"EDUCATION IS TO INFLAME THE INTELLECTS of MINDS. "

The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education. Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school. Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself. The sociologist Robert Merton proposed that social institutions such as education in schools have functions that are both manifest and latent.

• The manifest functions are the ones that society intends those institutions to have. The latent functions are the ones that are not intended, but which come about even so. Nature and Aims of Education. ... It makes an individual civilized, refined, cultured and educated. For a civilized and socialized society, education is the only means. Its goal is to make an individual perfect.

Education is a systematic process through which a child or an adult acquires knowledge, experience, skill and sound attitude. It makes an individual civilized, refined, cultured and educated. For a civilized and socialized society, education is the only means. Its goal is to make an individual perfect. Every society gives importance to education because it is a panacea for all evils. It is the key to solve the various problems of life.

Education has been described as a process of waking up to life:

· Waking up to life and its mysteries, its solvable problems and the ways to solve the problems and celebrate the mysteries of life.

· Waking up to the inter-dependencies of all things, to the threat to our global village, to the power within the human race to create alternatives, to the obstacles entrenched in economic, social and political structures that prevent our waking up.

– Education in the broadest sense of the term is meant to aid the human being in his/her pursuit of wholeness. Wholeness implies the harmonious development of all the potentialities God has given to a human person.

– True education is the harmonious development of the physical, mental, moral (spiritual), and social faculties, the four dimensions of life, for a life of dedicated service.

ETYMOLOGICAL MEANING OF EDUCATION

Etymologically, the word ‘Education’ has been derived from different Latin words.

a) ‘educare’ which means ‘to bring out’ or ‘to nourish’.

b) ‘educere’ which means ‘to lead out’ or ‘to draw out’.

c) ‘educatum’ which means ‘act of teaching’ or ‘training’.

d) ‘educatus’ which means ‘to bring up, rear, educate’.

e) ‘ēducātiō’ which means “a breeding, a bringing up, a rearing.”

· The Greek word ‘pedagogy’ is sometimes used for education.

· The most common Indian word ‘shiksha’ is derived from the Sanskrit verbal root ‘shas’ which means ‘to discipline’, ‘to control’, ‘to instruct’ and ‘to teach’.

· Similarly the word ‘vidya’ is derived from Sanskrit verbal root ‘vid’ which means ‘to know’. Vidya is thus the subject matter of knowledge. This shows that disciplining the mind and imparting knowledge where the foremost considerations in India.

Back in the 1500s, the word education meant “the raising of children,” but it also meant “the training of animals.” While there are probably a few teachers who feel like animal trainers, education these days has come to mean either “teaching” or “the process of acquiring knowledge.”

DEFINITIONS

Since time immemorial, education is estimated as the right road to progress and prosperity. Different educationists’ thoughts from both Eastern and Western side have explained the term ‘education’ according to the need of the hour. Various educationists have given their views on education. Some important definitions are:

1. Mahatma Gandhi – “By education I mean an all-round drawing out of the best in man – body, mind and spirit.”

2. Rabindranath Tagore – “Education enables the mind to find out the ultimate truth, which gives us the wealth of inner light and love and gives significance to life.”

3. Dr. Zakir Husain – “Education is the process of the individual mind, getting to its full possible development.”

4. Swami Vivekananda – “Education is the manifestation of divine perfection already existing in man.”

5. Aristotle – “Education is the creation of sound mind in a sound body.”

6. Rousseau – “Education is the child’s development from within.”

7. Herbert Spencer– “Education is complete living.”

8. Plato – “Education is the capacity to feel pleasure and pain at the right moment.”

9. Aristotle – “Education is the creation of a sound mind in a sound body.”

10. Pestalozzi – “Education is natural, harmonious and progressive development of man’s innate powers.”

11. Froebel -“Education is enfoldment of what is already enfolded in the germ.”

12. T.P. Nunn – “Education is the complete development of the individuality of the child.”

13. John Dewey – “Education is the process of living through a continuous reconstruction of experiences.”

14. Indira Gandhi – “Education is a liberating force and in our age it is also a democratizing force, cutting across the barriers of caste and class, smoothing out inequalities imposed by birth and other circumstances.”

