Bantayan, Bamboo

FOUNDED1
Dr. Sherlyne Acosta

Instructional Unit 1

What do we mean by education? Is there a purpose to education? How has

been the understanding of education changed over time, place, conditions,
and demands and needs of society?

Education means various things to different people, but in essence they

talk about the same goal to increase knowledge and be a positive contributor

to society. Gregorio (1976) defines education as “both a process of

individual growth and a means of social development”. Eric Hoffer saw

education as a medium to “implant a will and facility for learning”, where

ever y person is a student, regardless of age or status quo. One of the web

definitions describe it as “knowledge acquired by learning and instruction”.

Wikipedia portrays it even further as providing good judgement and wisdom.

These definitions, though, give the impression that education was like water

pouring into a bottomless vessel; always being filled over, a tabula rasa. For

Socrates, he postulated that such vast information and knowledge was already

within us, and education was a means of drawing them out.

Education, for me, is a lifelong process of learning, unlearning and

relearning knowledge and information, not only through formal schooling,

but from real life experiences as well. It is through education that we get the

knowledge necessar y to develop ourselves and gain an appreciation to what is

around us. It is also through education that we learn how to work and relate

with other people. It might be arrogant to say that education is life for us

humans, but especially with the demands of today, education is one of the

best means for the survival of the fittest.

 There has been a lot of discussion on what should be the definite

purposes of education, since people have differing views. Even ancient

philosophers have been debating on what ought to be the purpose of

education. There are various purposes to education but they are mainly for

the development of the individual and for the society in general. Some have

postulated that education should be a means of how to think and how to live

for an individual. Plato and Aristotle argued that one of education’s role is to

be an instrument for an individual to know one’s likes and dislikes. Ayn

Rand was adamant when she declared that the only purpose of education was

for one to cultivate his mind and giving him tools in order to deal with his

“reality”. Others gave emphasis of education’s purpose in relation of the

individual to the society. The Czech philosopher Comenius believed that

education should be an agency in creating a well-balanced and productive

community. Fielstein and Phelps (2001) believed that even if an individual

has a high academic stature, yet has no social skills, then what one has

learned in the classroom is useless, for it is the outside world is the real

“test” of learning. Armstrong, Henson and Savage (2001) tried to integrate

differing viewpoints and identifies these as transmission of general culture,

dissemination of knowledge, preparation for the world of work, promotion of

social and group relationships, and encouragement of social change.

For us in the Philippines, being a developing country, education is a

way to improve ourselves and the society, both politically and economically.

Especially for the poor, it is a way out of poverty. It is an opportunity to rise

up from their current financial hardships, as it is always said that education

will give them a “better life”. For those well-off as well, as they know the
importance of having a good education despite having the financial means,

they might consider it as a means to remain in the status quo.

The comprehension of education has certainly changed over the years.

Gone are the days from the Victorian era, where students merely listened to

the teacher and that tr ying to question what was being taught gained one a

slap on the wrist. One way that the view of education has changed was from

the ways we view our children. Before, children were not considered as

whole persons but rather as incomplete. This was clearly seen with the

Western countries, particularly in Europe, wherein child slavery was rampant

centuries ago. Rousseau’s philosophy that the child has his own personality,

goals and agenda influenced many educators to give more emphasis with the

development of the child. With the coming of the 19 t h century, with its

rapidly growing ideas and technology that education became more important.

A rapidly evolving technology needed more people to understand the

workings and engineering of such machines, and therefore needed more

people for this line of work aside from more skilled workers. Such demand

for more diversified work might have contributed to the rise of formal

schools. With the rise of globalization, education became more diverse in its

goals. Vocational education and non-formal education has slowly been given

just as much importance as is formal education. Many schools have opened

in order to meet the demands of a growing need to have more skilled and

knowledgeable people, to the point that there has been much competition

between schools. There has been even a rise of graduate and online schools

for those who would like to continue their education.

 Certainly, education will continue to evolve with the demand to be

more adaptive, more skilled and more competitive. It is not to be seen only

as a way to improve one’s self in terms of academics, not only be someone

who would mouth off terms and concepts as though from verbatim, but also

how to contribute and be a good member of society.

REFERENCES:

Armstrong, D. G., Henson, K. T., Savage, T. V. (2001). Teaching Today. An

Introduction to Education. Ohio: Merill-Prentice Hall.

Fielstein, L. & Phelps, P. (2001). Introduction to Teaching: Rewards and

Realities. California: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.

Schofield, K. (Sept. 1999). The Purposes of Education 3: A contribution to

the discussion on 2010: Queensland State Education. Retrieved June

18, 2007 from

http://education.qld.gov.au/corporate/qse2010/pdf/purposesofed3.pdf

The Public Agenda: The Purposes of Education. (2005). Retrieved June 18,

2007 from

http://www.publicagenda.org/pubengage/pdfs/purposes_of_education.pdf

Purposes of Education. Retrieved June 18, 2007 from

www.coe.eku.edu/courses/EDF-

103/presentations/Purposes_Powerpoint.ppt

Retrieved June 18, 2007 from

http://www31.homepage.villanova.edu/john.durnin/Purposes/Pur

poses.htm