Education Portal for Students in India

Education Makes the Difference Educate is the first word of his famous slogan “educate, agitate and organize”. The reason is is the undeniable role of education in the building of human character and consciousness. Dr Ambedkar said, “Education is what makes a person fearless, teaches him the lesson of unity, makes him aware of his rights and inspires him to struggle for his rights.” Education plays a pivotal role in life.

It helps us to use our potential in the best possible way and through it, we can reach our highest potential. Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar’s life is the best example to show how education makes a big difference in life. It helped him to cross all obstacles. It was his education that helped him to oppose discrimination against Dalits, and fight for equality.

As a result of his efforts, Dalits have reservations in education and in jobs and other constitutional protections to aid in their quest for dignity. He was the Law Minister, Labour Minister and the Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution.

• It was not only his education, but his values, determination and immensely hardworking nature which made him a renowned person.14 April is observed as Ambedkar Jayanti.
• Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar A short bio Bhimrao Ramaji Ambedkar was born on 14 April 1891 in Mhow, Madhya Pradesh.
• He was the 14th and youngest child of his parents.

His father was Ramji Maloji Sakpal and mother was Bhimabai Sakpal. They belong to a Marathi family from the town of Ambadawe in Ratnagiri district of current Maharashtra. He was born in the Mahar (Dalit) caste who were treated as untouchables and had no rights in society.

They were subjected to socio, economic and religious discrimination. They were not allowed to drink water from the public tap. Dalit students had to sit outside of the class and they were not allowed to enter temples. Their conditions were miserable. However, Ambedkar was determined for education. He was the only untouchable student enrolled in Elphinstone High School and later graduated from Elphinstone College, University of Bombay.

He also studied Economics at Columbia University and London School of Economics, receiving doctorates in 1927 and 1923. He also trained in law at Gray’s Inn, London (Source: Deccan Chronicle, 13 April 2021). He was a great social reformer, jurist, economist, academic, politician as well as a writer.

1. He renounced Hinduism and accepted Buddhism along with thousands of his followers.
2. In 1990, the highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna, was conferred on him. Dr.
3. Ambedkar’s Struggle for Dalits’ Education For many centuries, Dalits were excluded from the mainstream of society and they were forced to live in the outer part of villages.

The Dalits were victims of caste based slavery – and it was Ambedkar who freed them from it. He chose education as a weapon against caste discrimination. However, the way to get education was not smooth, as they were not allowed to take admission in higher studies and had to sit separately in class.

He himself faced this discrimination many times. He described many incidents in his autobiography “Waiting for a Visa.” He became Professor of Political Economy in the Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai. Here, the professors objected to sharing a water jug with him. Another incident was when he returned from London and reached his village, the people refused to give him a ride on the bullock cart.

Birth Anniversary: symbol of social equity and ending discrimination His birth anniversary is celebrated every year on 14 April as a symbol of social equity and fighting oppression. His life is a great example for us; his struggle and determination to get education and hard work proved that one can achieve anything in life.

With 26 degrees and titles including PhDs, he believed education can alone change society. His famous words were “Cultivation of the mind should be the ultimate aim of human existence.” He also ensured justice and equality to each and every citizen of India in the Constitution. Civil liberties, freedom of religion, abolition of untouchability, reservation and prohibition of all forms of discrimination are the gifts of Ambedkar to all Indians.

He believed that education is a movement. If it does not fulfill its objectives, it is useless. True education cradles humanity, generates sources of livelihood, imparts wisdom and imbues us with egalitarianism. Educate is the first word of his famous slogan “educate, agitate and organize”.

• The reason is is the undeniable role of education in the building of human character and consciousness.
• Dr Ambedkar said, “Education is what makes a person fearless, teaches him the lesson of unity, makes him aware of his rights and inspires him to struggle for his rights.” I’ll end up this write up by highlighting the teachings of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) as his teachings about education, discrimination and social equality were on the same lines.

It is a religious and obligatory duty for both men and women to get education. Islam also denies any kind of discrimination, and justice applies to all humankind. As mentioned in the Qur’an: O mankind, indeed we have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another.
View complete answer

Who defined the education that makes the person full of awareness?

INTRODUCING CONTEMPLATIVE EDUCATION – Contemplative education is concerned with the development of the “whole person” and is a form of humanistic education that first originated in the world’s great contemplative spiritual traditions, especially in India ( Thurman, 2006 ).

Although the definitions of contemplative education are diverse (e.g., Garrison Institute, 2005 ; Hart, 2004 ), we define it as a set of pedagogical practices designed to cultivate the potentials of mindful awareness and volition in an ethical-relational context in which the values of personal growth, learning, moral living, and caring for others are also nurtured.

So defined, contemplative education complements several existing public school movements such as moral and character education, youth development programs, and social and emotional learning programs that aim to cultivate young people’s moral and civic identities as well as their social-emotional development ( Damon, 2002 ; Eccles & Gootman, 2002 ; Greenberg et al., 2003 ).

1. It relies upon and enriches each of these existing educational movements by providing a specific set of practices for cultivating mindful and intentional forms of living and learning.
2. As James (1890) noted more than 100 years ago, the faculty of voluntarily bringing back a wandering attention, over and over again, is the very root of judgment, character, and will.

An education which should improve this faculty would be the education par excellence, But it is easier to define this ideal than to give practical directions for bringing it about. (p.424) For more than 2,500 years, the contemplative traditions of India have developed highly sophisticated curricula and corresponding sets of practices by which the refinement of awareness, attentional training, and the ethical development of individuals can be cultivated ( Kabat-Zinn, 2003 ; Lutz et al., 2007 ; Thurman, 2006 ).

Indeed, these three educational aims were traditionally seen as constituting the purpose of education in Ancient India ( Mookerji, 1947/2003 ). As one Indian contemplative, Swami Vivekananda, put it, we need the kind of education by which character is formed, strength of mind increased, the intellect is expanded, and by which one can stand on one’s own feet.

(Vivekananda, n.d.) The training by which the current and expression of will are brought under control and become fruitful, is called education. All success in any line of work is the result of this. High achievements in arts, music, etc. are the result of concentration.

When the mind is concentrated and turned back on itself, all within us will be our servants, not our masters. (Swami Vivekananda, as cited in Avinashilingam, 1970, p.680) At minimum, contemplative education involves active student participation with a competent teacher (in the form of a person or a set of teachings) and a set of experiential learning opportunities designed to help students develop clear, calm, and concentrated states of awareness in a context of personal growth and values such as humility, curiosity, open-mindedness, open-heartedness, and caring for others.

Experiential learning opportunities might involve being in nature, doing art, learning physical disciplines involving set sequences of movements (e.g., tai chi, yoga), engaging in guided imagery, contemplating existential questions, or practicing meditation.

The element common to such diverse activities that demarcates them as “contemplative education” is the presence of a disciplined practice (one in which constraints are placed on normal mental/physical habits), in which the shifting and sustaining of the focus of awareness on particular objects over time (as in one-pointed awareness) or the shifting and sustaining of the focus of awareness on the moment to moment flow of phenomenologically represented content (as in mindfulness) is the central practice (see Goleman, 1988 ; Hart, 2004 ; Holland, 2004 ; Kaplan, 2001 ; Lantieri, 2001 ; Rockefeller, 2006 ; Wall, 2005 ).

The teaching of contemplative practices occurs, by definition, within a relational context in which personal growth and ethics are emphasized. That is, on one hand the practices are taught as methods for helping individuals to become more centered, calm, attentive, and happy in the context of everyday life.

1. On the other hand, such practices are also framed in terms of how one’s personal happiness is interdependent with the happiness of others and in terms of how one can become more aware of the needs, perspectives, and well being of others by being calm and clear oneself.
2. For example, students who practice yoga in gym class might be taught that they do the practices to quiet and focus their minds and bodies and to become more relaxed, more energized and awake, and more aware of themselves and others as they go about their daily activities.

Contemplative practices such as yoga that cultivate one-pointed awareness in a context of personal growth and interpersonal ethics are associated with the calming of the body and the mind. Specifically, the practice of focusing awareness on a single object (e.g., a physical pose, the breath) promotes sensory inhibition and a “relaxation response” ( Benson, 1975 ; Lazar et al., 2000 ).