John Locke said, “Plants are developed by cultivation and men by education”. This world would have been enveloped in intellectual darkness if it had not been illuminated by the light of education. It is right to say that the story of civilization is the story of education. Thus, education is an integral part of human life. It is the basic condition for a development of a whole man and vital instrument For accelerating the wellbeing and prosperity by the light of education.

NATURE OF EDUCATION

As is the meaning of education, so is its nature. It is very complex. Let us now discuss the nature of education:

1. Education is a life-long process- Education is a continuous and lifelong process. It starts from the womb of the mother and continues till death. It is the process of development from infancy to maturity. It includes the effect of everything which influences human personality.

2. Education is a systematic process- It refers to transact its activities through a systematic institution and regulation.

3. Education is development of individual and the society- It is called a force for social development, which brings improvement in every aspect in the society.

4. Education is modification of behaviour- Human behaviour is modified and improved through educational process.

5. Education is purposive: every individual has some goal in his life. Education contributes in attainment of that goal. There is a definite purpose underlined all educational activities.

6. Education is a training- Human senses, mind, behaviour, activities; skills are trained in a constructive and socially desirable way.

7. Education is instruction and direction- It directs and instructs an individual to fulfill his desires and needs for exaltation of his whole personality.

8. Education is life- Life without education is meaningless and like the life of a beast. Every aspect and incident needs education for its sound development.

9. Education is continuous reconstruction of our experiences- As per the definition of John Dewey education reconstructs and remodels our experiences towards socially desirable way.

10. Education helps in individual adjustment: a man is a social being. If he is not able to adjust himself in different aspects of life his personality can’t remain balanced. Through the medium of education he learns to adjust himself with the friends, class fellows, parents, relations, neighbours and teachers etc.

11. Education is balanced development: Education is concerned with the development of all faculties of the child. it performs the functions of the physical, mental, aesthetic, moral, economic, spiritual development of the individual so that the individual may get rid of his animal instincts by sublimating the same so that he becomes a civilized person.

12. Education is a dynamic process: Education is not a static but a dynamic process which develops the child according to changing situations and times. It always induces the individual towards progress. It reconstructs the society according to the changing needs of the time and place of the society.

13. Education is a bipolar process: According to Adams, education is a bipolar process in which one personality acts on another to modify the development of other person. The process is not only conscious but deliberate.

14. Education is a three dimensional process: John Dewey has rightly remarked, “All educations proceeds by participation of the individual in the social consciousness of the race.” Thus it is the society which will determine the aims, contents and methods of teachings. In this way the process of education consists of 3 poles – the teacher, the child and the society.

15. Education as growth: The end of growth is more growth and the end of education is more education. According to John Dewey, “an individual is a changing and growing personality.” The purpose of education is to facilitate the process of his/her growth.

Therefore, the role of education is countless for a perfect society and man. It is necessary for every society and nation to bring holistic happiness and prosperity to its individuals.

AIMS OF EDUCATION

Aims give direction to activities. Aims of education are formulated keeping in view the needs of situation. Human nature is multisided with multiple needs, which are related to life. Educational aims are correlated to ideals of life.

The goal of education should be the full flowering of the human on this earth. According to a UNESCO study, “the physical, intellectual, emotional and ethical integration of the individual into a complete man/woman is the fundamental aim of education.”

The goal of education is also to form children into human persons committed to work for the creation of human communities of love, fellowship, freedom, justice and harmony. Students are to be moulded only by making them experience the significance of these values in the school itself. Teachers could achieve this only by the lived example of their lives manifested in hundreds of small and big transactions with students in word and deed.

Individual and Social Aims:

Individual aims and social aims are the most important aims of education. They are opposed to each other individual aims gives importance for the development of the individuality. Social aim gives importance to the development of society through individual not fulfilling his desire. But it will be seen that development of individuality assumes meaning only in a social environment.

