Education

Nelson Mandela said “Education is the only tool with you to change the world.” The words of the great leader rightly signify the importance and power of education. Education trains the human mind to make the right decisions. It simple words education is a way of learning things in life. It is a way of improving knowledge, skills and habits. Education makes a man perfect. It is rightly said that without education a man is a splendid slave, reasoning savage. Education is a process of self expression. Education has great importance in today’s modern and complex societies. The collective social behavior of men is guided by education. Education helps completing the socialization process. Education takes care of the complete all round development of a human being. Mahatma Gandhi while describing the value of education stated that “by education I mean an all round drawing out of the best in child and man, body, mind and spirit.”  Learning is living or living is all about learning. Education shapes human behavior. In sort we can say, education forms and modifies the knowledge, character and behavior of a person influencing the society at large.  Education brings in to the focus the social aspects of a man and signifies its supreme position in the society.

Origin of Education

The word education has been derived from the Latin word ‘Educare’. It means an act of ‘bringing up’. The word ‘Educare’ is again related to ‘Educere’, which means ‘bringing out’  ‘bring forth what is within’.  teaching or training. It would not be wrong to say that the history of education is as old as human civilization. According to Dieter Lenzen president of the Freie Universitat Berlin “the history of education began either millions of years ago or at the end of 1770.” However, Nalanda University established in Indian in 427 AD is thought to be the first university in the world.  Students from far ends of the world used to come to this university. University of Bologan founded in 1808 is said to be first university to be established in the west.  Academy of Athens founded by Plato, the great Greek philosopher, is a significant land mark in the field of the history of education. It is the first institute of higher learning of education.  

Before the development of writing, it is believed that there were already oral literatures existing of different forms in the ancient word. The finest example of such literature here would be the Vedas of ancient India. Vedas are learnt by repetition of various forms of recitation. Only through memorizing they are transitioned to many many generations. World’s oldest known alphabet was developed in Egypt around 2000 BC.

In India, history of education is dominated mostly by Vedas and Upanishads. The vedic period ranges from 1500 BC to 600 BC. During this period most education was based on Veda and later hindu texts and scriptures.  Upanishads is also as old as 500 BC. Texila is known as one of the earliest center of learning in India existed during the 5^th century. Disciples were taught about the three Vedas and eighteen accomplishments.  Academy of Gundishapur during the 6^th nd 7^th century was considered to be the oldest intellectual center of learning for the Muslim world.

Definition of Education

Education is a term which is more easily understood than defined.  We immediately conceive an idea about the word education the moment we hear it. Education today, as per the mainstream educational providers is the delivery of knowledge, skills and information from teachers to students making them ready for the world. Providing a clear and concise definition was never an easy task for the intellectuals of different times in the history. However, below are some well recognized definitions of education for reference.

Tagore:

·         "The widest road leading to the solution of all our problems is education."

Plato:

·         "Education is the capacity to feel pleasure and pain at the right moment. It develops in the body and in the soul of the pupil all the beauty and all the perfection which he is capable of."

Upanishad:

·         "Education is for liberation".

Aristotle:

·         "Education is the creation of a sound mind in a sound body. It develops man's faculty, especially his mind so that he may be able to enjoy the contemplation of supreme truth, goodness and beauty of which perfect happiness essentially consists”.

 Rousseau:

·         "Education of man commences at his birth; before he can speak, before he can understand he is already instructed. Experience is the forerunner of the perfect".

Rigved:

·         "Education is something which makes man self-reliant and selfless".

Aims of Education

 As pointed out by Aristotle education is the process of creating a sound mind in a sound body.  It simply indicates that it is education that takes care of the all round development of a human being.   As mention before, the process of education is as old as the existence of the human race. However, with the changes in time education also has undergone changes as per the requirement of the social need and structure.

Education is a lifelong process. It starts with our birth and ends with our death. It is a spontaneous process and it continues throughout our lives. So, education aims at a lifelong process of learning indentifying its own need and importance. As commonly understood education doesn’t necessarily mean the education of schools and colleges alone. Education is both formal as well informal in its nature. Formal and informal learning in the form of life’s lesson together consist the greater aim of education.   

The prime aim of education is to ensure the progressive development of natural abilities of a person. Education gives us the wisdom and power to control and guide us in the right direction. Education helps us to identify the right and wrong and take right decisions in life. It teaches us the sense of individual as well as collective responsibility. Education is the process of preparing a good human being of the society. Education helps our children’s to prepare for a better future. As rightly pointed out by Pestalozzi ‘Education is natural, harmonious and progressive development of man’s innate powers.’

