Why Is Education Important In Our Society Summary?
10. Introducing Empowerment – Education is the key to turn a weakness into a strength. It offers different tools and ways to understand problems that lay ahead of us and helps resolve them. More importantly, education provides us with considerable mental agility to make the right decisions and spring into action when needed.
Many types of research show that educated women can more easily stand up against gender bias and marital violence as they have improved their decision-making capabilities. Whether it is about respect, a higher position in society and a professional environment, financial security, family stability, education provides all of these and much more.
Home stability provided by owning your own home helps children who grew up in their own houses or apartments become more successful. They are more likely to graduate high school (25%) and finish college (116%). “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world,” as Nelson Mandela said.
It helps people become better citizens, get a better-paid job, shows the difference between good and bad. Education shows us the importance of hard work and, at the same time, helps us grow and develop. Thus, we are able to shape a better society to live in by knowing and respecting rights, laws, and regulations.
Learning languages through educational processes helps interact with different people in order to exchange ideas, knowledge, good practices. It teaches us to live in harmony. Are you ready to give back? Help the families from your community that need it the most.
View complete answer
Contents
- 1 Why education is important in the society?
- 2 What is the main point of education is important to have?
- 3 How does education affect the lives of people in society?
- 4 How does education make change in the society?
- 5 How society is connected with education?
- 6 What is the conclusion of education and social change?
Why is education important in our society summary essay?
Education certainly determines the quality of an individual’s life. Education improves one’s knowledge, skills and develops the personality and attitude. Most noteworthy, Education affects the chances of employment for people. A highly educated individual is probably very likely to get a good job.
View complete answer
Why education is important in the society?
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes education as a legal right of every child. Yet education remains a privilege to many. UNESCO data shows that 258 million children and youth were out of school for the school year ending in 2018.
Of that total, more than 129 million were girls and 58 million were of primary school age. Among those fortunate to have access to education, on the other hand, more than 617 million children and adolescents do not have minimum proficiency levels in reading and mathematics.1. What is education? Education is the process where an individual acquires or imparts basic knowledge to another.
It is also where a person:
develops skills essential to daily living, learns social norms, develops judgment and reasoning, and learns how to discern right from wrong.
The ultimate goal of education is to help an individual navigate life and contribute to society once they become older. There are various types of education but typically, traditional schooling dictates the way one’s education success is measured. People who attended school and attained a higher level of education are considered more employable and likely to earn more.
In developing, low-income countries, for example, there is a projected 10 per cent increase in a person’s future income for every additional year of education. Education helps eradicate poverty and hunger, giving people the chance at better lives. This is one of the biggest reasons why parents strive to make their kids attend school as long as possible.
It is also why nations work toward promoting easier access to education for both children and adults. Household food insecurity is a common problem in Somalia and is identified as a reason for student absenteeism. Many families are pastoralists, moving around where the food source is, especially during periods of drought. It becomes difficult for their children to attend school regularly.
Education helps a person hone their communication skills by learning how to read, write, speak and listen. Education develops critical thinking, This is vital in teaching a person how to use logic when making decisions and interacting with people (e.g., boosting creativity, enhancing time management). Education helps an individual meet basic job qualifications and makes them more likely to secure better jobs. Education promotes gender equality and helps empower girls and women. A World Bank report found that an extra year of schooling for girls reduces teen pregnancy rates by six per cent and gave women more control over how many children they have. Education reduces child mortality. According to UNESCO, a child born to a mother who can read is 50 per cent more likely to survive past the age of five.
A student from a primary school in Rwanda tries using a tablet computer in class. Many World Vision programs introduce technology into classrooms and youth training centres. Photo: Charity Beza Uwase 3. What are the different types of education? Education is typically divided into three categories: formal education, informal education, and non-formal education.
- Formal education Formal education is the type that is typically conducted in a classroom setting in an academic institution.
- This is where students are taught basic skills such as reading and writing, as well as more advanced academic lessons.
- Also known as ‘formal learning’, it usually begins in elementary school and culminates in post-secondary education.
It is provided by qualified teachers or professors and follows a curriculum. Informal education Informal education, on the other hand, is the type that is done outside the premises of an academic institution. Often, this is when a person learns skills or acquires knowledge from home, when visiting libraries, or browsing educational websites through a device.
Learning from the elders in one’s community can also be an important form of informal education. Such education is often not planned or deliberate, nor does it follow a regimented timetable or a specific curriculum. It is spontaneous and may also be described as a natural form of education. Non-formal education Non-formal education has qualities similar to both formal and informal education.
It follows a timetable and is systemically implemented but not necessarily conducted within a school system. It is flexible in terms of time and curriculum and normally does not have an age limit. The most common examples of non-formal education include community-based courses, vocational training or short programs that are not facilitated by professional instructors. A female student in Lebanon learns carpentry, a skill often associated with men. Education of all kinds empower girls and women in their communities. Photo: Maria Bou Chaaya 4. What are the benefits of education? If all students in low-income countries acquired basic reading skills before leaving school, entire societies could change dramatically.
According to UNESCO, 171 million people could be lifted out of poverty. But education isn’t just about living above the poverty line. It’s about quality of life, choices at work, and many other benefits, as listed below. Developing problem-solving skills The schooling system teaches a person how to make their own decisions by developing critical and logical thinking skills.
This prepares children for adulthood when both big and small decisions become a constant part of their daily lives. For example: coming up with solutions to challenges in the community or planning how to provide for a family. Self-reliance and empowerment Knowing how to read, write and do arithmetic is empowering.