Individual Aims – Sir Percy Nunn observes, “Nothing goods enters into the human world except in and through the free activities of individual men and women and that educational practice must be shaped the individual. Education should give scope to develop the inborn potentialities through maximum freedom.”

Because:

(1) Biologists believe that every individual is different from others. Every child is a new and unique product and a new experiment with life. Thompson says, “Education is for the individual”. Individual should be the centre of all educational efforts and activities.

(2) Naturalists believe that central aim of education is the autonomous development of the individual. Rousseau said, “Everything is good as it comes from the hands of the Author of Nature, but everything degenerates in the hands of man.” God makes all things good, man meddles with them and they become evil. God creates everything good man makes it evil. So individual should be given maximum freedom for its own development.

(3) Psychologists believe that education is an individual process because of individual differences. No two individuals are alike. So education should be according to the interest of the individual.

Criticism of Individual Aim:

Individual aim is not desirable because man is a social animal. Society’s interest should be protected.

(1) Individual aim makes individual selfish.

(2) Maximum freedom may go against the society.

(3) Individuality cannot develop from a vacuum; it develops in a social atmosphere.

(4) Unless society develops, individual cannot develop.

(5) Who will recognize society- where individual is selfish?

Social Aim:

The supporters believe that society or state is supreme or real. The individual is only a means. The progress of the society is the aim of education. Education is for the society and of the society. The function of education is for the welfare of the state. The state will make the individual as it desires. It prepares the individual to play different roles in society. Individuality has no value, and personality is meaningless apart from society. If society will develop individual will develop automatically. Here society plays an important role.

Criticism of Social Aim:

(1) It makes individual only a tool of government.

(2) It reduces individual to a mere non-entity.

(3) Society ignores the legitimate needs, desires and interests of the individual.

(4) It is against the development of individuality of the individual.

Synthesis between individual and social aims of education:

Individual aim and social aim of education go independently. Both are opposing to each other. It is not in reality. Neither the individual nor the society can exist. The individual is the product of the society while society finds its advancement in the development of its individual member.

Individual cannot develop in vacuum. According to John Adams, “Individuality requires a social medium to grow.” And T.P. Nunn says,” Individuality develops in social environment.”

The Role Of Education In Society

Education is defined as "the transmission of certain attitudes, knowledge and skills to the members of a society through formal systematic training".

In the language of social sciences, education is defined as "the transmission of certain attitudes, knowledge and skills to the members of a society through formal systematic training". Today majority of the children in every society are expected to be to spend much of their first 18 years of life in school. This was not the case a century ago, when just a small elite in the developed countries had the privilege of attending school. In poor countries even today, most young people receive only a few years of formal schooling. But the social scientists also differentiate between education and schooling. Education is what the person has learned, whereby schooling is defined as the amount of time spent in institution dedicated to educating and which often confers degrees and diplomas on those who complete a period of enrollment.

Today schooling in low-income nations reflects local culture. But all low-income countries have one trait in common when it comes to schooling----there is not very much of it. In the worlds poorest nations, only half of all children ever get to school at all; in the world as a whole, just half of children reach the secondary grades. As a result majority of the children in Latin America, Asia and Africa can not read and write.

High-income nations endorse the idea that every one go to school. For one thing the workers who use machinery or computers need at least basic reading, writing, and arithmetic skills. In high-income nations, literacy is also necessary to carry on political democracy. American president Lyndon B. Johnson once said that "we have entered an age in which education is not just a luxury permitting some men and women an advantage over others. It has become a necessity without which a person is defenseless in this complex, industrialized societya€|..we have truly entered the century of the educated men and women".

Imagine how illiteracy would affect you! What would you do if you were unable to read street signs, menus, letters, simple instructions, want ads, telephone directories, labels, bills and bank statements? What would you do if you were unable to use calendars, city maps or any guidelines? How could you become an active participant in the society without reading skills? In America alone there are 27 million illiterate people, if literacy is to read only the simplest text and street signs.