This initial focusing and calming is called “concentration practice” (i.e., dharana ) in yoga traditions and “calming practice” (i.e., shamatha ) in Buddhist traditions. Once the capacity of consciously and stably attending to a single object is established to a certain degree (e.g., the ability to concentrate), and the body and mind are quieted through this form of effortful control ( Posner & Rothbart, 2000 ), further practice can cultivate nondirective, open, vigilant, and receptive forms of awareness (see Lutz et al., 2007 ).

Practices that cultivate these forms of awareness in a context of personal growth and interpersonal ethics are hypothesized to lead to the development of progressively less reactive and more insightful mental states ( Wallace, 2006 ). These forms of awareness are sometimes called mindfulness ( Brown, Ryan, & Creswell, 2007 ; Kabat-Zinn, 2003 ).

1. In BLoS terms, the realization of mindful states involves an active form of I -self regulation in which awareness is sustained not on any particular phenomenological representation in the stream of consciousness but on the stream itself, without attachment.
2. Evidence suggests that most human beings, under normal conditions of living, do not spontaneously develop these I potentials of concentration and mindfulness beyond conventional levels unless they undergo some form of specialized mental training (see Alexander & Langer, 1990 ; Tart, 1975 ; Wallace, 2006 ) or what we are calling “contemplative education.” At the same time, research on meditation, as a central form of specialized mental training and contemplative education, has shown that meditation produces a series of beneficial outcomes in adults that are captured by the BLoS model—those reflecting executive functioning, motivational orientations toward self and others, and their implications for health and well being.

Specifically, positive outcomes of meditation have included (a) relaxation, stress reduction, and enhanced immune response (e.g., Benson, 1975 ; Davidson et al., 2003 ; Lazar et al., 2000 ; MacLean et al., 1997 ); (b) greater attentional regulation capacity and, possibly, related cortical thickening in the prefrontal lobes (e.g., Carter et al., 2005 ; Chan & Woollacott, 2007 ; Jha, Krompinger, & Baime, 2007 ; Lazar et al., 2005 ; Slagter et al., 2007 ); (c) clearer and more mindful awareness ( Shapiro, Oman, Thoresen, & Plante, 2007 ); and (d) the development of a less defensive orientation toward oneself and others (e.g., Emavardhana & Tori, 1997 ; Farb et al., 2007 ).

1. Providing an education that helps young people develop the kinds of executive control and healthy mindsets discussed here could help to prevent emotional-behavioral difficulties and promote positive development ( Greenberg et al., 2003 ).
2. According to the BLoS model and related work, cultivating I -self functions during childhood and adolescence, when the mental and neural systems subsuming these functions are relatively more plastic and malleable than in adulthood, should be inversely associated with self-regulation failure, poor self-awareness, and unhealthy mindsets later in life.

Consequently, we predict that adults having a history of contemplative practice during childhood and adolescence will be at lower risk for curtailed educational attainments, chronic stress, depressed mood, substance use, ill health, and family difficulties (e.g., Vohs & Baumeister, 2004 ; Kabat-Zinn, 2003 ; Langer, 1997 ).
View complete answer

How does education make a person aware?

Education helps a person be informed about the world around them. It is not just knowing about the world around us, it is something that helps us in knowing how it can be made better. Education not only imparts knowledge of the present but also enables one to think about the future, a sustainable future.
View complete answer

What is John Dewey’s theory of education called?

Dewey’s Method of Teaching – John Dewey is probably most famous for his role in what is called progressive education. Progressive education is essentially a view of education that emphasizes the need to learn by doing. Dewey believed that human beings learn through a ‘hands-on’ approach.

This places Dewey in the educational philosophy of pragmatism. Pragmatists believe that reality must be experienced. From Dewey’s educational point of view, this means that children must interact with their environment in order to adapt and learn. Dewey felt the same idea was true for Educators and that educators and children must learn together.

His view of the learning environment was deeply rooted in democratic ideals, which promoted equal voice among all participants in the learning experience. Dewey’s approach was truly child-centred. A child-centred approach to education places the emphasis on learning about the needs and interests of the child.
View complete answer

What does Carl Rogers say about education?

Carl Roger Carl Ransom Rogers Carl Ransom Rogers (1902-1987), an American psychologist, was born in Oak Park, Illinois. He is best known for the development of new methods of therapy. Rogers taught at several American universities and worked with abused children.

• Dissatisfied with contemporary therapeutic and diagnostic techniques, he founded what is now known as client-centered therapy, client meaning patient.
• This method stresses the relationship between therapist and client and the client’s use of this relationship to guide the course of therapy.
• Rogers techniques predominate today in psychotherapy in the United States.

Carl Rogers would be classified as Progressivism in educational philosophy circles. Rogers published the following books, articles, and videos: 1. Becoming partners; marriage and its alternatives 2. Carl Rogers on encounter groups 3. Carl Rogers on personal power 4.

Client-centered therapy; its current practices, implications, and theories 5. The clinical treatment of the problem child 6. Counseling and psychotherapy; newer concepts in practice 7. Counseling with returned servicemen 8. Freedom to learn; a view of what education might become 9. On becoming a person; a therapist’s view of psychotherapy 10.

Psychotherapy and personality change; research studies in the client-centered approach 11. A way of being 12. Carl Rogers on empathy (video recording) 13. Dr. Carl Rogers (video recording) 14. Three approaches to psychotherapy (video recording) While studying at Teachers’ College of Columbia University, Rogers was greatly influenced by Otto Rank and John Dewey.

Dewey’s concepts of human organism as a whole and the belief in the possibilities of human action enabled Rogers to conclude that the client usually knows better how to proceed than the therapist. Rogers separated learning into two types: Cognitive (academic knowledge such as psychology or multiplication tables) and experiential (applied knowledge such as learning about engines in order to repair a car).

Experiential learning addresses the needs and wants of the learner and is equivalent to personal change and growth. Rogers felt that all human beings have a natural propensity to learn’ the role of the teacher is to facilitate such learning. This includes: 1.

1. Setting a positive climate for learning 2.
2. Clarifying the purposes of the learner(s) 3.
3. Organizing and making available learning resources 4.
4. Balancing intellectual and emotional components of learning 5.
5. Sharing feelings and thoughts with learners but not dominating Learning is facilitated when: 1.
6. The student participates completely in the learning process 2.

student has control over the learning process 3. based upon confrontations with practical, social, and personal problems 4. self-evaluation is the principal method of assessing progress or success. Rogers also emphasizes the importance of learning to learn and openness to change.

• Rogers theory of learning originates from his views about psychotherapy and humanistic approach to psychology.
• It applies primarily to adult learners and has influenced other theories of adult learning such as: 1.
• Significant learning takes place when the subject matter is relevant to the personal interest of the student.2.

Learning which is threatening to the self is more easily assimilated when external threats are at a minimum.3. Learning proceeds faster when the threat to the self is low.4. Self-initiated learning is the most lasting and pervasive. Rogers philosophy of education stressed growth regardless of how it was measured or defined.

• He emphasized process rather than product.
• Rogers research revealed a positive association between affective classrooms and growth, interest, productivity, self-confidence, and trust.
• He documented evidence that students learn more, attend school more often, and are more creative and capable of problem solving when they are allowed to participate in the learning process.

Rogers has provided educators with many fascinating and important questions with regard to their way of being with students and the processes they might employ. He believed interpersonal relationship in the facilitator of learning is more important than the methods used.

Works Cited Carl Rogers Experiential Learning. Biographical details and more on his ideas. (2000, July 6). Available: http://www.onepine.demon.co.uk/proger.html Carl Rogers and Informal Education. Carl Rogers. (2000, July 6). Available: http:///www.inted.org/thinkers/et-rogers.html Encyclopedia.com. Rogers, Carl R.

(2000, July 6). Available: http://www.encycopedia.com/article/11076html McNeil, John. (1990). Curriculum: A comprehensive introduction. (4th ed.). Los Angeles: Harper Collins Publishers. Report Prepared by: Don McDaniel : Carl Roger
View complete answer

What did Albert Einstein say about education?

Albert Einstein changed our way of looking at the universe. He also spoke out about other subjects, including education. Here are fourteen of his pronouncements on issues related to learning and education. Many quotations attributed to Einstein are specious, which is why I’ve provided sources for each of these fourteen.