- When a person can read, they can access endless learning and information.
- When they can calculate expenses and make a budget, they can start a small business.
- Paired with the ability to form opinions, literacy makes a person become more self-reliant, and gives them confidence.
- Promoting equality among individuals In an ideal world, there is no room for discrimination due to race, gender, religion, social class, or level of literacy.
This is where the value of education comes to play. Through education, one can develop strong, well-considered opinions – and learn to respect the views of others. Many experts agree that education is a significant contributor to peace in societies. Stability and financial security A person’s income is often linked to his or her educational attainment.
Around the world, there are more employment opportunities for those who complete high school, earn a degree, diploma or certificate, or go on to post-graduate studies. These can also mean higher salaries. Economic growth (as a nation) An educated population is important in building a nation’s economy.
According to studies, countries with the highest literacy rates are more likely to make progress in human and economic development. National economic growth begins with individual economic growth, which is often linked back to education. In Canada, 70 per cent of jobs have a college-level reading skill requirement. Elementary students from Papua New Guinea now have toy kits for recreation time at school. Play helps children solve problems, develop creativity and work as a team. Photo: Nelson Kairi Kurukuru 5. What does World Vision do to make education more accessible for girls and boys? One of World Vision’s objectives is to make education accessible for girls and boys around the world.
- We see it as an effective tool to promote sustainable growth for children, their families and the communities that we support.
- In 2020, donors sponsored 377,888 children across 44 countries through World Vision Canada alone,
- Many of these children are now benefitting from formal education.
- At least 12,270 children attend after-school literacy activities, while 51,585 adults were educated on child protection.
World Vision has several programs which make education of children and youth a priority. These include Child Sponsorship, the Raw Hope initiative and the World Vision Gift Catalogue, Through these projects, anyone interested in helping fund the education of vulnerable children can participate. Rosemiah, a young teacher in the Philippines, helps children improve their reading skills through a program called the Culture of Reading. Photo: Ramon Lucas Jimenez 6. How can I contribute toward making education accessible? Children in Canada have access to free education all the way through high school – but it’s not true everywhere.
Below are some of the ways you can help make education accessible for girls and boys around the world. Child Sponsorship World Vision is known for our Child Sponsorship program. It is an initiative where we pool together funds from donors, partners and the Canadian government to provide access to necessities such as nutritious food, clean water, health care and education among others.
The program benefits children across 44 countries, emphasizing access to education. Raw Hope Raw Hope is another program where we strive to make learning possible, even in the world’s most dangerous places. We do more than provide access to life-saving essentials.
- Raw Hope also includes the creation of safe spaces where girls and boys can play and continue their learning, even when life is in chaos.
- Gift Catalogue World Vision’s online Gift Catalogue invites donors to choose from many kinds of life-changing gifts–including several focusing on education.
- You can help by: donating textbooks for children, distributing school essentials, donating tech for a community, and helping send girls to school,
Volunteer While monetary donations are a great way to help, it is not the only option. You can also try volunteering your time by joining groups in your city or neighbourhood. Look for associations accepting volunteer teachers and share your knowledge with children of all ages. A boy in Rwanda solves a math equation. Arithmetic can help children learn to save money, create budgets, secure better jobs when they are older and even start small businesses. Photo: Charity Beza Uwase 7. Quick facts about education in Canada and the world Different countries and regions have different approaches to education, for children and adults.
Education in Canada is generally overseen and funded by governments (provincial, territorial and federal). Kindergarten in Canada is mandatory in most provinces and optional in a few. Starting in Grade 1, education is mandatory until a child is at least 16. The only exceptions are when families adhere to certain requirements for home schooling. Canada offers a Kindergarten to Grade 12 educational system, along with some other countries, such as the United States, Australia, Germany, Japan, Singapore and the Philippines. Canada once had a highly controversial residential school system. More than 150,000 First Nations, Métis and Inuit children were forced to attend church-run, government-funded schools between the 1870s and 1997. In 2016, some 750 million adults in the world still lacked basic reading and writing skills. Two-thirds of them were women.
Central Asia, Europe and North America have the highest literacy rates for youth aged 15-24 at nearly 100 per cent. The sub-Saharan region of Africa has the lowest, at 75 per cent. The criteria for assessing literacy vary between countries.
View complete answer
Why is education important in our society conclusion?
In conclusion, education makes you a better person and teaches you various skills. It enhances your intellect and the ability to make rational decisions. It enhances the individual growth of a person. Education also improves the economic growth of a country.
View complete answer
What is the main point of education is important to have?
Education is a process of expediting learning, acquiring knowledge, values, and virtue. It contributes to the development of better people around the globe. It is more of an enduring method in which people gain information, skills, and ethics. There is a narrow line that runs between learning and education.
We learn from everything we come across, from birth to death. On the contrary, we get educated at a certain point in our life with imparted knowledge. Our learning evolves with personal experience, which bears no rules, whereas schools or universities impart education based on particular standards. The standards are clear and measurable goals drew on skills and knowledge that children must obtain.
These skills prepare the children for the future, work, and life.
View complete answer
How does education affect the lives of people in society?
Benefits of Education are Societal and Personal – Those who get an education have higher incomes, have more opportunities in their lives, and tend to be healthier. Societies benefit as well. Societies with high rates of education completion have lower crime, better overall health, and civic involvement.
View complete answer
Why is education very important in five sentences?
5 Lines on Education 2) Education helps us to develop skills.3) An educated person is respected everywhere.4) Education helps to attain success in life.5) Education is the right of every citizen.
View complete answer
How do education change the society?
