Education

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Education is  the process by which an  individual is  encouraged and  enabled to develop his or  her potential; it  may also serve the purpose of equipping the individual with what is  necessary to be a productive member of society. Through teaching and  learning, the individual acquires and  develops knowledge and  skills. There is  an important distinction between education, which relates to a transactive process between a teacher and  student, and  learning, which is  a process that happens internally for a student.

The term education is  often used to refer to formal education (see below). However, the word's broader meaning covers a range of experiences, from formal learning to the building of understanding and  knowledge through day to day experiences. Ultimately, all that we experience serves as a form of education.

It is  widely accepted that the process of education is  lifelong. Studies have  shown that the child is  educated by the experiences it  is exposed to in the womb even before it  is born.

Individuals receive informal education from a variety of sources. Family members, peers, books and  mass media have  a strong influence on the informal education of the individual.

Contents 1 Terminology 2 Philosophy of education 2.1 The nature, origin and  scope of knowledge 3 Psychology of education 4 Academic disciplines 5 Teaching 6 Schooling 7 Alternative education 8 Technology 8.1 Reference: Wikibooks 9 Challenges 9.1 Education and  Economic Growth 9.2 Developing countries 10 Parental involvement 11 Internationalization 12 See also 13 References 14 External links 14.1 Wikibooks 14.2 Specific countries

[edit] Terminology

The word education is  derived from the Latin educare (with a short u) meaning "to raise", "to bring up", "to train", "to rear", via "educatio/nis", bringing up, raising. In recent times, there has been a return to, an  alternative assertion that education derives from a different verb: educere (with a long u), meaning "to lead out" or  "to lead forth". There is  an English word from this verb, "eduction": drawing out. This is  considered by some to be a false etymology, used to bolster the theory that a function of education is  to develop innate abilities and  expand horizons.

[edit] Philosophy of education

Main article: Philosophy of education

The philosophy of education is  the study of the purpose, nature and  ideal content of education. Related topics include knowledge itself, the nature of the knowing mind and  the human subject, problems of authority, and  the relationship between education and  society. At least since Rousseau's time, the philosophy of education has been linked to theories of developmental psychology and  human development.

Fundamental purposes that have  been proposed for education include:

1. The enterprise of civil society depends on educating young people to become responsible, thoughtful and  enterprising citizens. This is  an intricate, challenging task requiring deep understanding of ethical principles, moral  and  cultural)">values, political theory, aesthetics, and  economics, not to mention an  understanding of who children are, in themselves and  in society.
2. Progress in every practical field depends on having capacities that schooling can educate. Education is  thus a means to foster the individual's, society's, and  even humanity's future development and  prosperity. Emphasis is  often put on economic success in this regard.
3. One's individual development and  the capacity to fulfill one's own purposes can depend on an  adequate preparation in childhood. Education can thus attempt to give a firm foundation for the achievement of personal fulfillment. The better the foundation that is  built, the more  successful the child will be. Simple basics in education can carry a child far.

[ and  scope of knowledge">edit] The nature, origin and  scope of knowledge

Main article: Epistemology

See also: Data, Information, Knowledge, Wisdom, Self-realization, and Ability

A central tenet of education typically includes “the imparting of knowledge.” At a very basic level, this purpose ultimately deals with the nature, origin and  scope of knowledge. The branch of philosophy that addresses these and  related issues is  known as epistemology. This area of study often focuses on analyzing the nature and  variety of knowledge and  how it  relates to similar notions such as truth and  belief.

While the term, knowledge, is  often used to convey this general purpose of education, it  can also be viewed as part of a continuum of knowing that ranges from very specific data to the highest levels. Seen in this light, the continuum may be thought to consist of a general hierarchy of overlapping levels of knowing. Students must be able to connect new information to a piece of old information to be better able to learn, understand, and  retain information. This continuum may include notions such as data, information, knowledge, wisdom, and  realization.