1. On Schooling: ‘’It is nothing short of a miracle that modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry. ”,
2. On Imagination: ‘ ‘Knowledge is limited.
3. Imagination encircles the world. ”,
4. On Love of Learning : ‘I have no special talent.
5. I am only passionately curious,”,

On Creativity: ‘’It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.’ ‘, On Play : “The desire to arrive finally at logically connected concepts is the emotional basis of a vague play with basic ideas. this combinatory or associative play seems to be the essential feature in productive thought.”,

On Curiosity : “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existence. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery each day.

Never lose a holy curiosity.”, On Wonder: “The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead, a snuffled-out candle.”,

1. On Individuality: “The development of general ability for independent thinking and judgment should always be placed foremost, not the acquisition of special knowledge.,”,
2. On Neurodiversity : His son, Albert Einstein Jr.
3. Wrote: ” was,
4. Considered backward by his teachers.
5. He told me that his teachers reported to his father that he was mentally slow, unsociable and adrift forever in his foolish dreams,”,

On Care for Nature : ” In every true searcher of Nature there is a kind of religious reverence,”, On Tolerance : ‘’ Laws alone can not secure freedom of expression; in order that every man present his views without penalty there must be spirit of tolerance in the entire population.

”, On Beauty: ‘’ To sense that behind anything that can be experienced there is something that our minds cannot grasp, whose beauty and sublimity reaches us only indirectly; this is religiousness. In this sense, and in this sense only, I am a devoutly religious man,”, On Education: ‘’ The wit was not wrong who defined education in this way: ‘Education is that which remains, if one has forgotten everything he learned in school,”,

For more about Albert Einstein and his vision for education (including the above and other quotations), see my book If Einstein Ran the Schools: Revitalizing U.S. Education, This page was brought to you by Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D. and www.institute4learning.com, Follow me on Twitter: @Dr_Armstrong Subscribe to my blog feed
View complete answer

What did Mark Twain say about education?

Mark Twain –

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.Soap and education are not as sudden as a massacre, but they are more deadly in the long run.Education consists mainly in what we have unlearned.In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then he made school boards.

View complete answer

What did Martin Luther King say about education?

‘ The function of education, therefore, is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. But education which stops with efficiency may prove the greatest menace to society. The most dangerous criminal may be the man gifted with reason, but with no morals.’
View complete answer

What did Paul Willis say about education?

Willis believes that education reproduces the type of workforce required by capitalism, but not intentionally. Boys in school are not forced to behave in the way that they do, nor are they forced to look for manual work; rather it is they in their subculture who choose that type of work.
View complete answer

What did Noam Chomsky say about education?

The Educational Theory of Noam Chomsky Analysts: Scott Bovitch Zach Cullimore Tanesha Bramwell-Jones Elizabeth Massas Dominique Perun

RETURN edited 11/18/18 Introduction Noam Chomsky, born Avram Noam Chomsky, is widely considered to be the father of modern linguistics. His theory of generative grammar has informed generations of linguistic and cognitive researchers. Politically, Chomsky has been active in the discussion of America’s foreign and domestic policies since the 1960’s.

1. He is also an outspoken critic of the American media, and a prolific author.
2. In fact, according to the Arts and Humanities Citation Index, Chomsky is the most cited author living today.
3. Chomsky was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1928 to William and Elsie Chomsky.
4. The family lived in the East Oak Lane neighborhood of Philadelphia, a comparatively affluent area of the city.

His was one of the only Jewish families in the neighborhood, with the rest of the population being mostly composed of Irish or German Catholics. As a result of growing up as a local ethnic minority, Chomsky has stated on several occasions that as a child he had a “visceral fear” of Catholics, one that took him a long time to overcome.

• He attended high school in Philadelphia before moving on to the University of Pennsylvania where he studied linguistics, mathematics, and philosophy.
• He continued his education and developed his thesis at Harvard University and ultimately received his PhD in linguistics in 1955 from the University of Pennsylvania.

He has since been teaching at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As a young man, Chomsky’s politics were directly influenced by his family and environment. His father, a professor of Hebrew, was a member of the Industrial Workers of the World party, a political organization formed to secure workers’ rights and push back against the wage system of employment.

1. For his own part, Noam became involved in several Hebrew organizations, owing at least partially to his childhood run-ins with Catholic youths, and developed a burgeoning interest in anarchist literature and platforms.
2. Chomsky is considered one of the most important linguists in the twentieth century.

His main contribution in the field of linguistics is the influential “transformative-generative grammar” which is an attempt to describe the syntactical processes common to all human language mathematically (Smith, 1999). Chomsky draws a key distinction between the deep structure and surface structure of languages.

He argues that the deep structure, which contains the meaning of a sentence, is not culturally determined but rather “hardwired” in the human brain. The meaning is then converted by a transformation into surface structure, which includes the sounds and words in a sentence. The Language Acquisition Device (LAD) is the hypothetical brain mechanism that according to Chomsky explained the acquisition of syntactic structure of language (McGilvray, 2005).

Chomsky hypothesized that the language acquisition device was the system that determined the features of the child’s native language. This falls under the realm of the nativist theory of language which states that humans are born with the innate ability for acquiring language (McGilvray, 2005).

1. Chomsky was drawn to politics at an early age while attending Central High School in Philadelphia.
2. It was here that he wrote his first publication about the fall of Barcelona, Czechoslovakia and Austria.
3. This was followed by a stream of political writings which throughout his lifetime illustrate an ability to provide political analysis, criticism, or decision.

His writings angered a great deal of people for his thoughts were considered anti-American. He openly criticized the policies of the U.S., especially when dealing with foreign policy, and compared the government to radical terrorists. It was because of his political view on freedom and how it should be preserved for all, that he viewed the U.S.

1. As a threat to foreign freedom.
2. He simply saw this approach to foreign policy as a self interest to the U.S.
3. And not that of individuals involved on foreign soil.
4. Chomsky’s academic contribution and political involvement have sparked controversy and stimulated others to question authority and our current societal systems.

We plan to discuss and investigate his stance on the meaning of value, knowledge, human nature, learning, education, society, individual opportunity and group consensus. Theory of Value: What knowledge and skills are worthwhile learning? What are the goals of education? Knowledge is described as the skills acquired by a person through experience, education and the practical application or understanding of a subject.

• The Oxford dictionary describes knowledge as facts, information acquired as well as the theoretical and practical understanding of a subject.
• Traditionally, schools have been used as an instrument to transmit knowledge; however Chomsky opines that the skills and knowledge taught are often not worthwhile.

“The goal of education”, according to Noam Chomsky, “is to produce human beings whose values are not accumulation and domination, but instead are free association on equal terms.” According to Chomsky there is an instrumental approach to education. It is characterized as mindless, meaningless drills and exercise given “in preparation for multiple choice exams”.

• This is evident through the state mandated curriculum where standardized tests are necessary to measure student growth and educational success.
• Chomsky argues that “the value of education should be placed on students’ critical thinking skills and the process of gaining useful and applicable knowledge”.

However Chomsky’s view of the factory model of education is that students are mandated to adhere to state written curricula where standardized tests are necessary. Students are inadvertently pushed to learn through memorization of facts, rather than through critical thinking.

Chomsky suggests that society simply reduces education to the requirement of the market. Students are trained to be compliant workers. The education process is reduced to knowledgeable educators who transfer information to those who don’t know rather than to help students formulate higher level thinking skills on their own.

In an interview with Donaldo Macedo, Chomsky describes education as “a deep level of indoctrination that takes place in our schools”. Teachers are referred to as workers who merely carry out a task they were hired to do. Schools indoctrinate and impose obedience and are used as a system of control and coercion.

Chomsky explains that an educated child by society’s definition “is one who is conditioned to obey power and structure”. Chomsky complains that children are not taught to challenge and think independently, yet they are taught to repeat, follow orders and obey. Education is described as a period of regimentation and control, with a system of false beliefs.

Based on these analyses, the goals of education should be to encourage the development of the child’s natural capacity. Theory of Knowledge: Generative Grammar and Cognitive Theory The majority of Chomsky’s writings with regard to the nature of knowledge pertain specifically to the construction and use of language.

His theory of Generative Grammar, though constantly evolving, stands as a microcosm of his views on the human mind’s methods of taking in and storing information. While much of it is primarily applicable to the field of language, there is more than enough here to illustrate his core ideas about education and the formation of human thought and knowledge.