How Education Change Society For centuries, education has been integral in preparing them to contribute to their communities. Education shapes the skills, attitudes, and beliefs of the individual and plays a role in shaping the norms and values of a particular society.
These values eventually define the community structures people build, the goals they strive for, and how they help advance global development. Education has the power to bring individuals and communities together, equipping them with the abilities and knowledge to overcome pressing challenges. This power is not only at work in the conventional classroom but also in any setting where people can gather together and learn from each other.
Teachers and learners involved in conventional schooling, technical or vocational training, leadership coaching, and any other form of education can and should tap into this power for positive social change. The following are some of the ways that educational systems have transformed society around the world throughout history:
View complete answer
How does education make change in the society?
Education Changes Society – It’s not just our students, or their friends and families, who are investing time and money into higher education. All of us collectively are investing our tax dollars to subsidize our universities and colleges, Some of this investment will be paid back, in increased tax revenue from higher wages, and r educed drain on welfare programs,
There are, however, many less tangible benefits to a more highly educated society. Education can stimulate economic growth less directly, by increasing innovation, productivity, and human capital. And education also has a history of fostering positive social change, by encouraging things like political participation, social equality, and environmental sustainability,
Through its collaborations, our educational institutions also promote engagement with our communities, industries, governments, and the media. We are motivating our students to become more open, thoughtful, and responsible citizens, who are prepared to put these skills into action in our society.
View complete answer
How society is connected with education?
The Relationship between Education and Society (7040 Words) Read this article to learn about relationship between education and society! Society may be viewed as a system of interrelated mutually dependent parts which cooperate (more or less) to preserve a recognisable whole and to satisfy some purpose or goal.
Social system refers to the orderly arrangement of parts of society and plurality of individuals interacting with each other. Social system presupposes a social structure consisting of different parts which are interrelated in such a way as to perform its functions. Image Courtesy : media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/p/1/000/21d/0f9/03716e6.jpg To perform its functions every society sets up various institutions.
Five major complexes of institutions are identified: familial institutions, religious institutions, educational institutions, economic institutions and political institutions. These institutions form sub-systems within social system or larger society.
- Education as a Sub-System: Education is a sub-system of the society.
- It is related to other sub-systems.
- Various institutions or sub-systems are a social system because they are interrelated.
- Education as a sub-system performs certain functions for the society as whole.
- There are also functional relations between education and other sub-systems.
For example, Education trains the individuals in skills that are required by economy. Similarly education is conditioned by the economic institutions. The effectiveness of organised activities of a society depends on the interaction and inter relationships of these institutions which constitute the whole.
- Now we will examine the role of education for the society and the relationship between education and other sub-system of society in terms of functionalist perspective.
- The functionalist view of education tends to focus on the positive contributions made by education to the maintenance of social system.
Emile Durkheim says that the major function of education is the transmission of society’s norms and values. He maintains that, “society can survive only if there exists among its members a sufficient degree of homogeneity; education perpetuates and reinforces this homogeneity by fixing in the child from the beginning the essential similarities which collective life demands”.
Without these essential similarities, cooperation, social solidarity and therefore social life would be impossible. The vital task of all society is the creation of solidarity. This involves a commitment to society, a sense of belonging and feeling that the social unit is more important than the individual.
Durkheim argues that to become attached to society the child must feel in it something that is real, alive and powerful, which dominates the person and to which he also owes the best part of himself. Education in particular the teaching of history, provides this link between the individual and society.
- If the history of his society is brought alive to the child, he will come to see that he is a part of something larger than himself, he will develop a sense of commitment to the social group.
- Durkheim argues that in complex industrial societies, the school serves a function which cannot be provided either by family or peer groups.
Membership of the family is based on kinship relationship, membership of the poor group on the personal choice. Membership of society as a whole is based neither of these principles. Individuals must learn to cooperate with those who are neither their kin nor their friends.
- The school provides a context where these skills can be learned.
- As such, it is society in miniature, a model of the social system.
- In school, the child must interact with other members of the school in terms of fixed set of rules.
- Drawing on Durkheim’s ideas, Talcott Parsons argues that after primary socialisation within the family, the school takes over as the ‘focal socialising agency’.
School acts a bridge between the family and society as a whole, preparing the child for his adult role. Within the family, the child is judged and treated largely in terms of ‘particularistic’ standards. In the wider society the individual is treated and judged in terms of ‘Universalistic’ standards.
- Within the family the child’s status is ascribed, it is fixed by birth.
- However, in advanced industrial society, status in adult life is largely achieved.
- Thus, the child must move from particularistic standards and ascribed status of the family to universalistic standards and achieved status of adult society.
The school prepares young people for this transition. Schools operates on meritocratic principle, status is achieved on the basis of merit. Like Durkheim, Parsons also argue that the school represents society in miniature. By reflecting the operation of society as a whole, the school prepares young people for their adult roles.
As part of this process, schools socialise young people into the basic values of society. These values have important functions in society as a whole. Finally, Parsons sees the educational system as an important mechanism for the selection of individuals for their future role in society. In his words, it “functions to allocate these human resources within the role structure of adult society”.
Thus, schools, by testing and evaluating students, match their talents, skills and capacities to the jobs for which they are best suited. The school is therefore seen as the major mechanism for role allocation. Like Parsons, Davis and Moore see education as means of role allocation.
But they link the educational system more directly with the system of social stratification. According Davis and Moore social stratification is a mechanism for ensuring that most talented and able members of society are allocated to those positions which are functionally most important for the society.