Education serves a greater interest towards the society.  Education aims at preparing civilized and sensible citizens for the society. It teaches how one should guide his life by moral values and principles for leading a better social life. Education focuses on developing moral habits among the students. Apart from building knowledge, its primary concern is to develop the practice of moral values among children. It will help every child to get a superior understanding and vision of life.  The social aim of education is to make a man responsible towards the society. Healthy social interactions make healthy social relations. The theory of books will be useful only when it is put to application.  Education serves the purpose of this transition from book to society for an individual in a perfect way.

Education teaches what man lies and struggles for in life. It teaches the significance of one’s life. Education aims at helping people understand the meaning of life. It teaches what to choose and what not choose in life. Therefore it is said that an educated person is a free person. An educated person can freely choose the best out of his life with the help of virtue and wisdom gained through education. Aristotle told “educated men are much superior to uneducated as the living are to the dead.”  

According to Wordsworth, a naturalist by instinct believes that man should consider Nature to be his teacher. According to him, a child cans naturally many things from nature. Despite many theories and concepts, education has been unanimously considered as source of betterment of individuals and making him a responsible citizen for the society.

Education also works as a an important instrument of reformation. Education reforms the wrong attitudes developed by children. Education works aims at reforming the wrong attitudes of children.  It also aims at preparing a person competent to earn his livelihood.

According to Wordsworth, a naturalist by instinct believes that man should consider Nature to be his teacher. According to him, a child cans naturally many things from nature. Despite many theories and concepts, education has been unanimously considered as source of betterment of individuals and making him a responsible citizen for the society

Types of Education

Education is a process of bringing desirable change into the human behavior. The behavioral changes must be directed towards a desirable end and it should have social and cultural acceptance. These changes must result in a change in knowledge, skill, attitude and understanding.  Society is always been a subject of complex changes throughout the ages. Education adopts itself according to the social change to fulfill its large individual and social interests. Hence, Education also has undergone a lot of changes in its evolutionary process. Education can broadly classified in to three major categories. These are Formal Education, Non-formal Education and Informal Education.

1.     Formal Education is

1.1.1.      Institutional Activity

1.1.2.      Chronologically graded hierarchically structured

1.1.3.      Uniform

1.1.4.      Subject Oriented

1.1.5.      Full Time

1.1.6.      Leads to certificates, diplomas, degrees

2.     Non Formal Education is

2.1.1.      Flexible

2.1.2.      Life environment and learner oriented

2.1.3.      Diversified in content and method

2.1.4.      Non authoritarian

2.1.5.      Built on learner participation

2.1.6.      It mobilizes local resources

2.1.7.      It enriches human and environmental a potential

3.     Informal Education is

3.1.1.      Life long process

3.1.2.      Individual learns from daily experiences

3.1.3.      Individual learns from exposure to the environment at home, at work etc.

Career in Education

 The career options in education are simply excellent. There is no even a single field where the importance of a good educator is denied. Especially with the growing importance of early childhood and adult education, a graduate in education finds number of options open in front of him. Apart from teaching in all the level and sectors of education a graduate can also choose different other options like academic research, administration, social work, media etc. Following are the options available for an education graduate in both public and private sector.

Career Option in Government Sector:

There are various opportunities available for an education graduate or post graduate in the government sector. In recent times government of every country of the world is putting great importance of education and spending a lot of money on the education sectors pertaining to child, adult and old people. It eventually increases the number of career options for an education graduate. The main areas where a graduate can opt for a career is:

·         Teaching in Government Schools/Colleges & Universities

·         Educator for government educational schemes for different section of people.

·         Counselor

·         Administration

·         Governmental Policy making

·         Education Officer

·         Human Resources

·         Faculty Development Programs

·         Student Development Programs

·         Liaison Officer in educational sector

·         Other clerical and secretarial roles

·         Juvenile Justice System

·         Educational Psychology

Career Option in Private Sector:

Career options are bright for an education student in private sector as well. The growing demand for education and educational reforms are creating growing number career opportunities in the private sector as well. The demand for qualified educator is always high and it is not likely to change anytime in the future both in private and public sector. The areas of opportunity for an education graduate are mentioned below.

·         Teaching in private Schools/Colleges & Universities

·         Private Tutor

·         Online Tutor/Educator

·         Non Government Organizations

·         Human Resources

·         Educational Psychology

·         Social Service

·         Writer/Journalist

·         Academic Counselor

·         Corporate

·         Social and educational Research for a private organization

·         Student co-coordinator

We see that education as a subject leads to wonderful careers options. One can choose any one of the above mentioned fields either in government or a private sector to start a vibrant career, depending on his aspiration. Education makes great educators and it is believed that for an education graduate the best field of study is education itself. However, the skills developed by the subject can be applied and adopted in many other fields.