“Human thought has been formed through centuries of man’s consciousness, by perceptions and meanings that relate us to nature. The smallest living entity, be it a molecule or a particle, is at the same time present in the structure of the earth and all its inhabitants, whether human or manifesting themselves in the multiplicity of other forms of life.” Knowledge of Language: its origin, nature and use, pg xi (Chomsky, 1986) At its heart, Chomsky’s theory of Generative Grammar is a way of describing the way people learn to communicate.

1. The core of this theory is the idea that all human language originates from a common source, an innate set of grammatical rules and approaches that is hardwired into the human mind.
2. This is a very naturalistic approach, but one that has found ever increasing acceptance amongst experts in the field (Chomsky, 1986).

His fundamental approach to knowledge is very similar to that used in Information Processing Theory. According to Chomsky, in order for knowledge to be retained, there must be previous knowledge already present for the new information to be associated with.

1. He typically refers to this process as “building” on prior knowledge, but it has obvious parallels with the “networking” described by IPT.
2. Particularly in the process of taking in information initially, generative grammar has direct parallels with the ideas put forward for information processing theory (Miller, 1956).

In a bit of a twist on the initial networking concepts of Information Processing Theory, Chomsky postulates that, once integrated into a network, some knowledge, specifically procedural knowledge, becomes irreducible in complexity (Chomsky, 2000). Once something is known and successfully networked, it is possible for it to become intrinsically tied to its immediate network in the mind of the learner.

In Chomsky’s words; “Notice that similar considerations show that knowing-how – for example, knowing how to ride a bicycle – cannot be analyzed in terms of abilities, dispositions, etc.; rather, there appears to be an irreducible cognitive element.” – New Horizons in the Study of Language and the Mind, pg 52 (Chomsky, 2000) Chomsky’s view of knowledge is heavily cognition-centric, as one would expect from a linguist.

His theoretical framework approaches the concept of “knowing” as a purely cognitive phenomenon, separate from one’s ability to apply that knowledge directly to the world. This approach is nearly as purely cognitive as possible, almost anti -behavioral in its bent.

Chomsky himself almost says as much; “Notice finally that an account of knowledge in terms of ability, taken in anything like its normal sense, has proven utterly unproductive.” – New Horizons in the Study of Language and the Mind, pg 52 (Chomsky, 2000) It is the idea of innate and natural grammar that really sticks.

While there is little dispute at this point that some of the more fundamental functions of the human brain are transmitted as instincts. We don’t have to be taught to breathe, after all. The concept of an underlying mental matrix that informs all of human language is a bit of a departure from more traditional views on the origin of verbal communication (Chomsky, 2000).

This view is decidedly naturalistic. Rather than the cultural development of spoken language through generations of trial and error, this would imply that it has all been merely a reconstruction of instincts that were already present. Each and every language spoken today, then, would have a common root in the language center of the human brain.

The different forms that those languages then took could be attributed to different opportunities and approaches to networking the new verbiage and syntax. Theory of Human Nature: What is a human being? How does it differ from other species? What are the limits of human potential? Noam Chomsky has a very naturalistic or innate view of human nature.

• According to Chomsky, (Soper, 1998) he sees a human being as a biological organism like any other, except that it is endowed with a unique intellectual capacity to think and reason and to express these thoughts and reasons (communication),and that these are contingent upon freedom.
• He believes these abilities are internally linked to our genetics just as our visual systems, muscular systems and all other biological systems.

During an interview with Michel Foucault, Chomsky (1971) states: “If this hypothetical Martian were then to observe that every normal human child immediately carries out this creative act and they all do it in the same way and without any difficulty, where as it takes centuries of genius to slowly carry out the creative act of going from evidence to a scientific theory, then this Martian would, if he were rational, conclude that the structure of the knowledge that is acquired in the case of language is basically internal to the human mind.” (11) The root of this concept purposes that, if a human is genetically sound, he or she will be able to develop these abilities regardless of other circumstances, such as, where they were born, or who they were born to.

• This is the naturalistic and innateness of our nature that will allow a human to obtain and use capacities such as thinking, reasoning and communication.
• In addition to his naturalistic view of humans and their abilities to think and communicate, He also believes there is universality to these traits, especially with regards to morality, that can be found across different cultures.

Chomsky (1998) supports this idea with the fact, that people of different cultures can, and do, find common ground on which to have discussions as he states in an interview with Kate Soper:. “We can begin to see human nature in terms of certain capacities to develop certain mental traits.

• I think we can go further than this and begin to discover universal aspects of these traits which are determined by human nature.
• I think we can find this in the area of morality.
• For example, not long ago I talked to people in the Amazon tribes and I took for granted that they have the same conception of vice and virtue as I do.

It is only through sharing these values that we were able to interact—talk about real problems such as being forced out of the jungle by the state authorities. I believe I was correct to assume this: we had no problem communicating although we were as remote as is possible culturally.” (1) Chomsky builds and extends this universal morality to every culture and every individual and states that they do the things they do to enhance human life.

Chomsky (1998) elaborates upon this by stating: “They create stories of themselves where they interpret their actions as working for the benefit of human beings. Even at the extreme levels of depravity, the Nazis did not boast that they wanted to kill Jews, but gave crazed justifications – even that they were acting in “self-defense.” (1) The key is that people “justify” why they do the things they do, and he claims this is universal across all cultures.

Perhaps the most important aspect to Chomsky’s belief of human nature lies within in his fundamental view of our ability to be creative and to have the freedom to express it. This freedom is necessary to manifest and cultivate these creative capacities.

We can reflect on this by thinking of the first few humans who started to conjure up a common language. After many trials of putting grunts and sighs together and cooperating with one another our ancestors have created the many languages that we know of today. It is with this concept freedom to express our creativity that Chomsky gets entangled with Politics.

Chomsky (1988) has said: “Having this view of human nature and human needs, one tries to think about the modes of social organization that would permit the freest and fullest development of the individual, of each individuals potentialities in whatever direction they might take, that would permit him to be fully human in the sense of the greatest possible scope for his freedom and initiative.” (144) And, this exact situation seems to be hindered with some current positions of states and governments.

Some people counter this argument that people should be free to express their creativeness, especially in reference to bad or destructive creativeness, such as was the case with the Nazis and Jews during the Holocaust. While this may hold true in terms of political debate it remains mute to deny this in the view that its part of human nature.

IV. Theory of Learning: What is learning? How are skills and knowledge acquired? According to Chomsky, language defines what it means to be human and the study of language is a way in to the study of the human mind. “Although having a language is not a prerequisite for having a mind, language is overwhelmingly our best evidence for the nature of mind” (Smith, 1999).

With regard to learning language, Chomsky purports that some aspects of language are explicitly taught in school such the spelling conventions of the written representation of language and forms of technical vocabulary; however, the most fundamental aspects of language are universal. We all know the same unique human language.

This notion of universal grammar is the set of linguistic principles that we are endowed with at birth in virtue of being human (Smith, 1999). Chomsky also asserts that there is a genetically determined “window of opportunity” for language acquisition.

1. If the child does not learn its first language during this period, then it will never attain full “native-like mastery” of any language (Smith, 1999).
2. Chomsky has at many times presented many different kinds of evidence in favor of the claim that language is in large part genetically determined including the speed and age-dependence of acquisition.

For example, it can be said that we do not need to “learn” that our language contains nouns and verbs; all language contains nouns and verbs (Smith, 1999). We do however; need to learn the noises within the language that are associated with nouns and verbs.

• Chomsky also maintains that there is a biological entity, a finite mental organ that develops in children along one of a number of paths, which are determined in advance of any childhood experience.
• The language organ that emerges, the grammar, is represented in the brain and plays a central role in the person’s use of language.

Human language describes the distinctive qualities of the mind that are unique to man. The normal use of language can also be thought of as a creative activity. Chomsky notes that we do not understand and may never come to understand what makes it possible for normal human intelligence to use language as an instrument to convey thought and feeling (McGilvray, 2005).

With regard to learning, it can be summarized that knowledge grows and matures within us. Acquisition of knowledge is not something that we actively do, but yet something that happens to us. The course of development is largely due to the nature of our internal foundations (McGilvray, 2005). Theory of Transmission: Who is to teach? By what methods? What will the curriculum be? According to Chomsky, the goal in teaching is to help cultivate growth and to help the students become interested in learning.