High rewards which act as incentives are attached to these positions which means that all will win through. The education system is one important part of this process. Scholars have also analysed the relationship of education and society in terms of ‘Marxian perspective’.
Chief among them are Louis Althusser, Samuel Bowels and Herbert Gintis. According to Althusser, a French philosopher, as a part of the superstructure, the educational system is ultimately shaped by infrastructure. It will therefore reflect the relations of production and serve the interests of the capitalist ruling class.
For the ruling class to survive and prosper, the reproduction of labour power is essential. He argues that the reproduction of labour involves two processes. First, the reproduction of the skills necessary for an efficient labour force. Second, the reproduction of ruling class ideology and the socialisation workers in terms of it.
- These processes combine to reproduce a technically efficient and submissive and obedient work force.
- The role of education in capitalist society is the reproduction of such a work force.
- Althusser argues that the reproduction of labour power requires not only reproduction of its skills, but also, at the same time a reproduction of its submission to the ruling ideology.
The submission is reproduced by a number of ideological State Apparatuses”, such as mass media, law, religion and education. Ideological State Apparatus transmit ruling class ideology thereby creating false class consciousness. Education not only transmits a general ruling class ideology which justifies and legitimates the capitalist system.
- It also reproduces the attitudes and behaviour required by the major groups in the division of labour.
- It teaches workers to accept and submit to their exploitation, it teaches the agents of ‘exploitation and repression’, the managers, administrators and politicians, how to practise their crafts and rule the work force as agents of ruling class.
Like Althusser, the American economists Bowels and Gintis argue that the major role of education in capitalist society is the reproduction of labour power. In particular, they maintain that education contributes to the reproduction of workers with the kind of personalities, attitudes and outlooks which will fit them for their exploited status.
- They argue that social relationships in schools replicate the hierarchical division of labour in their work place.
- It can be stated here that education performs certain role for the society.
- At the same time education is also conditioned by the social structure.
- Society crates educational institutions such as schools, colleges and universities to perform certain functions in accomplishing its end.
The educational system may be viewed as a part of the total social system. It reflects and influences the social and cultural order of which it is a part. The class system, the cultural values, the power structure, the balance between individual freedom and social control, the degree of urbanisation and industrialisation all these factors exercise a profound influence on school system of any society.
- Functional Relationships between Education and other Sub-Systems: What are the functional relationships between education and other sub-systems of society.
- Many functionalists have argued that there is functional relationship between different sub-systems.
- For example there is a functional relationship between education and economic system.
Skills and values learned in education are directly related to the way in which the economy and the occupational structure operate. Education trains the individuals in skills that are required by the economy. Similarly, education is also influenced by economy.
Throughout the twentieth century, the rapid expansion of the tertiary occupation in industrial societies has produced an increasing demand for clerical, technical’, professional and managerial skills. Education reflects these changes in the economy. In this context Halsey and Floud argue that, the educational system is bent increasingly to the service of the labour force.
This can be seen from the steady increase in the school leaving age, the increasing specialisation of educational provision and the rapid expansion of higher and vocational education. Various institutions or sub-Systems – familial, political, economic, educational institutions – may be viewed as a ‘whole cluster of institutions’.
- These institutions are social system because they are interrelated.
- A social system reveals a balance between its parts which facilitates its operation.
- Occasionally it may reveal imbalance, but it tends towards equilibrium.
- In a changing society the interdependence of social institutions has a good deal of significance, to quote Ogburn and Nimkoff, for a change in one institution may affect other institutions”.
For example, when a country changes its Constitution, the change is never confined to its political institutions. Corresponding changes take place in economic relationships, in the educational system, in the class structure and so on. All the social institutions would be in balance, each being adjusted to other, forming a single unified scheme.
- Social Origins and Orientation of Students and Teachers: Education is a social concern.
- It is a social process.
- Its objective is to develop and awaken in the child those physical, intellectual and moral states which are acquired of the individual by his society as a whole and the milieu for which he is specially destined.
It is the significant means of socialisation. The function of education is to socialise the young by imparting to them norms and values, culture and heritage, and to provide them with skills and placement. This is traditionally, the accepted role of education.
In the West, for long, literacy was not considered essential for all. It remained confined to the priests, ruling classes and to commercial class. The education imparted was literary and religious. The valuation of education was not very high. In the Indian social milieu, education has been traditionally given significant importance.
Education has been given greater prominence in India than in Western or Islamic societies or in China. Referring to eighteenth century education in France, Helvelius observed that men “are born ignorant, not stupid; they are made stupid by education.” In England, where, there did not exist a well organized education system, there were the public schools for the higher strata of the society.
- But in these schools, “nothing worked except flogging.” In our country too, education suffered great fall and decline down the centuries.
- Eighteenth century, witnessed the total disruption of educational system.
- The British introduced their “own language gradually and eventually the language of public business throughout the country.” In fulfillment of the provisions of Charter Act 1833, the resolution of Governor General’s Council, provided that education be imparted in English ‘alone’.
In this Macarlays’ aim was, “to form a class who may be Indian in blood and colour but English in tastes.” It ultimately arrested Indian intellectuality, alienated the educated from their mooring and gave to the society an educational system not representing the educational personality.
The modern industrial society with its advance technology, division of labour, job differentiation, assumes a general standard of literacy. It cannot carry on with handful of education and mass illiteracy. The technological advancement has necessitated the re-orientation of education. The environmental effect of the education of child is now given special stress and attention.J.W.B.
