Education is indispensable to individual and society, for without it there would be loss of all the accumulated knowledge of the ages and all the standard of conduct. An individual must learn the culture of the society or the accepted ways of doing things. He must be socialized into the prevailing culture and must learn the rules of conduct and expectations about future behaviour.
Society therefore, consciously devices its instructional programmes to fulfill personal and social needs rather than leaving the learning to change. Education provides a conscious teaching programme that helps to inculcate values, norms and social skills that will enable the individual to develop his personality and sustain the social system.
Meaning of Education:
The term education has different meanings. Each person interprets the word in terms of his past experience, his needs and purposes. The parents, the teachers, administrators, religious leaders, politicians and artists interpret the term education in their own ways. For example, to a student, education means acquisition of knowledge, receiving a degree or diploma. A statesman may claim that it means to train individuals as ideal citizens. A teacher may interpret education as means for creation a new man and new society.
The meaning of education differs from place to place and from time to time. It has passed through many ages and stages of evolution. At every stage it has had a different meaning according to existing social conditions.
The term education is derived from the Latin word ‘educate’ which means to ‘educate’, to ‘bring up’ or to ‘draw out’ the latent powers of child. Confirming to this meaning Durkheim defined education as “the action exercised by the older generations upon those who are not yet ready for social life. Its object is to awaken and develop in the child those physical, intellectual and moral states which are required of him both by his society as a whole and by the milieu for which he is specially designed”.
He conceives of education as “the socialisation of the younger generation”. Hence, education may be broadly regarded as the way in which people learn to take part in the life of society in which they live. Education is the social process by which individual learns the things necessary to fit him to the social life of his society.
Education is primarily deliberate learning which fits the individual for his adult role in society. As Counts and Mead phrase it, education is an induction into the learner’s culture. It is a deliberate instruction throughout which we acquire a large part of our social and technical skills. Accordingly says Lowie, “it is as old as organised social life. Schooling is merely a highly specialised form of education.
According to Samuel Koenig, Education may also be defined as the process whereby the social heritage of a group is passed on from one generation to another as well as the process whereby the child becomes socialised, i.e. learns the rules of behaviour of the group into which he is born.
It is again believed that the term education is derived from the Latin word ‘educatum’ which means the act of teaching or training. Thus, education is both acquisition of knowledge or art of teaching and learning of values, norms and skills.
The education a system, first of all, may be viewed as a part of the total social system. It both reflects and influences the social and cultural order of which it is a part. However, in modern society, education is viewed as formal training. As A.W. Green writes, Historically, it (education) has meant the conscious training of the young for the later adoption of adult roles.
By modern convention, however, education has come to mean formal training by specialists within the formal organisation of the school”. Education, according Western scholars, is deliberate and organised activity through which the physical, intellectual, moral and spiritual potentialities of the child are developed, both in individual as an individual and also as a member of society.
So that he may lead the fullest and richest life possible in this world. All practical aims such as the development of character, the attainment of knowledge both for use and enjoyment, the acquisition of skills, the making of worthy citizen and others that have been proposed from time to time are subordinate to the ultimate aim in life.
The educational system may be viewed as subsystem within social organisation of its own. It has a system of status and roles, a body of skills, values and traditions. Each schools and each classroom within the school forms an interacting group.
Aspects of Education:
Now, we can indicate several sociological aspects of education. First, learning is a creative experience. When a man responds to stimuli, he acts in a creative manner. In other words, education is a creative act for the learner. Second, education is of two ways of learning such as informal education and formal education.
The first serves continuously through life, as mechanism for learning as well as for reinforcing previous learning. Third, formal education is a socially devised technique, a highly elaborated procedure for creating situations in which the pupil may learn. Individuals go through formal education only a Short period of their life.
Forth, education is both the living of life (in the network of social relationships, in the classroom and outside) and a preparation for life. Preparation for life involves (a) capacity to earn a livelihood, (b) capacity to enrich one’s life through enjoyment of the cultural heritage and of one’s inner resources, (c) capacity to function efficiently and constructively as a member of society, as a citizen of the State. Fifth, education involves (a) mastery of the tools of learning, such as reading, writing arithmetic and (b) mastery of our relations to our inner self, to our neighbour, to the universe.
Education is interpreted in two senses, “narrow’ and ‘broader’ sense. Education, in narrow sense, is a planned, organised and formalised process. It is imparted at a particular place (School, College, and University) and at a definite time. Its curriculum is also formal. In narrow sense education is limited to classroom. In broader sense education is not related to schooling or teaching.
Each and every individual acquires some sort of education, even he has never spent a day in a school,. because his acquired characteristics are the products of experiences and activities which are the products of experiences and activities which are educational in nature. Education, in wider sense, is used for the purpose of teaching people all characteristics which will enable them to live in the society.
Education is a continuous ‘process’. Education of human being begins at birth and it ends with his death. He leans throughout his life. There is no end to it. Education is much more than schooling. The child goes on reconstructing his experiences throughout the whole life. Instruction ends in the classroom, but education ends only with life.
Social Functions of Education:
Education as social institution, plays a vital role in our society. The function of education is multidimensional within the school system and outside it. It performs the function of socialising the individual for a variety of social roles and development of personality. It is also an important part of the control mechanisms of society. Education is a necessity right from the simple society to modern complex industrial society.
1. Socialisation:
The most important function of education is socialisation. The people have no knowledge about the culture of their society. They must learn them and they must learn the way which their society is functioning. Hence, the children as they grow up must be introduced into the culture which they are going to face.
Society, therefore, provides a conscious teaching programme to inculcate values, norms and social skills that will fit the individuals for their adult role in society. Society creates educational institutions such as school and colleges to perform certain functions in accomplishing this general end.
Besides, providing the children with tools of knowledge – how to write, spell and master arithmetic, the school also exposes them to social norms and values beyond those which are available for learning in the family and other groups.
The learners acquire academic knowledge through schools and college which they will need latter on and some will be practical or technical to fit him for some sort of job. At the same time the schools and colleges inculcate social values and norms among them.
Though people learn a great deal from their parents or in clubs and among groups of friends, they learn more of the culture of their society though educational system. For it is in the educational institutions that the young are exposed to social norms and values beyond those which are available for learning in the family and other social groups. History books tend to be written from an ethnocentric viewpoint and to inculcate nationalistic; attitudes.
Through education, the child is able to develop reasoning in social relations, cultivates social virtues and thus becomes socially efficient as says Deway. When he speaks about social efficiency, he refers to economic and cultural efficiency, and he calls it ‘socialisation of individual’. Thus, education, may be only part of the process of socialisation, but it is a very important part.
2. Development of Personality:
Education plays an important role in the development of personality. The object of education, as said Durkheim “is to awaken and develop in the child those physical, intellectual and moral states which are required of him both by his society as a whole and by the milieu for which he is specially designed”. Education helps the development of the qualities of an individual, such as physical, mental and emot