He states that students, “typically they come in interested, and the process of education is a way of driving that defect out of their minds. But if children’s normal interest is maintained or even aroused, they can do all kinds of things in ways we don’t understandhellip;” (Chomsky, 1992).

• In other words, the teacher’s role in the transmission of learning is to keep the children engaged in the learning process and interested in exploration and independence.
• The focus is on the students learning rather than the teachers teaching.
• In an interview with Lillian R.
• Putnam in the Fall of 1987, Chomsky was asked, “If teachers from primary grades were familiar with your work, what kinds of changes or emphases might they make in reading instruction? What general suggestions would help them?” To this Chomsky replied, “I’m hesitant even to suggest an answer to this question.

Practitioners have to decide for themselves what is useful in the sciences, and what is not. As a linguist, I have no particular qualifications or knowledge that enables or entitles me to prescribe methods of language instruction. As a person, I have my own ideas on the topic, based on my own experience (in part, as a teacher of language to children), introspection, and personal judgment, but these should not be confused with some kind of professional expertise, presented from on high.

My own feeling, for what it is worth, is that at any level, from nursery to graduate school, teaching is largely a matter of encouraging natural development. The best “method” of teaching is to make it clear that the subject is worth learning, and to allow the child’s – or adult’s – natural curiosity and interest in truth and understanding to mature and develop.

That is about 90% of the problem, if not more. Methods of instruction may influence the residue.” Accordingly in an interview with Gary Olson and Lester Faigley, Chomsky states that teaching is mostly “common sense”. It does not matter what is covered; but how much you develop the capacity to discover (2007).

Theory of Society: What is society today? What institutions are involved in the educational process? Chomsky describes society today as a “modern industrial civilization” and “the driving force in this modern industrial civilization” as “material gain” (Chomsky, 2007). A civilization based on this principle economic and “material gain” is in danger.

If modern industrial society were to aspire to change, “the condition of survival, let alone justice, would require rational social planning in the interest of the community as a whole and by now that means the global community” (Chomsky, 2007). This means a society would need to first consider the “mutual interest” of the community rather than their own “self-interest” in social planning (Chomsky, 2008).

According to Cohen and Roger (1991), Chomsky believes there is hope for society and it is “set against the background of his conception of human nature” and “the conception of an instinct for freedom that lies at its heart” (p.14). He hypothesizes that the “constraints on human freedom that are not ‘required for survival in the particular state of history’ will tend to be sloughed off, as a result of the moral nature of human beings, the ‘instinct for freedom’, and the ‘continual efforts to overcome authoritarian structures and to expand the domain of freedom’ that results from that instinct” (Cohen, 1991).

In other words, an encroachment on human rights in society goes against our instinctual human nature and subsequently the denial of these freedoms will be investigated. Slavery and women’s rights (Arnove, 2005) are examples of these infringements. According to Chomsky, a true society is not governed by a dominating hierarchy seeking to retain power He states that “a truly democratic community is one in which the general public has the opportunity for meaningful and constructive participation in the formation of social policy: in their own immediate community, in the workplace, the society at large” (Arnove, 2005).

Chomsky favors the erosion of coercecive power over society. As an anarchist, he (McGilvray, 2005) would want to switch “authoritarian structures”, with “democratic institutions based on fully participatory worker organizations (his syndicalism).” He also requires (McGilvray, 2005) from “powerful institutions” a structure which gives workers more autonomy at all levels of the institution.

“He knows that the sole form of control of authority that most people can exercise consist of voting for representatives in local, municipal, regional, and national forms of government. Thus, in current circumstances, Chomsky the anarchist paradoxically supports efforts to increase the power of the state, at least where it can serve to regulate and check otherwise largely unconstrained and otherwise unaccountable corporate authority’ (McGilvray, 2005).

In Chomsky’s view of society, “it would be ‘very liberating’ for the wealthy, as well as for the poor, for the privileged as well as the underprivileged, to be able to live in a society where the human essence is not defined in terms of maximizing production, and producing “on demand” (McGilvray, 2005).

Chomsky has hopes for a society which has freed itself from material gain and coerces powers and exerts instinctually what is in their human nature to seek change for the sake of human rights and mutual interest of the whole society, Chomsky makes a similar connection with respect to educational institutions in today’s society.

According to Chomsky, schools, college and universities in today’s educational institutions are similar to factories. Students are indoctrinated by “liberal elites” or “intellectuals” to increase their obedience and conformity. The “liberal elites” or “intellectuals are the ones who write history” used in schools and “we should be cautious about the alleged “lessons of history” in this regard; it would be surprising to discover that the version of history presented is self-serving and indeed it is” (Arnove, 2005).

Currently, Chomsky’s considers educational institutions today to be where “human beings have no intrinsic, moral and intellectual nature, that they are simply objects to be shaped and private managers and ideologues-who, of course perceive what is good and right” (Arnove, 2005).

Instead, educational institutions should be interested in “what the student discovers for themselves when their natural curiosity and creative impulse are aroused not only will be remembered but will be the basis for further exploration and inquiry and perhaps significant intellectual contribution” (Arnove, 2005).

Theory of Opportunity: Who is to be educated? Who is to be schooled? If one is to examine Chomsky and his writings, they would be able to find an underlying concept that illustrates one of his biggest claims to human rights. It is this. People are to be free and should have the freedom to express themselves in cooperation with others, and this freedom should not be oppressed by a governing body.

According to Edgley (2005) Chomsky argued: “If humans are essentially creative with an “instinct for freedom” to pursue cooperative ventures, then states and capitalism must work against human nature, because both concentrate power into the hands of a few, thereby denying the many necessary conditions for cooperative, creative humanistic productive activity.” This is enough to support that Chomsky would support education for all who want education, that no one should be exempt from the opportunity, while at the same time, no one should be forced into it either.

The key to his idea is that it should be up to those who want, and not those who are forced. Chomsky’s idea of who is to be schooled follows the same pattern as who is to be educated; those who want to be. What Chomsky would suggest, is that the school follow a very democratic way of instruction without the use of indoctrination.

As Chomsky (2000) comments on his own style of teaching: “I don’t try to persuade people, at least not consciously. Maybe I do. If so, it’s a mistake. The right way to do things is not to try to persuade people you’re right but to challenge them to think it through for themselves.” Theory of Consensus: What is consensus? Why do people disagree? How is consensus achieved? Whose opinion takes precedence? Chomsky’s believes, in very broad terms, that consensus is the mutual agreement of mankind when they assume the responsibility of managing and governing themselves in communities, workplaces and society.

A given society reaches agreement or consensus through a cohesive collaboration that aspires to find mutual agreement among members of the community. The goal is to represent the ideals and concerns of the society versus the self-interest of any one dominating person, group or organization.

Obviously, this is an extremely broad and idealized treatment of the phenomenon. Chomsky seems to think in very broad terms, though, even as he approaches specific societies. A true society considers the ideals, concerns and freedom of society as an entitlement. These entitlements if challenged by an authoritative governing body in a society will lead unnecessary constraints and disagreement.

Society will disagree when their ability to cooperatively manage its own ideals, concerns, and financial viability is infringed by an outside authority. “He speculates that constraints on human freedom that are not required for survival in the particular state of history will tend to be sloughed off.” as a result of the moral nature of human beings, the ‘instinct for freedom’, and the ‘control effort to overcome authoritarian structures and to expand the domain of freedom ‘that results from that instinct” (Cohen and Rogers, 1991).

• In terms of consensus, Chomsky’s view is that people of power within the United States have traditionally used the media as a form of propaganda to leverage consensus through the masking of facts to their own benefit.
• This was the case in many instances when the United States government and various European governments have exhorted their power to leverage economic control whether it was a hungry for land, oil, or any other commodity of value as a means for an end (Chomsky and Herman, 1988) “Quite typically, intellectuals have been ideological and social managers, serving power or seeking to assume power themselves by taking control of popular movements of which they declare themselves to be the leaders.

For people committed to control and manipulation it is quite useful to believe that human beings have no intrinsic moral and intellectual nature, that they are simply objects to be shaped by state and private managers and ideologues-who, of course perceive what is good and right” (Arnove, 2005).

1. Somewhat ironically, Chomsky’s admonition of the intellectual comes in the face of the fact that he is himself viewed by many as a prime example of the term.
2. For reasons related to his outspoken criticism of the policies of the United States’ government and the media that he views as supporting those policies, Chomsky is seen by some as anti-American and he is often used as an example of “liberal intellectualism”.

