MEANING, DEFINITION AND AIMS

By:- firoz qureshiDept. psychiatric

nursing

"I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.“ (Aristotle)

INTRODUCTION Education is a systematic process

through which a child or an adult acquires knowledge, experience, skill and sound attitude. It makes an individual civilized, refined, cultured and educated. Its goal is to make an individual perfect. It is the key to solve the various problems of life.

INTRODUCTION

- Education in the broadest sense of the term is meant to aid the human being in his/her pursuit of wholeness. Wholeness implies the harmonious development of all the potentialities God has given to a human person.

- True education is the harmonious development of the physical, mental, moral (spiritual), and social faculties, the four dimensions of life, for a life of dedicated service.

MEANING OF EDUCATION The word ‘Education’ has been derived

from different Latin words. a) ‘educare’ which means ‘to bring out’

or ‘to nourish’. b) ‘educere’ which means ‘to lead out’

or ‘to draw out’. c) ‘educatum’ which means ‘act of

teaching’ or ‘training’. d) ‘educatus’ which means ‘to bring up,

rear, educate’.

MEANING · The most common Indian word

‘shiksha’ is derived from the Sanskrit verbal root ‘shas’ which means ‘to discipline’, ‘to control’, ‘to instruct’ and ‘to teach’.

· Similarly the word ‘vidya’ is derived from Sanskrit verbal root ‘vid’ which means ‘to know’. Vidya is thus the subject matter of knowledge

DEFINITIONS 1. Mahatma Gandhi – “By education I

mean an all-round drawing out of the best in man – body, mind and spirit.”

DEFINITIONS 2. Rabindranath Tagore – “Education

enables the mind to find out the ultimate truth, which gives us the wealth of inner light and love and gives significance to life.”

DEFINITIONS Dr. Zakir Husain – “Education is the

process of the individual mind, getting to its full possible development.”

DEFINITIONS . Swami Vivekananda – “Education is

the manifestation of divine perfection already existing in man.”

DEFINITIONS . Aristotle - “Education is the creation of

sound mind in a sound body.”

DEFINITIONS Rousseau - “Education is the child’s

development from within.”

DEFINITIONS Herbert Spencer- “Education is

complete living.”

DEFINITIONS Plato – “Education is the capacity to feel

pleasure and pain at the right moment.”

DEFINITIONS Aristotle – “Education is the creation of

a sound mind in a sound body.”

DEFINITIONS Pestalozzi – “Education is natural,

harmonious and progressive development of man’s innate powers.”

DEFINITIONS Froebel -“Education is enfoldment of

what is already enfolded in the germ.”

DEFINITIONS T.P. Nunn - “Education is the complete

development of the individuality of the child.”

DEFINITIONS John Dewey – “Education is the process

of living through a continuous reconstruction of experiences.”

DEFINITIONS Indira Gandhi – “Education is a

liberating force and in our age it is also a democratizing force, cutting across the barriers of caste and class, smoothing out inequalities imposed by birth and other circumstances.”

NATURE OF EDUCATION 1. Education is a life-long process-

Education is a continuous and lifelong process. It starts from the womb of the mother and continues till death. It is the process of development from infancy to maturity. It includes the effect of everything which influences human personality.

NATURE OF EDUCATION 2. Education is a systematic process- It

refers to transact its activities through a systematic institution and regulation.

NATURE OF EDUCATION 3. Education is development of individual

and the society- It is called a force for social development, which brings improvement in every aspect in the society.

NATURE OF EDUCATION 4.Education is modification of behaviour-

Human behaviour is modified and improved through educational process.

NATURE OF EDUCATION 5. Education is purposive: every individual

has some goal in his life. Education contributes in attainment of that goal. There is a definite purpose underlined all educational activities.

NATURE OF EDUCATION 6. Education is a training- Human senses,

mind, behaviour, activities; skills are trained in a constructive and socially desirable way.

NATURE OF EDUCATION 7. Education is instruction and direction- It

directs and instructs an individual to fulfill his desires and needs for exaltation of his whole personality.

NATURE OF EDUCATION 8. Education is life- Life without education

is meaningless and like the life of a beast. Every aspect and incident needs education for its sound development.

NATURE OF EDUCATION 9.Education is continuous reconstruction of

our experiences- As per the definition of John Dewey education reconstructs and remodels our experiences towards socially desirable way.

