The purpose of education is…
A friend on a parenting group posted this interesting article called The Meaning of Education. In it the meaning of “to educate” comes up for review. What does it really mean to educate a child? Does that mean teaching them the basics of reading, writing, and arithmatic? Does that mean showing a child the information they will need, or showing them how to find the information on their own? What is the true purpose of education to you?
As the article points out in ancient Greece, Socrates argued that education was about drawing out what was already within the student. Many homeschoolers and unschoolers agree that giving a child a good education is not about filling them up with facts but showing them out to shine their own inner light. It reminds me of my favorite education quote:
“Do not then train youth to learn by force and harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.” ~Plato
But then there are those on the other side of the coin that feel that to educate a child one needs to give them all the necessary skills that they will need. Children are taught the facts, information, and skills that they will need as adults.
If there is no agreement on the meaning of education, then what about the goals of education. What is the purpose of education? My response is as follows:
For me the purpose of education is to help guide children into adulthood. Meaning teaching them the basics that they will need to know as well as teaching them how to seek out new information as a need developes. I agree that all children are able to seek new knowledge on their own, but with so many conflicting ideas out there I fele that part of education should be how to seperate the good from the bad.
In a lot of ways the purpose of education and the purpose of parenting are one and the same to me. If my children grow up to be well rounded, functioning members of society with the ability to adapt to their surroundings and learn new information, and remember to call their poor mom at least once a month to say “I love you” then they have been educated and raised well. Beyond that varies from person to person and from family to family, but that’s the bare bones idea for me.
So where do you stand on this issue? What do you feel is the purpose of educating our children?What is the meaning of educatioin to you?
homeschool, public school, education, purpose of education
May 17th, 2007 at 5:46 pm
It’s amazing how often this question pops up when you’re planning for an upcoming school year!
May 18th, 2007 at 12:31 am
I agree with you and Plato. You have to work on the child’s strengths and possibly use a different technique. I think education has always entailed moving into adulthood. Kids learn things regardless if they are good or bad and regardless if we are teaching them or not. Its a good idea to arm them with the facts they need to live in todays society,
May 20th, 2007 at 2:07 am
I like the definition in Webster’s 1828 dictionary. It involves training the habits of youth, training the mind, forming the character and fitting the child for his/her future station. I think that sums it up pretty well.
To me, the purpose of education is liberty…to read well enough to not be dependent on others for information and to be able to look into a subject more. Same with math, etc. We may choose to employ others for certain tasks, but the more educated we are, the less this should be necessary.
May 22nd, 2007 at 5:17 pm
Sometimes a different language gives a different perspective. In French ‘education’ mostly means the same as the 1828 definition from Dana. ‘Instruction’ refers to the aquisition of knowledge, academic and study skills. A homeschooling parent in France becomes responsible for both instead of just the first. And there are more words, with rather specialised meanings.
You don’t have to decide what is the ‘real’ meaning of education when you have different words to describe different parts of the meaning.
Thanks for an interesting post.
May 22nd, 2007 at 8:43 pm
I really like your definition.
This is a subject I have been thinking
about lately.
Thanks for this post.
January 8th, 2008 at 6:13 am
[...] takes me back to the old question, what is the purpose of education? What is the reason behind, the meaning of, the goals of education as it stands here in the US? And [...]