His theories on consensus are indeed rather collectivist and represent an idealized democracy, where each member of a society has equal (or nearly equal) say in how that society moves forward. It would seem to be this view that has fueled much of his criticism of United States government policy, both foreign and domestic, over the years.

References Arnove, A. (2008). The Essential Chomsky. New York, N.Y.: The New Press Chomsky, N. (2000). Chomsky on miseducation. Oxford. Chomsky, N. (2002). Chomsky on democracy and education. Chomsky, N. (1986). Knowledge of language: Its origin, nature and use. Westport: Greenwood Chomsky, N. (2000). New horizons in the study of the mind,

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Chomsky, N. (1988) Noam Chomsky: language & politics, Montreal: Black Rose Books. Chomsky, N. (1992) Conference titled “Creation and Culture” Barcelona Spain, November 25, 1992 Chomsky, N. (2006) Language and mind 3 rd Ed.

Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. “Chomsky on Civilization, Society, Power, and Human Nature.” (2008.) Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT8tbEXYeT0 Elders, F. (1998) “Human Nature: Justice versus Power” Noam Chomsky debates with Michel Foucault. “Language, Language Development and Reading” Noam Chomsky interviewed by Lillian R.

Putnam, Fall 1987 Reading Instruction Journal retrieved from http://www.chomsky.info/interviews/1987-.htm “Language, Politics, and Composition: A Conversation with Noam Chomsky” interviewed by Gary A. Olson and Lester Faigley (2007) retrieved from http://lilt.ilstu.edu/theory/authors/chomsky.htm McGilvray, J.

Ed.) (2005). The Cambridge companion to Chomsky. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. Miller, G.A. (1956). The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information. Psychological Review, 63, 81-97 “Noam Chomsky on Society”. (n.d) Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR2QFHsBWnU Knowledge, Morality and Hope: The Social Thought of Noam Chomsky.

(1991) Retrieved from http://www.chomsky.info/articles.htm Salkie, R. (1990) The Chomsky update: Linguistics and politics. Cambridge, MA: Unwin Hyman Inc. Smith, N. (1999) Chomsky ideas and ideals. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. Soper, K.
View complete answer

What did John Locke say about education?

Page 2 – Concerned about the moral laxity of Restoration England, the wealthy landowner and politician Edward Clarke turned to his lifelong friend John Locke for advice about how to raise his son. Out of a series of letters to Clarke came Some Thoughts Concerning Education, published in 1693.

• We know John Locke today as a social and political philosopher.
• In his “Essay Concerning Human Understanding,” he famously characterized the human mind at birth as a “blank slate.” Less known today is Locke as an educational philosopher; yet, his published letters to Clarke became the most celebrated treatise on education during the Enlightenment, influencing Benjamin Franklin, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and untold numbers of anxious parents and uncertain teachers.

Drawing on Locke’s experience as a physician, psychologist, diplomat, and political adviser, Some Thoughts Concerning Education is part medical manual, part guide for parents and teachers, and overall a meditation on motivation and human nature. Radical for its time, the book prefigures many of today’s educational debates.

1. In a world that considered children miniature adults, Locke discovered the child: “Children are strangers to all we are acquainted with.” They must play.
2. Their minds wander.
3. They need to be busy, and they love change and variety.
4. They are naturally curious.
5. To motivate, the skillful teacher simplifies lessons, sympathetically answers naïve questions, seizes the moment when the child is “in tune,” engaged, and responsive.

Anticipating Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences, Locke further urges parents and tutors to be aware of individual differences. Not only minds but also temperaments differ. Lacking the advantage of contemporary theories of inheritance, Locke relied on close observation: “Some men by the unalterable frame of their constitution are stout, others timorous, some confident, others modest, tractable or obstinate, curious or careless, quick or slow.” In Locke’s book, the mind is not a blank slate.

1. Repeatedly, he celebrates the importance of education.
2. Simultaneously, he concedes the importance of temperament.
3. He would sympathize with Susan Cain’s contemporary bestseller, Quiet, that suggests we are shaped in the womb and have less autonomy than we believe.
4. If you want highly qualified teachers, Locke says, select them carefully and pay them well.” John Locke’s 1693 look at education is contemporary in its advice for motivating students: Cherish curiosity, gently rub away innocence, spare the rod, secure attention, provide recreation, treat children as rational, and explain the purpose of instruction.

Speaking for all progressive educators, he muses, “I always have had a fancy that learning might be made a play and recreation to children.” Of course, fancy must be tempered by reality. The book simultaneously calls for encouraging self-control, implementing a love of reason, instilling virtue, and utilizing disgrace, as well as praise, as a motivator.

• A friend to traditionalists as well as to progressives, Locke extols the importance of example and the power of habit.
• Some Thoughts Concerning Education appealed to parents and teachers because Locke was concrete, practical, moderate, and balanced.
• A founder of the Enlightenment, Locke believed in human potential and progress.

Echoing proponents of contemporary positive psychology, he states: “We are born with faculties and powers capable of almost anything.” At the same time, he is a realist, even a bit of an evolutionary psychologist. Sin and a Stone Age brain war with virtue and reason.

• We are “vain and proud creatures” in love with power and dominion.
• Children may be charming, but they can also be mischievous, cruel, listless, and lazy.
• From the cradle, they are covetous.
• Locke was particularly skeptical of the notion that peers teach each other valuable lessons.
• Schoolboys do not learn “justice, generosity, and sobriety” from one another, he advised.

Instead, they are instructed in “well-laid plots of robbing an orchard together.” In a world amused by bear-baiting, Locke is a proponent of humanitarianism. Surrounded by violence and cruelty, he casts doubt on the upper-class preoccupation with hunting and fencing.

• He urges kindness.
• Children should not be whipped.
• At home, they should not be allowed to torment “young birds, butterflies, and such other poor animals which fall into their hands.” In school, they should not be taught that conquerors are heroes or that slaughter is laudable.
• The book was also revolutionary in its pedagogical detail: Use lettered blocks to teach reading, learn Latin through conversation, link history to geography, don’t stuff young scholars with too much at a time, proceed by slow and gentle steps.

For young aristocrats careless with money, he advises accounting. To balance out the long hours of grueling school classes, he advocates equal amounts of recreation. In a 17th-century tribute to environmentalism, Locke says, “I think people should be accustomed from their cradles to be tender to all sensible creatures, and to spoil or waste nothing at all,” a particularly impressive observation in a century decimated by scarcity, cruelty, and civil and religious wars.

In Locke’s version of home schooling, mothers and fathers are essential. “Make them in love with the company of their parents,” he says of children. Be kind. Praise freely. Take them into your confidence, but don’t tolerate whining, dishonesty, selfishness, affectation. Mothers should not coddle. Fathers should allow fear to ripen into friendship.

Equally important was the influence of tutors. In advice relevant to current debates about teachers, he states that tutors should be smart and sophisticated, knowledgeable about content and pedagogy. Tutors should know not only subjects but also the outside world, combining tact and judgment with character.

1. If you want highly qualified teachers, Locke says, select them carefully and pay them well.
2. In his book, Locke acknowledges that he does not have all the answers, such as how to motivate the listless student or how to extirpate “sauntering” (17th-century parlance for “hanging out”).
3. There is little mention of art and music.

Living in a patriarchal, aristocratic society, he has little advice for women and poor people. He could not envision the importance of a public school in a democracy. But Locke is important because he rebelled against an educational system he thought cruel and stupid.

He offered practical, humane alternatives to parents who were at “a loss how to breed their children.” Without monographs or psychological research he anticipates so much: multiple intelligences, emotional intelligence, behaviorism, and vocational education—and long before the educational jeremiads of our time, such as “A Nation at Risk,” he connected a flourishing educational system to a country’s security and prosperity.

: John Locke: An Education Progressive Ahead of His Time? (Opinion)
View complete answer

Why is education important for awareness?

The more people in a society are educated, the more they can provide a beneficial contribution to their environment. This fact increases the importance of education in society and has resulted in governments investing in education more than ever before. Future jobs are directly linked to the education of today.
View complete answer

Does education create awareness?

Promoting Education Awareness | | Promoting Education Awareness Education broadens the horizons of the mind and prepares young children to face challenges. It helps inculcate integral values, knowledge, intelligence and confidence. This phase of transformation is the beginning to great things ahead for every child.