Douglas, in The Home and the School has specially developed this aspect of child education. “The advantages which first children have over latter siblings in Douglas’s study, are best understood in terms of the greater degree of attention and responsibility which most first children are likely to receive from their parents as well as the greater responsibilities they have to shoulder.
Likewise, children from smaller families generally have higher educational attainment, since they are also likely to receive more parental attention than children in large families.” “Focussing on parental attention in this way helps us understand why apparently unconnected factors all tend to work in the same direction.
They also affect the child’s behaviour at school as well as within the home. The amount and quality of child-adult interactions influence the development of the child’s linguistic capacity, e.g., the range of his vocabulary. Likewise, the child’s own interest in schooling, as distinct from that of this parents, and his sense of being at ease when at school, are affected both directly and indirectly by his awareness of the importance and value his parents explicitly and implicitly place on schooling.
The family itself thus constitutes a learning situation for the child. Nor is the child simply ‘moulded’ by the family environment. He or she is an active agent who has to learn to interpret that environment Consequently, when considering the effects of the home on educational attainment. It is not enough to see this simply as the result of the occupation and education of the parents.
Family insecurity, for example, is not only produced by poverty but also results when professional parents with busy lives spend little time with their children. Resentments built up through such family interactions may undermine the good intentions of parents to help their children perform well in school”.
- In USA, there does not exist a national system of education.
- It is not a Federal subject.
- It is left entirely to the care of the local administration.
- There, therefore, exists diversity of institutions and of standards.
- Even within the same State, educational standards and the quality of schools varies.
The American elementary and high school education is comprehensive, and in the schools are conducted commercial, vocational and college preparatory programmes. There are schools, which exclusively conduct college preparatory courses. In England, there are elementary schools for the working class, Grammar schools for middle class children, and public school education, for the children of the upper class.
- This pattern has remained more or less unchanged, since long time.
- The Education Act of 1944, did not bring about any change in this differentiation.
- There is, however, effort being made to bring about the changes in the system, to develop comprehensive school system.
- Education in our country under the British Raj did not make much progress.
In 1939, literacy did not cover more than 10 per cent of the population. Since independence much extension has been given to education and literacy. Efforts are afoot to extend education both at the primary and adult levels. In the five decades since independence much advance has been made in education at secondary, college and university levels.
Under the new pattern Ten plus Two system at the secondary and senior secondary levels, emphasis is now being laid on vocational and technical education. In the traditional society, teacher was taken to symbolise the best in social values. He was accepted as a moral authority. But this position has now undergone a distinct change.
Teacher in an educated society is not the only person who can be said to have intellectual competence and school too is not the only institution to impart education. The normative aspect of education is not attended to. In fact it has remained neglected.
The emphasis in learning is on the accumulation of knowledge or acquiring a qualification, vocational or otherwise. Equality of Educational Opportunity: The equalisation of educational opportunities is essentially linked with the notion of equality in the social system. In a social system if all the individuals are treated as equal, they get equal opportunities for advancement.
Since education is one of the most important means of upward mobility, it is through an exposure to education one can aspire to achieve higher status, position and emoluments. But for getting education he must have equal opportunities like other members of the society.
The need for emphasising the equality of opportunity in education arise due to number of reasons. Some of these reasons are enumerated below:(a) It is needed because it is through the education to all the people in a democracy; the success of democratic institutions is assured.(b) The equality of educational opportunities will ensure rapid development of a nation.(c) A closer link between the manpower needs of a society and the availability of a skilled personnel will develop.(d) People with specialised talents for specialised jobs in a large number will be available and the society will be benefited.
A society which hold high promise of “Equality of status and of opportunity” for all and assures” the dignity of individual and the unity and integrity of the Nations”, has to attend to the mass spreading of learning much in the interest of creating the appropriate ground work for the social advancement.
Education is supposed to eliminate social and economic inequality. The relationship between education and inequality is a result of the historical particulars of the educational system. There are two factors in this (1) the available opportunities which structure individual choices and (2) the social and economic process which structure individual choices while the above factors point out that the educational system is a product of the social structure it must be remembered that it is not a one-way process because the educational system itself and the values it stands for influences individual decisions.
Educational Inequality: The major problem with respect to the equality of educational opportunity is the perpetuation of inequalities through education. It is through a system of education in which elite control is predominant that the inequalities are perpetuated.
- In an elite controlled system the schools practise segregation.
- This segregation may be on the basis of caste, colour or class etc.
- In South Africa schools practise segregation on the basis of colour.
- Equality of educational opportunity is more talked about, than really believed.
- In all modern industrially advanced countries there is the total inequality of educational opportunity.
Educational opportunities for a child are determined by his family, class, neighborhood consideration. A comprehensive school system free from these considerations is the demand all over the world. There is a move to this effect in U.S.A., France and Britain, and among the East European countries, especially in (Zechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Sweden, where comprehensive school system is followed.
But the movement is comparatively weak in Britain and France. The size of the family and the parental attitude makes a lot of difference to the educational career of a child. The educated parents give due attention to the education of the children. The family influence determines the educational goal of the children.
Inequality of educational opportunity also occurs due to the poverty of a large section of the population and the relative affluence of small minority. The poor cannot pay the fees and their children do not find chances of continuing in schools. Children from the families that cannot provide the economic support and other perquisite, suffer badly.
From this group, there is the maximum number of dropouts. Education and social status have close connection. Social class position includes income, occupation and life style. These have impact on the upbringing of the child. In the U.S.A. “Negros make up a disproportionately high percentage of school dropouts and their educational level is below that of whites.