Literacy has far reaching implications. It is seen as a process of consciousness raising aimed at human liberation. It also provides the foundations for an industrial and post-industrial society.

Apart from literacy, we commonly think of schools as agencies that provide formal, conscious, and systematic training. But schools teach more than the skills and the information classified in the academic curriculum. Whether intentionally or unwittingly, they impart a whole complex of unarticulated values, attitudes and behaviors-what is termed as "hidden curriculum". Students not only learn from the official coarse of study, but from the physical environment of the school, the attitude teachers and students exhibit towards one another, the social climate and the organization of the institution.

The behavior constituting the hidden curriculum are modeled by teachers and reinforced by them in dealing with students. The characteristics preferred by teachers are those that embody middle-class values and morality-responsibility, reliability, self-control, efficiency, thoroughness and emotional stability. These behaviors resemble those of workplace and marketplace, where the emphasis is on economically ambitious, materialistic, competitive and conforming behavior. Even the first graders learn the importance of "getting ahead".

PERSPECTIVES ON EDUCATION

Learning is a fundamental mechanism for adapting to our environment. It involves more or less permanent modification in behavior that results from experience. Since learning is critical to social life, societies do not leave it to chance. Many societies transmit certain attitudes, knowledge, and skills to their members through formal systematic training-the institution we call education-where teachers and students carry out their associated roles. Education is the many side process of socialization by which people acquire those behaviors essential for effective participation in a society. Both the functionalist and conflict perspectives are in agreement on the importance of education, but they differ in their conception of the part it plays in modern life.

THE FUNCTIONALIST PERSPECTIVE

Schools came into existence several thousand years ago in advanced horticultural and agricultural societies to prepare a select few for leadership and professional positions. Until the last century or so, no society could afford more than a handful of educated people. With the emergence of large-scale industrial and bureaucratic organizations, came a need for an abundant supply of literate and educated people. The school system became a primary vehicle by which a nation's citizens were taught the three Rs, and the higher education became the custodian of nation's intellectual capital. Education today is a crucial investment in the economy and major economic resources. It has also become a major military resource. Throughout the world, schools are increasingly being viewed as a branch of the state and as a serving state purposes.

Functionalists look at how formal education contributes to the operation of society, and the schooling does this in many ways. As is the case with their analysis of other social phenomena, functionalist framework examine the institution of education from the point of view of its contributions to societal survival. These theorists have identified the following major functions or survival related consequences of education in the society:

Cultural Preservation and Storage, retrieval and Dissemination: In pre-modern societies and those in early phase of modernization, education serves two major survival functions: the preservation and storage of cultural elements, and retrieval and dissemination of those elements. The teaching that is carried out in these societies by family and kinship groups (religious groups as well) is directed to keeping alive in people's minds important ideas, beliefs and other pieces of information. Whereby in today's society the knowledge and skills required by contemporary living cannot be satisfied in more or less automatic "natural" way. Instead, a specialized educational agency is needed to transmit to the young ways of thinking, feeling and acting required by rapidly changing urban and technologically based societies.

Socialization and Social Placement: As societies move through the modernization process, education acquires additional functions. Their importance increases with increasing levels of development and its accompanying social, economic and political changes. For example-as marriage and family structures and the family's social roles are redefined, formal educational structures become more heavily involved in the socialization process. Schools become primary mechanism for inculcating in young members of society a general knowledge and acceptance of the established socio-cultural system. For the immigrants in new societies formal education serves as a major avenue for the assimilation of these new comers into the system, in return fostering social integration and national unity. Formal education also imparts to students more specific knowledge and skills required by changing economic system which is beyond the ability of the family to teach its members. On the basis of achievement principles, formal educational attainment becomes an important mechanism for social placement.

Cultural Expansion and Innovation: Schools create and transmit culture. Especially at centers of higher education, scholars conduct research that leads to discovery and changes in our social life. For example, medical research at medical institutions has helped increase life expectancy, just as research by sociologists and psychologists helps us take advantage of our longevity.