While people from urban areas realize the role of education and aim to create a strong foundation for their young ones, rural India paints a different picture. It is not unusual to see countless villages where education is disregarded. People from these areas are oblivious to the concept of getting an education and prefer to overlook the potential of schooling their little ones.

They are unaware of the opportunities after education. Hence, there is a crucial need to help them realize and create awareness about education. Often, the reasons cited are poverty, the lack of funds and preparatory material. While the reasons may seem limiting, they are in no way the end to securing a child’s future. While poverty, the lack of motivation, and access to the right material remain problems, another major antagonist in the fight for education remains the infrastructure. Rural villages seldom house schools that are within easy access. This pushes young children to walk to other villages, the long-term feasibility of which remains questionable.

Gradually, most parents deny sending their children to school for this reason. In an initiative to weed out this issue, the EFA Trust has taken the onus ofspreading awareness about the importance of education in villages. To motivate people further, we have worked to shed light on government policies and schemes, which have been implemented for their benefit.

We conduct sessions and explain the students and their parents about the opportunities that arise after post education. We help them understand about the various jobs they can do after completing education. Today, we provide educational facilities to more than 60 rural villages in India.We conduct educational campaigns and highlight the plethora of opportunities that lay in store for young kids.

1. In an effort to build on our work, we identify students who are good at academics and provide them with the necessary support.
2. To back our role as an inclusive educational institution, we have rendered scholarships to deserving children who show an interest in attaining education but lack the financial support.

Our purpose is to take education to the underprivileged children and empower them for life! : Promoting Education Awareness
View complete answer

What is the meaning of awareness in education?

Awareness’, it can mean they have greater knowledge of such subjects. Here awareness’ may refer to public or common knowledge or understanding about a social, scientific, or. political issue.
View complete answer

What is education according to Nelson Mandela?

The importance of education to Madiba – Nelson Mandela Foundation On the 1st of May 1970, Nelson Mandela wrote a letter to his daughter Makaziwe Mandela congratulating her on passing her examinations. Madiba wrote the letter during his imprisonment on Robben Island, and it portrays how Madiba valued education regardless of the situation he was in.

1. Madiba once mentioned that “It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine; that a child of farm workers can become the president of a great nation”.
2. In this quote, Nelson Mandela emphasises the importance of education in our lives.

Education gives us an opportunity to change our lives for the better. It gives us a chance to have good careers and opportunities of working at any workplace of our choice. By acquiring education, we become valuable sources of knowledge to our societies.

Madiba attended primary school in Qunu. He completed his junior certificate at Clarkebury Boarding Institute and went to Healdtown Comprehensive School where he matriculated. He began his studies for a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree at the University of Fort Hare, although he did not complete the degree.

Madiba completed his BA through the University of South Africa (UNISA) and returned to Fort Hare in 1943 for his graduation. In the meantime, Madiba started studying for an LLB at Wits University but was forced to quit in 1952 when he was unable to pay his fees.

He only began studying again at the University of London in 1962 after his imprisonment. In the last months of his imprisonment, in 1989, Madiba obtained his LLB through UNISA and graduated in absentia in Cape Town. In the 1970s at the height of Apartheid in South Africa, Black people were not allowed to study and pursue careers of their choice, or even jobs of their dreams.

Instead, they dominated a large percentage of the domestic workforce no matter how young they were and how passionate they were to study and pursue careers of their choice. Unlike today, even prisoners were not granted the right to education. All this changed when Madiba signed the 1996 constitution through which education became a constitutional right regardless of who and what a person is.

• In democratic South Africa, everyone has the right to acquire qualifications of their choice, and obtain a matric certificate regardless of how old they may be.
• Underprivileged people have an opportunity to apply for government funding to study at any educational institution of their choice.
• By being educated, we become servants and contribute to the advancement of our communities in building a just society for all.

: The importance of education to Madiba – Nelson Mandela Foundation
View complete answer

What is Froebel’s theory?

Who was Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852) – Born on 21 April 1782 Friedrich Froebel was a German educator who invented the kindergarten. He believed that “play is the highest expression of human development in childhood for it alone is the free expression of what is in the child’s soul.” According to Froebel, in play children construct their understanding of the world through direct experience with it.

His ideas about learning through nature and the importance of play have spread throughout the world. ​ Froebel considered the whole child’s, health, physical development, the environment, emotional well-being, mental ability, social relationships and spiritual aspects of development as important. Drawing on his mathematical and scientific knowledge Froebel developed a set of gifts (wooden blocks 1-6) and introduced occupations, (including sticks, clay, sand, slates, chalk, wax, shells, stones, scissors, paper folding).

It seems appropriate to mention Froebel’s gifts and occupations in conjunction with this new course. Particularly as the gifts and occupations are open-ended and can be used to support children’s self initiated play. Froebel believed that it was important for practitioners to understand the principles of observation including professional practice, the multiple lenses through which they see children- and that children see their worlds, as well as offering children freedom with guidance and considering the children’s environments including people and materials as a key element of how they behave.
View complete answer

What did Stephen Ball say about education?

Classic Texts: Stephen Ball “Beachside Comprehensive” 1981 This classic case study into secondary education sought to investigate why working-class pupils underperformed at school. The classic functionalist argument is that the education system is meritocratic: it helps sort people into the most appropriate jobs.

1. And yet statistics show that people from lower-income families consistently underperform compared with those from wealthier families.
2. Marxists think this is deliberate: that the role of the education system is to reproduce class inequality.
3. But lots of policies have been put in place to try and support children from low-income families in school.

If Marxists are wrong that schools deliberately fail working-class children, and functionalists are wrong that schools are meritocratic: what actually is going on? Ball spent three years in Beachside Comprehensive, carrying out a participant observation,

He particularly focused on two groups of students, one who had been banded or streamed by ability, and another that was taught in mixed-ability classes. The banding was well-intentioned. There was a concern among teachers that in mixed-ability classes the brightest pupils were held back and the weakest pupils were left behind, with a tendency that it was the middle swathe of pupils who were focused on.

However, Ball found that the process tended to have a negative impact on working-class pupils. He found that pupils who started school with similar attitudes to study began to diverge when they were banded/streamed. That is when they were put in classes supposedly based on their ability.

Streaming is when pupils of a similar ability are in the same, streamed class for all subjects whereas with setting pupils could be in a high set for Maths and a low set for English (for example). Working-class pupils gravitated towards the lower bands and then became increasingly disinterested in education and “anti-school”.

The net effect of this was that children from lower-income families left school with fewer qualifications, therefore reproducing class inequalities, apparently by accident. He describes a downward mobility – quite the opposite of what Parsons or Davis and Moore imagined – where attempts at differentiation damage working-class pupils’ education and life chances.
View complete answer

What did Abraham Lincoln say about education?

Selected Lincoln Quotations on Education – What did Abraham Lincoln actually say about education? In this special section, we gathered together a small sample of excerpts from his speeches and writings about this vital subject. Everything shown is from The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, a multi-volume series edited by Roy P. Basler and others. Documents which appear on this website are linked after the quotation.

Upon the subject of education, not presuming to dictate any plan or system respecting it, I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people can be engaged in. That every man may receive at least, a moderate education, and thereby be enabled to read the histories of his own and other countries, by which he may duly appreciate the value of our free institutions, appears to be an object of vital importance, even on this account alone, to say nothing of the advantages and satisfaction to be derived from all being able to read the scriptures and other works, both of a religious and moral nature, for themselves.

For my part, I desire to see the time when education, and by its means, morality, sobriety, enterprise and industry, shall become much more general than at present, and should be gratified to have it in my power to contribute something to the advancement of any measure which might have a tendency to accelerate the happy period.

-March 9, 1832 First Political Announcement Mr. Clay’s education, to the end of his life, was comparatively limited. I say “to the end of his life,” because I have understood that, from time to time, he added something to his education during the greater part of his whole life.

1. Mr. Clay’s lack of a more perfect early education, however it may be regretted generally, teaches at least one profitable lesson; it teaches that in this country, one can scarcely be so poor, but that, if he will, he can acquire sufficient education to get through the world respectably.
2. July 6, 1852 Eulogy on Henry Clay The old general rule was that educated people did not perform manual labor.

They managed to eat their bread, leaving the toil of producing it to the uneducated. This was not an insupportable evil to the working bees, so long as the class of drones remained very small. But now, especially in these free States, nearly all are educated-quite too nearly all, to leave the labor of the uneducated, in any wise adequate to the support of the whole.