[edit] Psychology of education

Main article: Educational psychology

Educational psychology is  the study of how humans learn in educational settings, the effectiveness of educational interventions, the psychology of teaching, and  the social psychology of schools as organizations. Although the terms "educational psychology" and  "school psychology" are  often used interchangeably, researchers and  theorists are  likely to be identified as educational psychologists, whereas practitioners in schools or  school-related settings are  identified as school psychologists. Educational psychology is  concerned with the processes of educational attainment in the general population and  in sub-populations such as gifted children and  those with specific disabilities.

Educational psychology can in part be understood through its relationship with other disciplines. it  is informed primarily by psychology, bearing a relationship to that discipline analogous to the relationship between medicine and  biology. Educational psychology in turn informs a wide range of specialities within educational studies, including instructional design, educational technology, curriculum development, organizational learning, special education and  classroom management. Educational psychology both draws from and  contributes to cognitive science and  the learning sciences. In universities, departments of educational psychology are  usually housed within faculties of education, possibly accounting for the lack of representation of educational psychology content in introductory psychology textbooks (Lucas, Blazek, & Raley, 2006).

[edit] Academic disciplines

Main article: List of academic disciplines

An academic discipline is  a branch of knowledge which is  formally taught, either at the university, or  via some other such method. Functionally, disciplines are  usually defined and  recognized by the academic journals in which research is  published, and  by the learned societies to which their practitioners belong.

Each discipline usually has several sub-disciplines or  branches, and  distinguishing lines are  often both arbitrary and  ambiguous. Examples of broad areas of academic disciplines include the natural sciences, mathematics, computer science, social sciences, humanities and  applied sciences.

[edit] Teaching

It is  now widely recognized that the most important factors in any teacher's effectiveness are  the interaction with students and  the knowledge and  personality of the teacher. The best teachers are  able to translate information, good judgment, experience, and  wisdom into a significant knowledge of a subject that is  understood and  retained by the student. Teachers need the ability to understand a subject well enough to convey its essence to a new generation of students. The goal is  to establish a sound knowledge base on which students will be able to build as they are  exposed to different life experiences. The passing of knowledge from generation to generation allows students to grow into useful members of society.

Further information: socialization

Teachers should have  a firm grasp of a given knowledge area so that they can pass it  on to their students using whatever techniques are  effective. Different people learn in different ways, and  many things will have  to be explained many different times in many different ways before most of the students "get it". Some students, unfortunately, never will "get it"--since they are  not interested or  have not learned enough of the foundation knowledge of a given subject to advance to a new level. The main role of a teacher is  to teach the students the core knowledge accumulated over centuries of human experience well enough for them to understand and  retain enough of this knowledge to be able to continue to build on it  and, at least in part, understand how the world works.

These ideas reflect a traditional view of teaching in which the responsibility for learning is  placed on the student. In contemporary British pedagogy particularly, the onus lies on the teacher to create the appropriate dynamic for effective learning by students of all abilities, backgrounds and  inclinations. The teacher is  more than a repository of knowledge: effective teaching draws on a range of skills, insights and  techniques which afford access to knowledge as well as to the development of appropriate skills. Students may not 'get it' because their social backgrounds exclude them from curricula which presuppose certain cultural and  social values. it  is the job of teachers to understand and  identify barriers to learning, to remove those barriers and  to bring the best out of those they educate.

[edit] Schooling

Schooling occurs when society or  a group or  an individual sets up a curriculum to educate people, usually the young. Schooling can become systematic and  thorough. Sometimes education systems can be used to promote doctrines or  ideals as well as knowledge, and  this can sometimes lead to abuse of the system.

Life-long or  adult education have  become widespread in many countries. However, education is  still seen by many as something aimed at children, and  adult education is  often branded as adult learning or  lifelong learning.

Adult education takes on many forms, from formal class-based learning to self-directed learning. Lending libraries provide inexpensive informal access to books and  other self-instructional materials. Many adults have  also taken advantage of the rise in computer ownership and  internet access to further their informal education.

[edit] Alternative education

Main article: Alternative education

Alternative education, also known as non-traditional education or  educational alternative, describes a number of approaches to teaching and  learning other than traditional publicly- or  privately-run schools. These approaches can be applied to all students of all ages, from infancy to adulthood, and  at all levels of education.

