WHAT IS EDUCATION

INTRODUCTION

The definition of education guiding mainstream schools today is that education is the delivery of knowledge, skills and information from teachers to students. While the above metaphor sounds reasonable, it misses what is most important about education. This mistaken idea of what true education is and how it can be achieved is the root problem in mainstream education today.

The primary intent of this paper is to provide a number of definitions on education, to critically expose the various types of education and what true education is. And to ask the following questions: is education principally the ability to read and write, or the acquisition of academic professions, et cetera. Lastly, we shall discuss the topic from a philosophical standpoint.

CONCEPTUAL CLARIFICATION

Education has been conceptualized by various authors based on their understanding of the concept. However, the following deduction can be made from any definition of education offered. Education is that which enables the individual to develop its capacities through the acquisition of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values. It is a process of developing the physical, social, mental and moral abilities of an individual. It is the process of teaching, preserving and upgrading culture in order to improve the welfare of man. It is the deliberate, indirect and incidental experience one encounters as one passes through different phases or stages of life.[1] We can go on to say that education is the cultivation of the whole person: physical, intellectual, moral, social and emotional development.

Behind all the differences of opinion about what education is and what it means to be educated, is one basic idea: an educated person is one someone who perceives accurately, thinks clearly and acts effectively oneself selected goals.

FORMS OF EDUCATION

Basically, education is divided into two; namely: formal and informal education. However, Islamic education with its own distinct characteristics has come to be the third form of education.[2]

Formal education is the type of education that is organized, planned and systematic. The environment is structured and controlled. Under this arrangement, the learning process and experience is spelt out and followed accordingly. Formal education is synomously referred to as western education.

The informal education simply means education before the invention of writing or more correctly, before the advent of western education. It is the type of education acquired by oneself through real life experience. While the former is characterized by organized classes, syllabi and duration; the latter is characterized by spontaneity and multiplicity of skills.

The Islamic education, on the other hand, is the type of education that is based on the tenets of Islam. It has its roots in Islam and its teachings are anchored on the five pillars of Islam.

PURPOSE OF EDUCATION FROM A PHILOSOPHICAL VIEW POINT

            The word education is coined from a Latin verb “educere” which means to draw out. This is much more akin to bringing up. The word shows that education is not merely a question of the externals. In addition to what was earlier mentioned in our introduction; the task of defining the term “education,” is not an easy one, largely because, there would seem to be no universal agreement to it. Thus, some people conceptualize education as the learning which takes place in schools and culminates into the acquisition of certificates. In view of this, they tend to say that an individual has received a good education if he/she attends a good primary school, if such an individual gets into a secondary school and make good grades.

            However, education is much more than merely learning to read and write and acquiring academic and professional qualifications. John Stuart Mills enunciated what he felt was the purpose of education. He defined education as “the culture which each generation purposely gives to those who are to be its successors, in order to qualify them for at least keeping up and if possible for raising the level of improvement which has been attained.”[3] John Milton stated that a complete and generous education is that which fits a man to perform justly, skillfully and magnanimously all the offices assigned him.[4]

            The Second Vatican Council declared “that true education is directed towards the formation of the human person in view of his final end the good of the society to which he belongs and in the duties of which he will, as an adult, have to share.”[5] By this definition, what is crucial in the education of a child is the task of forming his/her character and aiding him to attain the purpose of existence.

Consequently, according to Majasan, “studies on traditional education have shed more that the purpose of education is to produce a good member of the community, a person who is kind, tolerant, industrious, and conscientious and has a good knowledge of the traditions and culture of his people”.[6] Fafunwa opined, that, “the purpose of traditional education is to produce an individual that is respectful, honest, skilled, and cooperative and conforms to the social order of the day.”[7]

What is more, one fundamental question arises from the aforementioned statements. Such as, if education is much more than merely the ability to read and write and acquiring academic and professional qualifications, do we say, that a professor, medical doctor, priest, et cetera, who do not meet up to the above prerequisite is uneducated? This leaves us with another philosophical problem to reflect upon.

CONCLUSION

Unlike the extreme skeptics (who are of the view that we know nothing at all), we disagree that education cannot be attained; rather, we are of the view that though a medical doctor may not know much of theology as the priest does, or a professor of English language have a full grasp of mathematics or logic, however, their ability to relatively discuss issues in these areas not limiting sticking to their areas of profession and specialization makes them educated.

At this end, we will say that education is the ability to learn and to transmit, that which has been learnt either formally or informally. Also, it is the ability to apply these learning into our everyday life, for the good and welfare of oneself, others and the society at large. Otherwise, such an individual may be said to possess the skill to read and write and acquiring academic and professional qualifications without being educated. In final words, education is the amount of information an individual possess.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

DuBey, D. L., Edem, D. A. and Thakur, A.S. An Introduction to Nigeria Education. Hong Kong: Macmillan Publishers, 1984.

Obemeata, Joseph. “Education and the Complete Man” Education in the Service of Humanity. No. 2, edited by Samuel Ayodele. Ibadan: Educational Research and Study Group, 1996.

Peil, Margaret. Consensus and Conflict in African Societies: An Introduction to Sociology. Hong Kong: Longman, 1982.

Second Vatican Council, Declaration on Christian Education, Gravissimun Edcationis. No. 1.

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[1] Cf. D L DuBey et al, An Introduction to Nigeria Education (Hong Kong: Macmillan, 1984), pp. 1-2.

[2] Cf. Margaret Peil, Consensus and Conflict in African Societies: An Introduction to Sociology (Hong Kong: Longman, 1982), pp. 174-175.

[3] Joseph Obemeata, “Education and the Complete Man” Education in the Service of Humanity. No. 2, ed. Samuel Ayodele (1996), p. 12

[4] Ibid.

[5] Second Vatican Council, Declaration on Christian Education, Gravissimun Edcationis. No. 1.

[6] Majasan, J. A., Yoruba Education: Its Principles Practices and Relevance to Current Educational Development, an Unpublished Ph D. thesis, University of Ibadan. quoted in Joseph Obemeata, “Education and the Complete Man” Education in the Service of Humanity. No. 2, ed. Samuel Ayodele (1996), p. 14

[7] Fafunwa. A. B. Cultural Heritage Dimension of Indigenous Nigeria Education (1983), Pai and Arinze, The Use of Cultural Heritage in Nigeria Education, Institute of Education. University of Ibadan, quoted ibid.