• It follows from this that henceforth educated people must labor.
• Otherwise, education itself would become a positive and intolerable evil.
• No country can sustain, in idleness, more than a small percentage of its numbers.
• The great majority must labor at something productive.
• A capacity, and taste, for reading, gives access to whatever has already been discovered by others.

It is the key, or one of the keys, to the already solved problems. And not only so. It gives a relish, and facility, for successfully pursuing the unsolved ones. -September 30, 1859 Address before the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society My father, at the death of his father, was but six years of age; and he grew up, litterally without education.

He removed from Kentucky to what is now Spencer County, Indiana, in my eighth year. We reached our new home about the time the State came into the Union. It was a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals, still in the woods. There I grew up. There were some schools, so called; but no qualification was ever required of a teacher beyond “readin, writin, and cipherin” to the Rule of Three.

If a straggler supposed to understand latin happened to sojourn in the neighborhood, he was looked upon as a wizzard, There was absolutely nothing to excite ambition for education. Of course when I came of age I did not know much. Still somehow, I could read, write, and cipher to the Rule of Three; but that was all.

I have not been to school since. The little advance I now have upon this store of education, I have picked up from time to time under the pressure of necessity. Before leaving Kentucky, he and his sister were sent, for short periods, to A B C schools, the first kept by Zachariah Riney, and the second by Caleb Hazel.

His father’s residence continued at the same place in Indiana till 1830. While here Abraham went to A B C schools by littles, kept successively by Andrew Crawford,-Sweeney, and Azel W. Dorsey. He does not remember any other. The family of Mr. Dorsey now resides in Schuyler County, Illinois.

• Abraham now thinks that the aggregate of all his schooling did not amount to one year.
• He was never in a college or academy as a student, and never inside of a college or academy building till since he had a law license.
• What he has in the way of education he has picked up.
• After he was twenty-three and had separated from his father, he studied English grammar-imperfectly, of course, but so as to speak and write as well as he now does.

He studied and nearly mastered the six books of Euclid since he was a member of Congress. He regrets his want of education, and does what he can to supply the want. The election of 1834 came, and he was then elected to the legislature by the highest vote cast for any candidate.

• Major John T.
• Stuart, then in full practice of the law, was also elected.
• During the canvass, in a private conversation he encouraged Abraham study law.
• After the election he borrowed books of Stuart, took them home with him, and went at it in good earnest.
• He studied with nobody.
• June 1860 Autobiography I have scarcely felt greater pain in my life than on learning yesterday from Bob’s letter, that you failed to enter Harvard University.

And yet there is very little in it, if you will allow no feeling of discouragement to seize, and prey upon you. It is a certain truth, that you can enter, and graduate in, Harvard University; and having made the attempt, you must succeed in it. “Must” is the word.

1. I know not how to aid you, save in the assurance of one of mature age, and much severe experience, that you can not fail, if you resolutely determine, that you will not.
2. July 22, 1860 Letter to George Latham The mode is very simple, though laborious, and tedious.
3. It is only to get the books, and read, and study them carefully.

Begin with Blackstone’s Commentaries, and after reading it carefully through, say twice, take up Chitty’s Pleading, Greenleaf’s Evidence, & Story’s Equity &c. in succession. Work, work, work, is the main thing. -September 25, 1860 Letter to John M. Brockman Home | News | Education | Timelines | Places | Resources | Books | Speeches | Index | Search Lincoln’s writings are in the public domain; this introduction, photo and quotation collection © 2020 Abraham Lincoln Online.
View complete answer

What does John Stuart Mill say about education?

John Stuart Mill was a strong proponent of mandatory education. But he was a vigorous opponent of trying to push students into public schools. The key to his opposition is the key to many people’s support of pushing students into public schools: having students attend public schools is a way to get greater conformity.

What did John suggest? Vouchers, at least for the poor. Many people think of Milton Friedman as the originator of the idea of education vouchers. But the idea is clear in paragraph 13 of On Liberty ” Chapter V: Applications.” Were the duty of enforcing universal education once admitted, there would be an end to the difficulties about what the State should teach, and how it should teach, which now convert the subject into a mere battle-field for sects and parties, causing the time and labour which should have been spent in educating, to be wasted in quarrelling about education.

If the government would make up its mind to require for every child a good education, it might save itself the trouble of providing one. It might leave to parents to obtain the education where and how they pleased, and content itself with helping to pay the school fees of the poorer classes of children, and defraying the entire school expenses of those who have no one else to pay for them.

The objections which are urged with reason against State education, do not apply to the enforcement of education by the State, but to the State’s taking upon itself to direct that education: which is a totally different thing. That the whole or any large part of the education of the people should be in State hands, I go as far as any one in deprecating.

10 Things Only Self-Aware People Do

All that has been said of the importance of individuality of character, and diversity in opinions and modes of conduct, involves, as of the same unspeakable importance, diversity of education. A general State education is a mere contrivance for moulding people to be exactly like one another: and as the mould in which it casts them is that which pleases the predominant power in the government, whether this be a monarch, a priesthood, an aristocracy, or the majority of the existing generation, in proportion as it is efficient and successful, it establishes a despotism over the mind, leading by natural tendency to one over the body.

An education established and controlled by the State should only exist, if it exist at all, as one among many competing experiments, carried on for the purpose of example and stimulus, to keep the others up to a certain standard of excellence. Unless, indeed, when society in general is in so backward a state that it could not or would not provide for itself any proper institutions of education, unless the government undertook the task: then, indeed, the government may, as the less of two great evils, take upon itself the business of schools and universities, as it may that of joint stock companies, when private enterprise, in a shape fitted for undertaking great works of industry, does not exist in the country.

But in general, if the country contains a sufficient number of persons qualified to provide education under government auspices, the same persons would be able and willing to give an equally good education on the voluntary principle, under the assurance of remuneration afforded by a law rendering education compulsory, combined with State aid to those unable to defray the expense.

It is a mistake to see this issue primarily in the US context. Education in the US will probably muddle through, and may improve dramatically either because of technological progress (see my column ” The Coming Transformation of Education: Degrees Won’t Matter Anymore, Skills Will “) or in a smaller way, because a Supreme Court ruling weakens the deadening hand of teachers’ unions,

What is much more important is for the developing world to shift toward voucher-supported private education rather than trying to fix a public education system in which teachers very frequently fail to show up for work. Effective and inexpensive private education alternatives are springing up in many developing countries that should be encouraged by loosened regulation first and foremost, and by a share of public expenditure on education if possible.

1. The August 1, 2015 edition of the Economist has a fascinating article on this: The $1-a-week school: Private schools are booming in poor countries.
2. Governments should either help them or get out of their way Here are some key passages: Although Mathare has virtually no services like paved streets or sanitation, it has a sizeable and growing number of classrooms.

Not because of the state—the slum’s half-million people have just four public schools—but because the private sector has moved in. Mathare boasts 120 private schools. This pattern is repeated across Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. The failure of the state to provide children with a decent education is leading to a burgeoning of private places, which can cost as little as $1 a week (see article ).

1. The parents who send their children to these schools in their millions welcome this.
2. But governments, teachers’ unions and NGOs tend to take the view that private education should be discouraged or heavily regulated.
3. That must change.
4. When public schools exist, they often fail.
5. In a survey of rural Indian schools, a quarter of teachers were absent.

In Africa the World Bank found teacher-absenteeism rates of 15-25%. Pakistan recently discovered that it had over 8,000 non-existent state schools, 17% of the total. Sierra Leone spotted 6,000 “ghost” teachers, nearly a fifth the number on the state payroll.
View complete answer

How did Piaget define education?

Individual learning – Piaget’s focus on learning as individual development is reflected in the organisation of most education systems, where learning is individualised and students are measured on their individual rather than collaborative performances. Development is seen as individual rather than social or cultural, for example.
View complete answer

How does Socrates define education?

According to Socrates-‘Education means bringing out of the idea of universal validity which is latent in the mind of every man ‘. According to Knowels(1995), education is the development of all those capabilities in which the individual which is enable him to control his environment and fulfillment his possibilities.
View complete answer

How did Herbert Spencer define education?

Herbert Spencer defined the purpose and task of education was to teach everyone how to live completely.
View complete answer