Social Transformation and reform: In both modernizing and modernized societies, whether by intent or by accident, formal education can bring about social revisions and reforms. It provides its clients )students) a more comprehensive, sophisticated view of the present, a vision of alternative possible future, and a detailed knowledge of how social processes work. In human history revolutions and reforms were the products of educational institutions. In modern democratic societies, higher levels of formal education are associated with higher levels of involvement in the political system.

Social Integration: Functionalists say that the education system functions to instill the dominant values of a society and shape a common national mind. Within our country, students learn what it means to be a Pakistani. We become literate in national language, gain a common heritage, and acquire mainstream standards and rules. Youngsters from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds are immersed within the same culture and prepared for responsible citizenship. Likewise, the schools are geared to integrate the poor and disadvantaged within the fabric of dominant mainstream institutions. But how well the educational institutions are performing these functions is a debatable matter.

Screening and Selecting: Educational institutions commonly perform the function of screening and selecting individuals for different types of jobs. By conferring degrees, diplomas, and credentials for many technical, managerial and professional positions, it determines which young people will have access to scarce positions and offices of power, privilege and status. For many, schools are alike "mobility escalators" allowing gifted people to ascend the social ladder.

Schools today perform a good many latent functions that may not be recognized or intended. Like they provide custodial or babysitting service. Schools are the settings in which students develop a variety of interpersonal skills, needed for entering into friendship, participating in community affaires, and relating to others in workplace. Besides, the age segregation of the students in school environment encourages the formation of youth subcultures. Finally, formal compulsory education keeps children and adolescents out of the labor market and so out of competition with adults for jobs.

THE CONFLICT PERSPECTIVE

Conflict theorists say the educational institution reproduces and legitimizes the current social order. By doing so, it serves some people at the expense of others. Conflict perspective offers an all together different picture of formal education in modern societies. According to this, the institution of education exists to further the interests of those who control the social structure, not the best interest of the population at large. Conflict theorists in the Marxist tradition argue that:

Hidden Curriculum. In capitalist societies, the institution of education forms a societal superstructure, derived from and dependent on the underlying economic superstructure. Like law, the state, religion and even the culture itself-formal education in these societies exists to further the domination of the non-propertied working and middle classes by the propertied and powerful ruling class. Formal education involves a "hidden curriculum" that infuses the teachings of basic information and skills with values, norms and myths supportive of capitalism and capitalists. Thus formal education acts as a powerful tool in the establishment and maintenance of a "false consciousness" among the members of the working and middle classes. From this point of view, if formal education has any so called functions, its primary function is to preserve an exploitative status quo by shaping the minds of the exploited.

Political Education. All political regimes have a vested interest in exercising control over the contents of their society's formal education process, and all will take steps to do so. To one degree or another, political socialization takes place in the schools of virtually every modern industrial nation. Text books in history, literature, and other academic fields may be chosen by the state on the basis of their contents rather than their merit. For example, until recently, most history books used in the schools of America, presented a "white washed" picture of westward expansion of the U.S in 19th century. The whole sale destruction of the indigenous Native American cultures was seldom discussed. Most often "Indians" were depicted as temporary problem encountered by the heroic white settlers in the process of fulfilling their manifest destiny of taming the frontiers and developing the continent "from sea to shining sea"

Similarly, until the past few years, the Japanese Ministry of Education continued to approve only those history books that offered only positive account of the Japan's military aggression in Asia throughout this century, especially invasion of China in 1930s and the World War II.

Education and Stratification. For Marx and his followers, education is an important mechanism for the reinforcement and perpetuation of social stratification system. In contemporary societies, education is an important source of attaining a future higher social and economic position. Modern societies are "credential" systems that feature occupations that increasingly demand formal certification of competency. In the class room students compete with each other for grades and other rewards.

In many Asian countries, formal education and educational achievement have become something of a fetish to people hungry for advancement and a taste of good life offered by modernized, industrialized social system.