Educational alternatives are  often the result of education reform and  are rooted in various philosophies that are  fundamentally different from those of traditional compulsory education. While some have  strong political, scholarly, or  philosophical orientations, others are  more informal associations of teachers and  students who are  somehow dissatisfied with certain aspects of traditional education.

Educational alternatives, which include charter schools, alternative schools, independent schools, and  home schooling vary widely, but often emphasize the value of small class size, close relationships between students and  teachers, and  a sense of community. Today, especially in the United States, the term alternative refers to educational settings that are  intended to provide for any student who would like to experience school differently.

Charter Schools

Charter schools are  publicly funded schools that operate outside the direct control of conventional school districts and  are under the authority of quasi-contracts. Their public funding is  tied to the number of students enrolled. Charter schools are  typically open to all students, and  when capacity is  reached they are  required to select students randomly. Generally, Charter schools have  goals that include offering a wider array or  more specialized curriculum, with smaller classrooms and  more personalized hands on attention. Some charter schools help families escape poorly performing public schools and  provide opportunities for an  equal education by allowing families to cross class and  neighborhood lines. The first charter school opened in Minnesota in the early 1990’s. Now there are  37 states that have  passed charter school legislation. California having more  charter school students than any other state and  ranks second to Arizona in the number of charter schools. In many states there are  “conversion” and  “startup” charter schools. Conversion schools are  schools that previously existed as conventional public schools and  they typically keep the same existing facility as well as faculty and  students. The motivation behind the conversion is  to change specific educational programs, due to not liking mandated curriculum programs. Startup schools are  new entities that require new facilities, faculty, and  students. These schools were initiated to create a new holistic approach, including curriculum programs, instructional practices, and  overall mission of the school. There are  some states that also practice the use of non-classroom based charter schools. Non-classroom based charter schools are  schools that do not require attendance of its pupils be at the school site under the supervision and  control of a qualified teaching employee of the school for at least 80% of the required in instructional time. Students that are  enrolled in this type of charter school spend part of their day in the classroom and  the other part receiving non-classroom instruction, such as being home schooled, independent study, and  distance learning. Non-classroom settings rely heavily on computer instruction in which parents are  the primary instructor with oversight provided by teachers. Which may include visits to homes, one-on-one meetings with the parents and/or students, monitoring progress of homework, collecting reports, and  administering tests. Advocates of charter schools would say that one of the positive aspects of charter schools is  that it  involves more  parent participation compared to some of the public schools. This may be due to parents being able to choose among small, autonomous schools. Statistics show children whose parents are  active in their education tend to have  better results in school. Charter schools have  given more  options to parents when it  comes to choosing the type of education for their children.

[edit] Technology

Main article: Educational technology

Inexpensive technology is  an increasingly influential factor in education. Computers and  mobile phones are  being widely used in developed countries to both complement established education practices and  develop new ways of learning such as online education (a type of distance education). This gives students the opportunity to choose what they are  interested in learning. The proliferation of computers also means the increase of programming and  blogging. Technology offers powerful learning tools that demand new skills and  understandings of students, including Multimedia literacy, and  provides new ways to engage students, such as classroom management software. Technology is  being used more  not only in administrative duties in education but also in the instruction of students. The use of technologies such as PowerPoint and  interactive whiteboard is  capturing the attention of students in the classroom. Technology is  also being used in the assessment of students. One example is  the Audience Response System (ARS), which allows immediate feedback tests and  classroom discussions.

[edit] Reference: Wikibooks

• ICT in Education

[edit] Challenges

The goal of education is  four-fold: the social purpose, intellectual purpose, economic purpose, and  political/civic purpose. Current education issues include which teaching method(s) are  most effective, how to determine what knowledge should be taught, which knowledge is  most relevant, and  how well the pupil will retain incoming knowledge. Educators such as George Counts and  Paulo Freire identified education as an  inherently political process with inherently political outcomes. The challenge of identifying whose ideas are  transferred and  what goals they serve has always stood in the face of formal and  informal education.

