CONCEPT AND MEANING OF EDUCATION

Etymologically ( considering the history ) Education is derived from the

Latin words Educare( meaninig to bring up or to nourish) and
Educere( to bring forth of to draw out).Another Latin word
educantum is also used , which has two components . E implies a
movement from inward to outward and duco refers to developing of
progressing.
An analysis of these words reveal that education aims at providing a
learner or a child a nourishing environment to bring out and develop
the latent potentiality hidden inside him.
In India, the concept of education is traced back to the Gurukula
Parampare where two wordsShiksha and Vidya are equivalent
terms of Education.

THEORIES OF EDUACATION
Moore regards education as a group of activities going on at various logical levels, logical in the
sense that each higher level arises out of, and is dependent on, the one below it. The lowest
level is the level of educational practice at which activities like teaching, instructin&
motivating pupils, etc, are carried on. Those involved at the lowest levels (i.e. teachers)
talk about teaching, learning, knowledge, experience, etc. Arising out of these basic
ground floor activities, is another higher order activity - educational theorizing, which
results in some kind of educational theory or more accurately "educational theories".
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GENERAL FEATURES OF EDUCATION

Education Represents a Deliberate Process to Develop a Desirable State of Mind

The Processes Involved should Essentially Be Worthwhile
Education Suggests Criteria to which Processes must Conform
Scrutiny of the Mechanistic and the Growth (Orzanisrnic) Models of Education
and Emergence of Progressive Ideology
Mariner versus Matter of Education

Education Represents a Deliberate Process to Develop a

Desirable State of Mind- Education is not the same as reform, but it is similar in that it implies
achange for the better. Furthermore, education is usually thought of as an intentional activity
both from the point of view of those engaged in the enterprise and those being educated

What constitutes the 'desirable state of mind'. It is not so easy to state what is desirable,
for the question of desirability can be asked from different angles or in different
perspectives. If we put this question to those being educated, they are likely to say
that they want to become capable of getting an appropriate job or a position of prestige
in the community. But if we view this question from the point of view of the teacher, a second
type of model crops up - that of useful arts where neutral materials are fashioned into something
that is valuable. Just as clay is moulded into pots, so are minds moulded into some desirable end
products.

The Processes Involved should Essentially Be Worthwhile

Thinking about education we are rarely considering that some end-product of education
should be valuable, and are not caring for or focuss ongo theactivities and processes involved in
it. Obviously enough activities or processes which form a part of the content of education can be
viewed asbeing either instrumentally or intrinsically valuable.

Education Suggests Criteria to which Processes must Conform

According to Peters, 'Education is not a concept that confirms or sets any particular
types of processes, such as training or an activity such as lecturing. It rather suggests
criteria to which all processes and activities involved, such as training, instruction, etc.
must conform'.
What is of value should not be external to the activity, but intrinsic to it.

What is of value should not be something extrinsic to educatian, just as making

a Inan better is not extrinsic to 'reform'; it is rather a criterion which anything must
justify which is to be called reform. In the same way, a necessary feature of education
is often extracted asan extrinsic end. People thus often think that education should
produce something that is of value and extrinsic to it, whereas the truth is that being
worthwhile is part of what is meant by 'education'. Both the instrumental and moulding
model of education (mechanistic and organismic respectively) provide a caricature of
this necessary feature of desirability by conceiving of what is worthwhile as an end
brought about by the process or as a pattern imposed on the child's mind.

Scrutiny of the Mechanistic and the Growth (Organismic)

Models of Education and Emergence of Progressive Ideology
Historically speaking, when the utilitarian and moulding models (mechanistic) of
education were challenged, they were replaced by models which likened education to
a natural proceas of development in which the individual grows l~kae plant towards
something that is desirable. Gradually a positive child-centred ideology emerged which
was welcomed and embraced by those who were against the traditional methods still
present in schools. According to this progressive child-centred ideology, education
consists in the development of the potentialities from within rather than moulding from
without; and curriculum should arise from the needs and interests of the child, rather
than from the demands of the teacher, that self-expression is more important than the
discipline of the subject matter; that children should not be coerced or punished; that
children should be alIowed to learn from experience rather than be told things.
Froebel, Tagore, J. Krishnamurti, Aurobindo stressed the importance of studying the child
at its various stages and adopting what was provided to the child's interests and stage of
development. Dewey, with iwhose name concepts such as growth and experience are
clohely associated, contributed a lot to progressive education. According to Froebel,
however, education consisted in aiding the unfoldment of natural propensities. As a
consequence of the progressive ideology of education, the teacher came to be regarded
as one who had studied the law\ of development and who had to provide appropriate
conditions by arranging the environment so that the child can realize himself to the full
or gr ow without being hindered.