Even in traditional societies, formal education was reserved solely for the use of the nobility and other privileged classes. There was no need of literacy for the peasants and the serfs, who were believed to be too intellectually inferior to qualify for and benefit from the formal education. In developing societies, in which only the established upper classes can appreciate and afford it, education is still reserved for elites. Financial and other requirements for some universities lie beyond the means of most lower and working class families, effectively putting the benefits of graduating from them out of their reach. The academic currency value of degree from such schools tends to be much higher than that of less-known institutions. Thus widening the gap between the rich and the poor.

4. Control Devices. Conflict theorists agree with the functionalists that education draws the minorities and disadvantaged into the dominant culture. But the system serves the interest of the dominant group by defusing the threat posed by the minority ethnic groups. In large, conflict ridden, multi-ethnic society like United States, schools are to "Americanize" people. Through compulsory education the values of the dominant group are transmitted to those at the bottom.

5. Productive Capital. Conflict theorists see the research and development function of the universities quite differently from the functionalists. Educational institutions produce the technical and administrative knowledge necessary for running a capitalist order. According to some reports, there has been "a virtual explosion over the past several years in the number and variety of university-industry alliances". Universities are entering research agreements with companies, setting up research parks, and encouraging the founding of new high-tech businesses at campus.

Functional analysis stresses the way in which formal education supports the operation of the modern society, but it overlooks the problems inherent in our educational system and ignores how schooling helps produce the class restructure in each generation. On the other hand social conflict theorists overemphasizes the negative role of the education in our today's world. But we must also agree that no system is perfect and education like other institution is not free from faults.

THE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION

Education is a very vital tool that is used in the contemporary world to succeed. It is important because it is used to mitigate most of the challenges faced in life. The knowledge that is attained through education helps open doors to a lot of opportunities for better prospects in career growth. Education gives us a knowledge of the world around us and changes it into something better. It develops in us a perspective of looking at life. It helps us build opinions and have points of view on things in life. People debate over the subject of whether education is the only thing that gives knowledge.

The first thing that strikes me about education is knowledge gain. Education gives us a knowledge of the world around us and changes it into something better. It develops in us a perspective of looking at life. It helps us build opinions and have points of view on things in life. People debate over the subject of whether education is the only thing that gives knowledge. Some say education is the process of gaining information about the surrounding world while knowledge is something very different. They are right. But then again, information cannot be converted into knowledge without education. Education makes us capable of interpreting things, among other things. It is not just about lessons in textbooks. It is about the lessons of life. One thing I wish I can do is, to provide education for all: no child left behind and change the world for good!!

I also believe education is important because it helps us develop a unique perspective of looking at life. Education has played a major role for all individuals in the society. It has allowed the community to succeed both socially and economically by enabling it to develop common culture and values.

Education Is The Key To Success

I believe education is the most important tool you can receive, that can bring you most success in society today. Education lessens the challenges you will face in life. The more knowledge you gain the more opportunities will open up to allow individuals to achieve better possibilities in career and personal growth. Education has played an important role in the career world of the twenty-first century. A person with a higher education will be easily qualified compared to a person without an extended education; as one will be prepared to do various tasks that careers demand as well as meet job standards.

I also believe education is important because it helps us develop a unique perspective of looking at life. Education has played a major role for all individuals in the society. It has allowed the community to succeed both socially and economically by enabling it to develop common culture and values. Education is the reason our world is the way it is today, doctors have been close to finding cures for cancer because of a higher education; our technology has been enriched compared to the 19th century all because of education.

If the importance of education is not recognized, then someday education will become less relevant. Education serves to unite and strengthen our country. Without education people would not be able to distinguish right from wrong. If this should happen, then our society will find itself at a large disadvantage compared to other countries. “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” once said by a wise man name Nelson Mandela, and that is why I strongly agree why education is important.

Conclusion: According to James Ross, “The aim of education is the development of valuable personality and spiritual individuality.” The true aim of education cannot be other than the highest development of the individual as a member of society. Let education burn the individual flame, feeding it with the oil of society.