In addition to the "Three R's", reading, writing, and  arithmetic, Western primary and  secondary schools attempt to teach the basic knowledge of history, geography, mathematics (usually including calculus and  algebra), physics, chemistry and  sometimes politics, in the hope that students will retain and  use this knowledge as they age or  that the skills acquired will be transferrable. The current education system measures competency with tests and  assignments and  then assigns each student a corresponding grade. The grades, usually a letter grade or  a percentage, are  intended to represent the amount of all material presented in class that the student understood.

Educational progressives or  advocates of unschooling often believe that grades do not necessarily reveal the strengths and  weaknesses of a student, and  that there is  an unfortunate lack of youth voice in the educational process. Some feel the current grading system lowers students' self-confidence, as students may receive poor marks due to factors outside their control. Such factors include poverty, child abuse, and  prejudiced or  incompetent teachers.

By contrast, many advocates of a more  traditional or  "back to basics" approach believe that the direction of reform needs to be the opposite. Students are  not inspired or  challenged to achieve success because of the dumbing down of the curriculum and  the replacement of the "canon" with inferior material. They believe that self-confidence arises not from removing hurdles such as grading, but by making them fair and  encouraging students to gain pride from knowing they can jump over these hurdles.

On the one hand, Albert Einstein, the most famous physicist of the twentieth century, who is  credited with helping us understand the universe better, was not a model school student. He was uninterested in what was being taught, and  he did not attend classes all the time. On the other hand, his gifts eventually shone through and  added to the sum of human knowledge.

There are  a number of highly controversial issues in education. Should some knowledge be forgotten? Should classes be segregated by gender? What should be taught, are  we better off knowing how to build nuclear bombs, or  is it  best to let such knowledge be forgotten? There are  also some philosophies, for example Transcendentalism, that would probably reject conventional education in the belief that knowledge should be gained through purely personal experience.

A recent book argues that children are  being expected to learn too much. In Yaneer Bar-Yam's book, Making Things Work, he writes, "There is  an ongoing tendency to increase the length of textbooks. There are  various reasons why people want to add to the education of children. People who work on education often believe, nobly enough, that the most important contribution is  to get children to learn more. Publishers want to sell new books and  adding new material is  an important aspect of an  effective sales pitch". Y. Bar-Yam, Making Things Work, NECSI/Knowledge Press, 2005.

The cost of higher education in developed countries is  increasingly becoming an  issue.

[ and  Economic Growth">edit] Education and  Economic Growth

If we look at a sorted list of nations with the highest level of secondary schooling we would notice these to be the richest countries in the world, based on GDP per capita. High rates of education are  essential for countries to achieve high levels of economic growth. In theory poor countries should grow faster than rich countries because they can adopt cutting edge technologies already tried and  tested by rich countries. But economists argue that if the gap in education between a rich and  a poor nation is  too large, as is  the case between the poorest and  the richest nations in the world, the transfer of these technologies that drive economic growth becomes difficult, thus the economies of the world's poorest nations stagnate.

[edit] Developing countries

According to The Borgen project, 115 million children lack access to education. In developing countries, the number and  seriousness of the problems faced are  naturally greater. People are  sometimes unaware of the importance of education, and  there is  economic pressure from those parents who prioritize their children's making money in the short term over any long-term benefits of education. Recent studies on child labor and  poverty have  suggested, however, that when poor families reach a certain economic threshold where families are  able to provide for their basic needs, parents return their children to school. This has been found to be true, once the threshold has been breached, even if the potential economic value of the children's work has increased since their return to school. Teachers are  often paid less  than other similar professions.

A lack of good universities, and  a low acceptance rate for good universities, is  evident in countries with a relatively high population density. In some countries, there are  uniform, overstructured, inflexible centralized programs from a central agency that regulates all aspects of education.

• Due to globalization, increased pressure on students in curricular activities
• Removal of a certain percentage of students for improvisation of academics (usually practised in schools, after 10th grade)

India, however, is  starting to develop technologies that will skip land based phone and  internet lines. Instead, India launched EDUSAT, an  education satellite that can reach more  of the country at a greatly reduced cost. There is  also an  initiative started by a group out of MIT and  supported by several major corporations to develop a $100 laptop. The laptops should be available by late 2006 or  2007. The laptops, sold at cost, will enable developing countries to give their children a digital education, and  to close the digital divide across the world.