Manner vs. Matter of Education

Values are intrinsic to education and not its extrinsic ends. Yet, inspite of the lack of
determillants about standards, about growth and self-realization, such models (growth
models) of educational situation are morally important in another way. They suggest
atlother dimension in which value judgments can enter into education, which relate to
manner rather than matter of education. They stress the importance of procedutol
principles. That is, they stress the importance of letting children choose for themselves,
learn by experience, and direct their own lives: All these principles stress the selfdirection

of the individual which was ignored by the traditional teachers. They represent
value judgements not so much about the matter of what is taught, nor about some
illusory "end" for which things are taught, but about manner in which children arc to
be treated is is appreciated not simply from a general moral stand point. but because
it is clearly indicative of the way in which values need to be conceived of as being
intrinsic to education rather than as extrinsic ends. The instrumental or moulding
models of education erect the necessay moral feature of 'ed ucation' into an extrinsic
end, whereas the growth modle convertsa necessary feature of educational processes

into a procedural principle. The adherents.Of this model, therefore, stress the connection
between education and 'educere' rather than 'educare' thereby moulding the concept
towards 'leading out' rather than "stamping in". So according to the adherents of the
growth model, nothing is to be conceived as education in which procedural principles
to do with 'leading out' are ignored. Accordingly, anything that is imposed from
without, however, good it may appear, is not educational in the true sense. What is
more important is, therefore, the manner of education and not its matter.

5. What do you mean by'desirible state of mind?

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6. Can there be worthwhile criteria to be taken into account while educating the
child? Discuss.

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7. What is progressive ideology in education and how did it evolve?

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WHO IS AN EDUCATED PERSON?

Education does not specify particular processes, It, however, does
imply criteria which the processes involved must satisfy in addition to the demand that
something valuable must @ developed. In other words, first of all, the individual who
is educated shall care about valuable things involved and he shall achieve relevant
standards. We would not call a person educated who knows about science but caws
nothing for truth, or who regards it merely as a means to get certain benefit5 -that it
can give to make life comfortable. Furthermore, an educated man is initid into the
content of the activity or forms of knowledge in a meaningful way, sp Chat he knows
what he is doing. Any form of conditioning or hypnotic suggestion cannot be termed
as educational, because activities done as a result of such processes of conditioning or
indoctrinationi are not done on one's own. The doer may not even know what one is
doing and why he is doing that. Some form of drill might also be ruled out on these
grounds, if the individual is made to repeat mindlessly some stereotyped sets. For
something to count as education a minimum of comprehension must be involved.
Thus, to be educated one must do things as a voluntary agent and as an autonomous
being.Those who believe in authoritarian methods of education assumethat though children
may not care about such activities in the early stages, once they get started on them,
they will eventually come to care. They will thus emerge aseducated persons. Growth
theorists. on the other hand, hold that being educated implies interested in and caring
for what is worthwhile. For this to happen (develop), worthwhile things must be
presented in a way which attracts the child. On psychological grounds, they hold that
coercion and commands are ineffective methods for getting children to care about
what is worthwhile. The children should be treated according to some moral principles,

that is, they should be allowed to learn by experience and choose for themselves..
In brief. we can say that being educated implies:
a) caring about what isworthwhile and
b) providing condlfions and things to attain what is worthwhile.