NATURE OF EDUCATION 10. Education helps in individual

adjustment: a man is a social being. If he is not able to adjust himself in different aspects of life his personality can’t remain balanced. Through the medium of education he learns to adjust himself with the friends, class fellows, parents, relations, neighbours and teachers etc.

NATURE OF EDUCATION 11. Education is balanced development:

Education is concerned with the development of all faculties of the child. it performs the functions of the physical, mental, aesthetic, moral, economic, spiritual development of the individual so that the individual may get rid of his animal instincts by sublimating the same so that he becomes a civilized person.

NATURE OF EDUCATION 12. Education is a dynamic process: Education

is not a static but a dynamic process which develops the child according to changing situations and times. It always induces the individual towards progress. It reconstructs the society according to the changing needs of the time and place of the society.

NATURE OF EDUCATION 13. Education is a bipolar process:

According to Adams, education is a bipolar process in which one personality acts on another to modify the development of other person. The process is not only conscious but deliberate.

NATURE OF EDUCATION 14. Education is a three dimensional process:

John Dewey has rightly remarked, “All educations proceeds by participation of the individual in the social consciousness of the race.” Thus it is the society which will determine the aims, contents and methods of teachings. In this way the process of education consists of 3 poles – the teacher, the child and the society.

NATURE OF EDUCATION 15. Education as growth: The end of growth is

more growth and the end of education is more education. According to John Dewey, “an individual is a changing and growing personality.” The purpose of education is to facilitate the process of his/her growth.

AIMS OF EDUCATION Aims give direction to activities. According to a UNESCO study, “the physical,

intellectual, emotional and ethical integration of the individual into a complete man/woman is the fundamental aim of education.”

The goal of education is also to form children into human persons committed to work for the creation of human communities of love, fellowship, freedom, justice and harmony.

Students are to be moulded only by making them experience the significance of these values in the school itself.

INDIVIDUAL AIMS Sir Percy Nunn observes, “Nothing goods

enters into the human world except in and through the free activities of individual men and women and that educational practice must be shaped the individual.

Education should give scope to develop the inborn potentialities through maximum freedom.”

BIOLOGISTS Believe that every individual is different

from others. Every child is a new and unique product and a new experiment with life. Thompson says, “Education is for the individual”. Individual should be the centre of all educational efforts and activities.

NATURALISTS Believe that central aim of education is

the autonomous development of the individual. Rousseau said, “Everything is good as it comes from the hands of the Author of Nature, but everything degenerates in the hands of man.” God makes all things good, man meddles with them and they become evil.

PSYCHOLOGISTS Believe that education is an individual

process because of individual differences. No two individuals are alike. So education should be according to the interest of the individual.

CRITICISM OF INDIVIDUAL AIM:

(1) Individual aim makes individual selfish. (2) Maximum freedom may go against the

society. (3) Individuality cannot develop from a

vacuum; it develops in a social atmosphere.

(4) Unless society develops, individual cannot develop.

(5) Who will recognize society- where individual is selfish?

SOCIAL AIM The supporters believe that society or state is

supreme or real. The individual is only a means. The progress of the society is the aim of education. Education is for the society and of the society. The function of education is for the welfare of the

state. The state will make the individual as it desires. It prepares the individual to play different roles in

society. Individuality has no value, and personality is meaningless apart from society.

If society will develop individual will develop automatically. Here society plays an important role.

CRITICISM OF SOCIAL AIM:

(1) It makes individual only a tool of government.

(2) It reduces individual to a mere non-entity.

(3) Society ignores the legitimate needs, desires and interests of the individual.

(4) It is against the development of individuality of the individual.

SYNTHESIS BETWEEN INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIAL AIMS OF EDUCATION:

Individual aim and social aim of education go independently. Both are opposing to each other. It is not in reality. Neither the individual nor the society can exist. The individual is the product of the society while society finds its advancement in the development of its individual member.

Individual cannot develop in vacuum. According to John Adams, “Individuality requires a social medium to grow.” And T.P. Nunn says,” Individuality develops in social environment.”

CONCLUSION According to James Ross, “The aim of

education is the development of valuable personality and spiritual individuality.” The true aim of education cannot be other than the highest development of the individual as a member of society. Let education burn the individual flame, feeding it with the oil of society.

 

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