unintended functions (Douglas, 2003).
Many people insist that the Old Testament God is depicted as a merciless God. Notions like this can be attributed to the fact that in the Old Testament God is responsible for ordering genocides, inflicting plagues, and often personally striking people down for a variety of infractions. These infractions range from something as small as touching The Ark of the Covenant to something as large as enslaving a whole nation in the same manner as the Egyptians did. Although there are many instances similar to these where God’s actions are not rational and often cruel, there is also a plethora of occasions where God is merciful and loving. The Old Testament God maintains a dual personality in which he is at times
According to Labaree (1997) “a public good is one where benefits are enjoyed by all the member of the community, whether or not the actually contributed to the production of this good”. On the other hand, economic literature states that a good can be considered public if it is not excludable and nonrival. The first characteristic means that if an individual consume this good the other people are not excluded from consuming it. The second means that when one person consumes the amount available to other people does not reduce the quantity available for others (Varian, 1992).
Through the long history,educators,thinkers,politicians and scholars have answered the question of what education is in different ways: some see it from the perspective of educational value,some see it from the perspective of educational purposes,some see it from the perspective of educational content and methods,and some see it from the
The textbook definition of education is “the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge”(Dictionary.com). While everyone has their own personal definition and view on what receiving an education means, some people are more cynical than others and that could be due to the kind of training they received or didn’t. Two famous figures see education in a positive light due to the injustice they felt when they received an education, but really could not use it due to their circumstances. Mary Wollstonecraft is a famous author that went to write one of the most well known novels, but she lived in the time that women could get an education but could not use it like men.Wollstonecraft spoke her mind and had a very strong opinion on how education should benefit both genders. Frederick Douglass was the son of a slave and actually was a slave for part of his life, he just had luck on his side and got to get some education and he preached on how important it was to society but also how it made him open his eyes to the horrors his race faced. These two people have positive views on education, even though for Douglass it came at a later time. Both of their opinions are recorded in the book Reading The World: Ideas That Matter.