History is something that can explain the basic concepts regarding any terminology. Many educationists explain the term “education” from their perspectives. Some of them are:
Etymologically speaking, education is derived from the Latin word ‘educate, meaning ‘to raise’ and ‘to bring up.
According to some authors, the word ‘education’ has originated from another Latin term, ‘Educere,’ which means ‘to lead forth’ or ‘to come out.’
Others believe that the word ‘education’ has been derived from the Latin term ‘Educatum,’ which means ‘the act of teaching or training.’
In a dictionary, education is defined as:
“The aggregate of all the processes by which a person develops abilities, attitudes and other forms of behavior of practical values in the society in which that person lives.”
These definitions are proof that education is something that can develop our inner personalities.
After understanding the term's origination, we must be aware of its narrow and broader meaning so that we should have a clear idea about it.
Meanings Of Education:
There are mainly two types of meanings of education.
- The narrow meaning of education.
- The broader meaning of education.
Narrow Meaning of Education:
It is commonly assumed that education is strictly confined to educational institutions only. The main purpose of these educational institutions is to give certificates and diplomas. There is a deliberate effort made with a definite purpose to ascertain some knowledge, skills, attitudes, and habits in these institutions. This is a narrow concept of education. In the narrow sense, the educator aims to produce professional persons such as an engineer, a doctor, a teacher, a businessman, and so on. Here, the individual is intentionally ‘taught to think’ as predetermined by the educators. Thus, narrowly, education is just a purposeful activity, deliberately planned for the maximum development of an individual’s capabilities.
Whereas,
According to Thomas Raymont in the Broader perspective of Education,
“Education is not limited to a classroom or a school only. It is considered to be a life-long process, where all the experiences, knowledge and wisdom that an individual acquires at different stages of one’s life through different channels are termed as education.”
It is believed that education is an instrument of social change and an investment in national development. Such a view of education encompasses all life experiences, as there is a shift in emphasis from the individual to the national.
Education starts with the mother’s lap. Everything which a child learns from its environment can enhance the personality of that child.
After understanding both the perspective, now we can understand some of the definitions explained by Muslim and western thinker.
According to Muslim Scholars:
According to Allama Iqbal:
“Education is the activity of recognizing God and understanding oneself.”
According to Iqbal, education is emphasized in spiritual learning.
According to Ghazali:
“Education is the activity of enabling an individual to recognize the God and discriminate between good and bad.”
According to Imam Ghazali, education is that activity through which we can differentiate between good and bad things.
According to Shah Waliullah:
“Education is the activity of developing the sense of good and evil so that an individual can choose the good and reject the evil.”
Like imam Ghazali Shah Waliullah also believe in the concept of good and bad.
According to some Western Scholars:
Socrates:
“Education means the bringing out of the ideas of universal validity which are latent in the mind of every man.”
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.”
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 of.”
What is education?
- Education is a social process.
- Education is growth.
- Education is life itself.
Education is a social process:
We are social animals. We can’t do anything individually, but we require social connections. Our social interactions start from our birth till death. It’s a continuous process. Furthermore, we do not always remain within the same role. We begin as children, pass through adolescence into adulthood, marry, become parents, enter middle age, retire, grow old and finally die. With each role comes a pattern of behavior that we must learn and, thus, we are involved in the socialization process throughout our lives. Till death, we are getting educated by our society.
Education is growth:
To explain that education is growth, we must be aware of the concept of immaturity to maturity.
Dewey explains this concept very clearly. Childhood is that period of our life that belongs to immaturity, and when it ends and turns into adultery, maturity starts.
Dewey, however, shares a different perspective. Dewey characterizes immaturity as dependence and plasticity. Dependence being the immature’s need for others, and plasticity being the immature’s capacity to learn from their experience. For Dewey, growth is the telos of all-natural life. The function of education in this system is to act as “the enterprise of supplying the conditions which ensure growth, or adequacy of life, irrespective of age.” In this way, education, for Dewey, is not merely a means to knowledge or work but is a direct means to the
purpose of life.
Education is life itself.
MOST people understand education as a matter of study, which is just a portion of what it is.
It is essential to have a deeper understanding of what education is.
Education is a lifetime process with no true beginning or end.
Education consists of experience, environment, socialization, and communication.
According to John Dewey, “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.”
It is through education that you can change the face of the world.
It is essential to humanity because it is used to mitigate most of the challenges faced in life.
Misconceptions about education:
Often, education is equated with certain terms like learning, teaching, training, instruction, schooling. Although these are the processes involved in education, they are inadequate to explain the concept of education in its true meaning. So to explain the term education, let us compare these terms with education.
Education and learning:
Education has a close relationship with learning. To compare these terms, we should understand the definition of learning by psychologists.
“ Learning is a process which results in a more or less permanent modification of behavior as a result of practice or experience.”
But any change in the behavior of the human being resulting from physical or physiological maturation cannot be considered learning.
Learning can be in both ways, i.e., positive and negative. Negative learning cannot be a part of learning, but Only positive or desirable learning contributes to the process. In other words, positive learning is just a step in the progress of getting educated.
Education and Teaching:
Teaching is the act of transferring our learning experiences to the learner through the generation of a learning environment. The main purpose of teaching is to provide the learner with specific learning experiences and thereby help him achieve education goals.
Teaching is always a two-way process between the teacher and the learner. Still, when another element, namely, 'the social setting or 'socio-cultural influences,' is added to this process, it becomes an educative process. Hence, education is also called a tri-polar process in which three elements, namely: Teacher, Learner, and society, are included.
Education and Instruction:
Teaching-learning can take place in both a natural and controlled environment. In a natural environment, learning occurs when an individual informally interacts with the environment. But when the teaching-learning tasks are purposefully designed to achieve specific learning goals in a controlled environment, it is said to be an instruction. It’s a narrow term, But education is an inclusive term as compared to instruction. The reason behind this is that education takes place in both environments, i.e., controlled and uncontrolled.
Education and Training:
Now here is the concept of training. The difference between instruction and training is that training is a systematic process of developing desired skills in particular aspects of life through instruction and practice in a concerned field, such as teaching, nursing, driving, cooking, and many other technical jobs.
So, we can say that training is related to develop a specific skill in an individual’s personality, but education is the development of the whole personality.
Education and Schooling:
Schooling is a specific period where someone learns some special knowledge, but as we know that education is a life-long process. For education, there is no need for some special learning environments. The whole life of a person is the period of getting educated. On the contrary, schooling is an act of consciously imparting knowledge, values, and skills according to the needs of society and the individual in a formal situation.
Sum up:
By summing up the topic, we can say that education is a broad term beyond training, schooling, instruction, and learning. It is the life-long process of positive learning in a controlled and uncontrolled environment.
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