Under the segregated schooling that long prevailed in the United States, officially in the South and informally elsewhere, Negroes received an inferior education. Racially segregated schools have simply been poorer schools and children in these schools are not given the same opportunity to learn to the same level as white schools.
- The neighborhood environment has much to do with the education of the children.
- Low income families concentrate in the inner city, live in old and decaying houses.
- Families with similar level of income, and similar vocation live in neighborhood.
- This sort of inequality is found everywhere in the West.
- The residential segregation is a factor that produces class structures.
Neighborhood has its impact on the school, and on the peer group. The attitude of the teacher has much to do with education of the children. The very real measurable differences between middle class and lower class children in tests, as well as the differences between white and Negro children, are to be accounted for, not by innate differences in ability, but by differences of cultural exposure and bearing opportunities.
The children in rural areas studying in poorly equipped schools have to compete with the children in urban areas where there are well-equipped schools and more informative environment for getting admission to the schools for higher bearing on professional colleges. In Indian situation educational inequality due to sex is also very much visible.
Girls’ education at all stages of education is not given the same encouragement as boys. The social customs and taboos hinder the progress of girls’ education. They are given inferior position in the family and their education is neglected. Educational inequality is due to the system itself and also on account of conditions prevailing in society.
- It is multi-sided affair and is continuing both in developed and developing societies.
- In many societies it finds expression in the form of public schools.
- Some of the societies including our own, run public schools which provide much better education than the type of education provided by State run and controlled educational institutions.
The education in the former institutions being much costly as compared with the latter and admission obviously open to only few privileged. This creates educational inequality in its own way. It is a paradox that education which should be the catalyst of change very often reflects the structured inequalities present ‘in the social system.
It is really strange that education aimed at social transformation reflects the structured inequalities in our social system. Education is supposed to eliminate social and economic inequality. Educational institutions are in a sense closed systems since opportunities that elite has for excellent educational system is not available for the unfortunate masses.
Obviously this system breeds inequality of opportunities. In many cities there is a definite status hierarchy in primary education and to a large extend, the choice of a primary school determines career opportunities. Top priority is given to English medium schools sponsored by missionaries since they offer the best education.
Next in the hierarchy are non-English medium schools run by religious organisations and charitable trusts. At the bottom of the hierarchy are the schools run by the Government. Naturally the choice of English medium schools is the forerunner for lucrative and prestigious careers for a particular segment of society.
Various State Governments provide primary education free of cost, but since such education is in regional language medium, where the standard of instruction is on par with that of private-school’s the rates of drop-outs are high in such schools. We have at present a stratified society and a stratified pattern of schooling and they compete each other.
- Dual system of education has to be done away with through legislation and thereby evolve a common pattern of schooling to build a strong and unified democratic system in India.
- Educational privileges must reach down to the poor and particularly it should benefit members of the Scheduled Castes.
- Rapid expansion of education among women is achieved although they are still at a disadvantage compared to men.
To some extent education has proved to be a source of social mobility for the depressed groups. Education is a double-edged instrument which can eliminate the effects of socio-economic inequalities but it can also introduce a new kind of inequality. Education can influence the process of social change among the weaker sections of society.
- Persistent and planned efforts by the Government and voluntary agencies will go a long way toward elimination of educational inequalities.
- Education as Medium of Cultural Reproduction, Indoctrination: The enduring function of education is the cultural reproduction.
- It has been recognised to be its main role.
It is by education that the newborn is initiated in the social ways. It transmits culture to him. At the early stages the aim is to introduce the child to the normative order of his group. In the traditional society kinship group worked for the child to this end.
In complex modern industrial society of the West, this work is undertaken by specialized agencies such as school. In traditional society, cultural reproduction may take place by oral teaching of heritage and culture; history and legend, and in a practical way by participating in the celebration of festivals.
One may at a successive stage be introduced to culture through books. Yet one may not be in a position to appreciate it. It is only after one has been initiated and motivated that one gets cultivated in the cultural ways. As indicated above it is a lifelong educational process.
But in present time’s family, school and teachers are no longer the only institutions that influence the growing generations. The movies, radio, record industry, and the television are strong instruments to impart education. Their appeal is direct. But these are not bound to any normative standard. Their basic standard is the marketability.
The cultivated morality is challenged; established values are disregarded; mockery is made of humility and decency. With the disregarding of the traditional values, the growing children find themselves like the waves in the boundless sea, and the older feel to have been left high and dry.
Perhaps nothing disturbs the basic function of cultural transmission by the institution of education as does this growth of a mass media that is not normatively regulated, and indeed that has not been consciously assigned such a function within the society. It throws into critical relief the whole issue of whether the culture is to be transmitted effectively within the frame work of recognized institutions or whether a disparate set of unlinked and unregulated structures and processes are to carry out competitive even contradictory cultural transmission, and whatever unanticipated consequences.” The role of education as an agent of the transmission of culture is thus diminishing.
It is becoming a specialized process. Indoctrination: Education is a process of indoctrination. It has been so and it shall remain so. A child is trained in the accepted values to fit in the social milieu. The training of child has been such down the ages.
- Education and the class room have been used for the perpetuation of the values, beliefs and faith in East and West alike.
- Pulpit throughout the Christiandom, has been the great instrument of indoctrination.
- Ecclesiastical order, which for long controlled the education, had generally been fanatic.
- They had vested interest in perpetuating fanaticism.
The French Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser, held that school has always been used as an ideological apparatus. “The ruling ideology thus determines the dominated culture of society, influencing what is taught in school and universities and determining through education and the mass media what types of thought and language are seen as normal and are ‘rewarded’ by society.” In France the Third Republic took church to be its worst enemy, since in the church schools was conducted anti-republican propaganda.