Plato's View of Education - A Synthesis of Moulding Model

and Growth Model
While examining the moulding or instrumental model and the growth model ofeducation
we muwonsider what Plato thought of education much earlier than the advocates of
rhese two niodels. Plato's view of education, at least in these respects, seems to be
much more appropriate than any of the two models separately. He was convinced
that there are truths to be grasped and standards to be achieved which are public
object5 of desire, but coercing people into seeing them, in trying to imprint them on
wax like minds was both psychologically and morally unsound. Plato quite rightly
emphasized what the growth theorists evaded, viz. the necessity for and objectivity of
standards written into the content of education. And at the same time, he also laid
emphasis on the procedural principles as stressed by the growth theorists.
The emphasis on "seeing" and "grasping" for oneself which is to be found both in
Plato and in the growth theorists suggests a third conceptual point about education in
addition to those already made about the value of what is passed on and the manner in
which i t is to be assimilated. This concerns the cognitive aspect of the content of
education.
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Education: The Cognitive Perspective

We may say that a person is highly trained, but not educated. What does lie behind this
conde~nnation?It is not that he has mastered a skill which we disapprove of. We can
hay this about a very skilled andefficient doctor or even aphilosopher. We might very
much approve their expertise. He may even be passionately committed to the profession
and may display his skill with intelligence and determination. If he refuses to treat a
patient who is in acritical condition unless the requisite fee is already paid, and which
may be exorbitant, or he may like to treat only the patients who matter for him Therefore,
he is not educated though highly train* in our sense of the terms.
If the doc to^ shows such an attitude he has a very limited conception of what he is
doing. JXe slogan of the educationists such as 'Education of the whole man' bears
witness not only to a protest against too much specialized training, but also to the
conceptual connection between education and seeing what is being done in a perspective
that is not too limited. We talk about a person as being trained as a philosopher, a
scientist or a cook, when we wish to draw attention to his acquired competence in a
specific discipline of thought or art which has its own intrinsic standards. To be truly
educated, one need to have a vision of the profession he is engaged in. This is called
the 'cognitive perspective', which need to be fully developed for person to be called
educated.

Educating the Emotions vs. Xkaining of Emotions

There are certain matters which cannot be said to be trained but educated only. For
example, we may talk more naturally of educating the emotions rather than of training
them. When we talk of training of emotion, the implications are different than when
we talk of educating the emotions. Training is acquired by drill, a pattern of habits
which will not be disrupted in emergencies; they will not be paralysed by fear or
overcome by grief in a public place. Training suggests the acquisition of appropriate
habits of response in a limited situation. It lacks a wider cognitive implication of
'education'. We may naturally talk of training of character when we wish to ensure
reliability of response in accordance with a code. But when we speak of moral

education, we immediately envisage addkssing ourselves to the matter of what people

believe, and to questions of justification and questions of fact connected with such
beliefs. To make the point more clear, sex-education is given by doctors, school teachers
and others who are capable of incorporating working information and value judgements
about sexual matters into a complicated system of beliefs about the working of the
body, personal relationships, and social institutions. Sex training has entirely a different
connotation and cannot be given to pupils in the classroom

Educating the Emotions vs. Xkaining of Emotions

There are certain matters which cannot be said to be trained but educated only. For
example, we may talk more naturally of educating the emotions rather than of training
them. When we talk of training of emotion, the implications are different than when
we talk of educating the emotions. Training is acquired by drill, a pattern of habits
which will not be disrupted in emergencies; they will not be paralysed by fear or
overcome by grief in a public place. Training suggests the acquisition of appropriate
habits of response in a limited situation. It lacks a wider cognitive implication of
'education'. We may naturally talk of training of character when we wish to ensure
reliability of response in accordance with a code. But when we speak of moral
education, we immediately envisage addkssing ourselves to the matter of what people
believe, and to questions of justification and questions of fact connected with such
beliefs. To make the point more clear, sex-education is given by doctors, school teachers
and others who are capable of incorporating working information and value judgements
about sexual matters into a complicated system of beliefs about the working of the
body, personal relationships, and social institutions. Sex training has entirely a different
connotation and cannot be given to pupils in the classroom
scientist, or-a doctor, to be truly educated, must be cognizant of other ways of looking
at the world so that he can grasp the historical perspective, social significance and
moral implications. So in education there is importance of both training and instruction.