In most
societies, regardless of demography, geo-political influences, or even economic
shortcomings, education is looked upon as the main means to a better
life. Education has sculpted the roles of humans in the society, organized
their relationships, and advanced
cultures. However, with this boom in knowledge and know-how it is increasingly
clear that our lives will never cease improving, changing and advancing. Technological
advancements alone have greatly affected societies as a whole. We are now
able to educate ourselves in virtual classrooms without a live instructor, at
distinguished universities from around the globe, discover fields that at one
time were out of reach geographically, and just experience things beyond our
imagination. Yet this advancement has its setbacks. We have become driven by
different cultures and like sponges absorbed the useful and the harmful without
any filter. Opening up to new thoughts and concepts has manifested itself in
our society in both positive and negative ways but a distortion has occurred
nonetheless, it is here that we must ask ourselves who will protect and promote
what is left of our culture.
Without
doubt our society is constantly changing, antiquating some things while
exalting others. We message each other from room to room even though
we live in the same house, rendering some things so common and simple such as
conversations around the kitchen table over dinner a thing of the past. A major
contributor to this change was, and still is education.
John
Dewey the founder of pragmatism, an American philosopher and educator, had a
strong belief that schools can be the origin of social reform. Social reform is
a type of social movement that aims to make gradual change, or change in
certain aspects of society, rather than rapid or fundamental changes. Dewey
believed in the great contribution of education in social reconstruction by
stimulating students to be the best they could morally, socially, and better
political problem solvers to become good citizens in society. To him schools
are responsible for ‘serving the main purposes of the community as a whole’,
thus acting as a social center. In his book Moral Principles of Education,
Dewey mentions that schools are institutions initiated by society in order to
enhance the future. He also stresses the role of democracy in schools, by
pointing out that the origin of democracy is education, and when that is found
in our schools it lays a foundation for democratic reconstruction of society.
To trigger this social change we are opting for schools to have the structure
of a community, to be ‘a genuine form of community life’, in order for
students to experience, ‘the most natural form of cooperation and association’
to become high members of democratic society.
However
Dewey was often suggested to be overly optimistic and naïve to have “faith in
utopian reform through education”. But, schools these days are focusing more on
the academic aspect with little focus on the moral and social aspect of
education. Thus to set high standards for schools to reach for, can be
motivating for educators to work and put effort towards changing the way
students think and act, and encourage them to be good contributors to the
society. What we allow of traditions will continue, education has the power of
change and it is up for us to decide what is good and what is not.
Knowledge
has evolved as a result of human needs- an essential requirement for a solution
was sought, and a problem was solved. Education is our tool to deal with
problems we face, it shows us right from wrong, and strengthens our judgments.
Yet our society sometimes imposes traditions on us, some that seem irrelevant,
and some for the good of society. Our knowledge plays a great role in whether
we accept these traditions or we reject them. Thus knowledge empowers us to
make conscious and enlightened decisions based on facts. This implies that the
main purpose education serves is change. Wherever education was propagated it
was accompanied by major changes. Education, as John Dewy said is not
preparation for life, it is life itself, and he believed that the
characteristic of life is growth and change.
No comments:
Post a Comment