- Gambetta observed, “Clericalism, that is our enemy.” This position was further elaborated by Premier Waldeck Rousseau, a follower of Gambetta.
- He said that the real peril was the growing power of religious orders of monks and nuns and from the character of the teaching given by them in the religious schools they were conducting.
They were doing their best to make the children hostile to the Republic. In 1902, Combos, the successor of Waldeck Rousseau observed. “Clericalism is, in fact to be found at the bottom of every agitation and every intrigue from which Republican France has suffered during the last thirty five years.” The present day educational institutions are not free from it.
- But the role of education in India was regarded humanist.
- In ancient Indian schools, emphasis was laid on pure values.
- It is worth quoting.
- The aim of learning are settled to be Sraddha (faith), Praja (progeny), dhana (wealth), ayuh (longevity), and amritatva (immortality).
- Education and Social Change: Education is considered the most powerful instrument of social change.
It is through education that the society can bring desirable changes and modernise itself. Various studies have revealed the role of education in bringing about social changes. The relation between education and changes in social structure has been examined in rural contexts.
- Allen R. Holmberg and Dobyns jointly as well as separately reported the Vicos action research project.
- The project was a study of the role of enlightenment in social development.
- The findings of this project were that education became enmeshed in wider social changes as knowledge became the means to status and effective participation.
It was also found that the most modernised citizens in the community were the youngsters, who had attended school. In another study by Daniel Lerner, it was found that the key to modernisation lies in the participant society, i.e. one in which people go to school, red newspapers, participate politically through elections.
- It is important to note that literacy not only proved to be key variable in moving from a traditional to a transitional society but also the pivotal agent in the transition to a fully participant’ society.
- The studies of Philip Foster in Ghana and Edward Shils in India have also revealed the role of education in social change.
According to Foster it was formal Western Schooling in Ghana that created a cultural environment in which innovations could take place. Shils making a study of the intellectuals in India came to conclusion that if there is to be any successful bridging in the gap between tradition and modern societies, it is the Western educated intellectual who must perform the task.
- James S. Coleman, Foster, Lipset and many others have shown that education plays a very vital role in political change.
- It is held that political development is largely dependent on education.
- It provides the skills required by modern political bureaucracies, in many emergent nations it has provided a common language, it helps to recruit elite and provides a central force in movements for independence.
It may be said that social change may be brought about by political situation, economic development, technological development etc. By whatever mans the change may be brought about; education always plays an import role in its propagation. The political situation may lead to democratic or totalitarian form of Government.
The changes in keeping with the form of the government in the society can only be brought about through education. Even the acceptance of the form of Government by the majority will be dependent on how it is being educated. The economic growth leads to social change. It is however, education which leads to economic growth.
The development in science and technology are also dependent on education. Education is a ‘condition’ for economic change. It is an important means of attaining economic standard of society. It is essential for the economy. Change in the educational system result in social and economic changes, greater social mobility and more skilled and well-trained manpower for technologically based industries.
Education has been playing in important role in getting occupations which are key determinants of general social status. Therefore, the schools are agent in realisation of the desire for upward mobility. The schools are instrumental in transforming the occupational structure as well as class structure.
In most developing countries education is regarded as the ‘gateway’ to an improved social status. Education increases political awareness and political participation of the people. This brings about wider political changes with the increasingly organised participation of the people in national politics.
Education is expected to contribute to ‘progress’. In modern societies educational organisations act as innovators. These organisations disseminate new knowledge and ideas and promote the processes of social change. According to Alex Inkeles, different levels of education have different levels of effects.
In the developing countries primary education is enabling the people to do things they would never have been able to do before. Basic literacy brings a society into world. Higher education is not only an aid for individual development, but also for the all-round development of the society.
In addition, university student’s movements have often been the major force demanding social change in many societies. In China, India, Japan, America and many other countries students agitation have resulted in vast changes. In some cases, the students movements are found to discredit, transform or topple governments.
As Drucker has pointed out, “highly educated man has become the central resource of today’s society and the supply of such men are the true measure of its economic, military and even its political potential”. Modern Education changes our attitude and values.
It affects our customs, traditions, beliefs and manners. It removes our superstitious beliefs and irrational fear about the supernatural things. Now education aims at imparting knowledge about science, technology and other secular knowledge. It has been universally acknowledged that through the promotion of education modern values in social, economic, political and cultural fields can be inculcated.
Education has contributed to the improvement in the status of women. So far as the importance of modern education is concerned, according Inkeles, it helps them in moving away from traditionalism to modernity. It has helped them to seek employment and to come out of the family.
- To conclude, education is the driving force behind the phenomenon of social change.
- The role of education as a factor or instrument of social change and development is universally recognised today.
- Education can initiate and accelerate the process of change by changing the attitude and values of man.
- It can change man and his style of living and hence can change the society.
But education follows social changes. Changes in education take place due to the impact of social changes. Changes in content and methods of education become a necessity for education to be relevant and effective. When changes occur in needs of the society.
Technology and values of society, education also undergoes changes. Society has various needs and these need are subject to change. The changing needs of the society bring changes in the educational system. It means that educational changes occur because of social needs and aspirations. Universal education, adult education, vocational and scientific education are the various forms and varieties of education which have been brought about by the needs of modern Indian society.
Many changes occur in education because of cultural changes. To conclude, education and social change are very intimately related. They influence each other mutually. Education and Modernisation: Modernisation denotes total transformation of traditional or pre-modern society into the types of technology and associated social organisation that characterise the advanced economically prosperous and relatively politically stable nations of the West.