In Africa, NEPAD has launched an  "e-school programme" to provide all 600,000 primary and  high schools with computer equipment, learning materials and  internet access within 10 years.

Private groups, like The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, are  working to give more  individuals opportunities to receive education in developing countries through such programs as the Perpetual Education Fund.

An International Development Agency project called naabur.com, started with the support of American President Bill Clinton, uses the internet to allow co-operation by individuals on issues of social development.

[edit] Parental involvement

Parental involvement is  an important element in a child's educational development. Early and  consistent parental involvement in the child's life, for example by reading to children at an  early age, teaching patterns, interpersonal communication skills, exposing them to diverse cultures and  the community around them, and  educating them about a healthy lifestyle, is  critical. The socialization and  academic education of a child are  aided by the involvement of the student, parent(s), extended family, teachers, and  others in the community. Parent involvement is  more than the parent being the field trip helper, or  the lunch lady. Parents need to be asked about how their child learns best. They need to share their career expertise with the children. Today's educators need to remember that parents are  the child's first and  foremost teacher; parents, too, are  experts, and  teachers should learn from them.

Academic achievement and  parental involvement are  strongly linked in the research. Many schools are  now beginning parental involvement programs in a more  organized fashion. In the US this has been led in part by the No Child Left Behind legislation from the US Department of Education.

[edit] Internationalization

Education is  becoming increasingly international. Not only are  the materials becoming more  influenced by the rich international environment, but exchanges among students at all levels are  also playing an  increasingly important role. In Europe, for example, the Socrates-Erasmus Programme stimulates exchanges across European universities. Also, the Soros Foundation provides many opportunities for students from central Asia and  eastern Europe. Some scholars argue that, regardless of whether one system is  considered better or  worse than another, experiencing a different way of education can often be considered to be the most important, enriching element of an  international learning experience (Dubois et al. 2006).

[edit] See also

• School

• Adult education
• Alternative education
• Alternative school
• Classical education
• Educational philosophies
• Educational technology
• Free school
• Gifted education
• Glossary of education-related terms
• History of education
• Interprofessional education
• Journalism education
• Legal education
• Lifelong Learning
• List of academic disciplines
• List of education articles by country
• List of education topics
• List of educators
• Medical education
• Over-education
• Public education
• Post Secondary Transition For High School Students with Disabilities
• Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)
• School counselor
• Special education
• Spirituality Studies
• Tertiary education
• University
• Unschooling
• Vocational education

[edit] References

• Li Yi. 2005. The Structure and  Evolution of Chinese Social Stratification. University Press of America. ISBN 0-7618-3331-5

• Buddin,Richard and  Zimmer,Ron. "Student achievement in charter schools:A complex picture." Journal of Policy Analysis and  Management (2005): 351-371. Ohio Link. http://journals.ohiolink.edu

• Bifulco,Robert and  Ladd,Helen. "Institutional Change and  Coproduction of Public Services: The Effect of Charter Schools on Parental Involvment." Journal of Public Administration Research and  Theory (Oct 2006): 552-576. http.journals.ohiolink.edu

[edit] External links

• UNESCO IBE Database: Information on almost every education system in the world
• UNESCO Institute for Statistics: International comparable statistics on education systems
• Education in India, A Complete Reference
• UNESCO Nairobi-office on education in cluster countries
• Guide to Education,Universities Reference for foreign universities.
• Education For All - 2nd Edition Factbook
• Wikipedia Education category tree
• WikEd is  a Wiki set up specificially for educators and  education research.
• The Encyclopedia of Informal Education
• The Theory Into Practice Database
• Education politics at Wikia
• Information about professions detailed information about many professions
• The Literacy Council Citizen Advocates for Quality Education

[edit] Wikibooks

• ICT in Education
• Free/Open Source Software:Education

[edit] Specific countries

• Information about the Canadian public and  private school system.
• German Federal Law on Support in Education
• The german education system for students
• Kenyan Colleges and  Universities
• Pakistan educational resources

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