- Modernisation is defined as a conscious set of plans and policies pursued by the leaders or elites of developing countries for changing their societies in the direction of modern developed societies.
- Modernisation is the process of transforming the old traditional societies and nations to modernity in the fields of economic, technological, industrial and social advancement.
It is to bring a less advanced nation at par with the advanced country. It is the result of the growing recognition of the need for global harmonisation in the larger interests of humanity. The process modernisation is viewed as one time historical process which was started by the Industrial Revolution in England and the political Revolution in France.
- Modernisation first occurred in the West through the twin process of commercialization and industrialisation.
- Early in the twentieth century Japan, the first Asian country, joined the race for industrialisation.
- Latter U.S.S.R.
- As well as other countries tried to achieve different degree of modernisation.
The process is to be viewed as an all-in-all process but not a compartmentalised one. Hence, technical, economic, social, industrial and political orders are to be changed radically. Modernisation takes place in different spheres – political, economic, social and educational.
- Industrialisation, urbanisation, secularisation, rapid growth of transport and communication, educational revolutions etc.
- Are the steps in the progressive direction of modernisation of a nation.
- Modernisation involves not only changes at structural level but also fundamental changes at the personal level, a change in modes of thinking, beliefs, opinion, attitudes and action.
Several interacting transformations are involved in the process of modernisation. Education is a great force in modernisation. It plays a crucial role in various spheres of modernisation. Education has been recognised as the most important factor connected with rise and growth of modernisation process of a society irrespective of cultural milieu in which it finds itself.
- It has been universally acknowledged that through the promotion of education, modern values in social economic, political and cultural fields can be inculcated.
- Rationality and scientific temper being the preponderant characteristics of modernisation can be acquired through constant learning.
- Emphasis has been given on education as an instrument for social reconstruction and modernisation.
It is particularly the Western education that enabled many to develop and inculcate the sense of modern outlook. Such an evidence was visible enough when India was under British rule. It was educated population who took the leadership and contributed in bringing many policies and programmes that were sought after before the British.
They inculcated the values of patriotism, nativism, humanitarianism only through education and these ideas were employed as tools against the British. Highly productive economies, distributive justice, people’s participation in decision-making bodies, adoption of scientific technology in industry, agriculture and other professions are accepted as the goals of for modernising a society.
These goals are to be achieved through education. Education prepares the mentality of the people to accept changes. It creates conducive environment for modernisation. By promoting democratic values and progressive attitudes in the people, education makes them capable to participate and strengthen the process of modernisation.
- It teaches them to fight against social evils, blind beliefs and superstitions.
- Education is not only aid for individual development, but also for the all-round development of society and the country.
- It helps for the development of the qualities of an individual such as mental and emotional makeup as well as his temperament and character.
For the individual it provides rational and scientific thinking, reasoning, skills and capabilities to adjust to new situations. Modern education helps people in moving away from traditionalism to modernity. Education is considered the most powerful instrument of modernisation.
It is through education that the society can bring desirable change and modernise itself. Learner says that the key to modernisation lies in the participant society; that is one in which people go through school, read newspapers, are in the wage and market economy, participate politically through elections and change opinions on matters of public business.
The importance of education as an instrument of modernisation needs no special reiteration. Similarly, none can deny the fact that modernisation has its significance to education. They influence mutually. There is a close relationship between education and modernisation.
- Modernisation takes place in educational sphere for the effectiveness of education in a society.
- This involves change in content and methods of education.
- Modern society is characterised by very rapid and extensive changes.
- In such a changing society, education aims at communicating empirical knowledge, that is knowledge about science, technology and other types of such specialised knowledge.
In -keeping with the demands of changing society, there has been a corresponding transformations in the contents and methods of instruction. The inclusion of heavy study materials on modern science and technology into the syllabus makes it imperative that course of study on classical language and literature should be abridged or altogether drooped.
- In educational sphere, modernisation involves growing specialisation of educational roles and organisations, growing unification and interrelation of different educational activities within the frameworks of one common system.
- According to S.N.
- Isenstadt, “perhaps the best starting point for analysis of the characteristics in the educational institutions in modern societies is the pattern of demands for and the supply of educational services that tended to develop with modernisation.
In the field of demand we can distinguish between the demand for ‘the products’ and the ‘rewards’ of education. Among the most important products of education are, first, various skills, be they general skill such as of occupations or more specific professional and vocational skills, the number of which has continually increased and become diversified with growing economic, technical and scientific development.
- A second major product of education is identification with various cultural, socio-political symbols and values and relatively active commitment to various cultural, social and political groups and organisations.” The supply side of educational services also become greatly diversified.
- According to him it includes the supply of manpower to be educated at different levels of educational system and adequate motivation and preparation for education and it includes the supply of various schooling facilities -schools at different levels, ranging from kinder garden to universities, of technical personnel (greatly dependent on fluctuation in the labour market) and of various facilities for the maintenance of such institutions and organisations.
Education plays a crucial role in the process, of modernisation in various fields and modernisation in these fields really enhances the evolvement of education technically which calls for in great need for imparting modern education and for producing capable and resourceful manpower.
View complete answer
It inculcates a progressive mentality among the civilians in a society. Most necessarily, it structures a constructive future for all the people in a society which is highly required for inculcating a social change.
View complete answer
What is the conclusion of scope of education?
It empowers humans and gets them prepared to confront the challenges of life efficiently.
View complete answer