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A personal outlook
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Abstract
Education is a key term in civil life. It means attainment of knowledge or skills through continued learning, training and examination, which leads to an overall development of an individual. Right away since a child gets 4, the parents start planning the educational regime for him/her. We have a sustainable basic educational system which has been in practice for hundreds of years. The child begins at primary school, attends classes, appears for exam and is promoted to higher grade as per his marks and overall performance. The same process of teaching, testing and promoting is repeated in middle school, high school and college. But every individual has his/her own perspective to assess the educational systems. This report deals with the personal outlook of ‘author/student’ on the philosophy of education through answers to a set of questions.
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What is education to you?
Education is the process through which one formally attains knowledge, professional skills and/or flairs with regular and consistent teaching, training and guidance. Examination is obviously a very significant part of the process of education. Examinations, if conducted wisely and assessed honestly can judge whether the student should be promoted to higher grade or not. A child begins his education by learning alphabets and words to gradually learn a language. The important basic subjects such as mathematics, environmental science and social studies get added to the list with time. To make an individual adept in perceiving the world around him, both qualitatively and quantitatively, various subjects such as physics, chemistry, biology, geography, history and languages are taught with escalating grades. And needless to say, the complexity and vastness of syllabus gets augmented with each promotion to a higher grade.
Education is more than just subjects taught in school or colleges. When a person seeks formal training in a professional skill or art, it also comes under education. The process is aimed at improving our abilities, strengthening our knowledge and developing our personality. To me, education is everything which makes us a better individual along with being a literate and well-aware citizen of the World.
How does education affect the world we live in presently?
The significance of education in the present world is colossal. We can learn to speak and write at home but we do need a proper setting to learn the know-hows related to general affairs, sciences, mathematics and social studies. Every expert we seek, be it a doctor, engineer or accountant, is a well-educated and qualified professional. One who has merely an interest in health sciences is not permitted to treat patients. His educational qualification
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makes him worthy of serving people. From a trusted banker to police officer, professional therapist to performer, every professional reaches the position to sell or offer his service after getting adequately and appropriately educated. That is why it affects the world we live in so poignantly.
How would you describe our current educational system?
The current educational system is proficient but needs some serious rectification and vigilance. The tradition of teaching, assessing and promoting a student is logical. But, there is an exorbitant focus on achieving good marks rather than on how one accomplishes it. Cheating is indispensable; most of the students cheat despite of being invigilated. It may reciprocate unfair results. Also, the useless load of assignments is a low point. So, I would call the system capable yet in need of improvement and better rules.
What are your thoughts on our present educational systems:
both regular and special education?
My thoughts on our present educational system comprise both applauses and derision. The tradition to teach students of multifarious origins in one classroom through a combination of theory and practical classes is quite beneficiary in preparing a student to face the world practically and survive positively amidst people of varied kinds. Though some scholars believe that examinations should be abolished, I completely disagree with them. Exams are crucial to know how much a student understands a subject and works hard or smart to learn it. The distance education is a wonderful concept which enables a student to learn a subject no matter if he/she can attend the regular classes or not. Special education for those who need to proficient in a specific skill has augmented the importance of knowledge. The system no considers the significance of knowledge other than mathematics or physics. Another point to mention here is the special schools for children suffering from mental disorders. They require
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specialised training and hence, there should be proficient educational systems for them too.
What will our educational system be in the future?
With time, our educational systems are showing sharp growth in terms of technology. As a matter of fact, the basic process of teaching, assessing and promoting shall stay strong and alive for a couple of decades or more. But it tends to get influences over time. Apart from electronic notebooks and smart boards replacing copies and blackboard, there shall be considerable changes in the technique to assess if a child should be promoted or demoted. Emphasis on overall development of an individual’s persona shall soar in future. Above that, I believe that future shall witness least focus on repetitive assignments, only written examinations and academic score. A devotion to the genre for which a student is born shall be looked for in future.
In your opinion, what changes are needed to be made in order to achieve the goals
that have been set forth by the government?
In my personal opinion, the following changes should be made to improve the educational systems:
1. Emphasis on overall development of a child/individual without forcing him/her to score marks by hook or crook.
2. Guiding parents regarding how to support and encourage their children to perform well rather than pressurising them to score a higher percentage and beat their competitors.
3. Promoting oral exams too along with written ones so that there is least scope of cheating.
4. Including extra-curricular activities in educational system and identifying where the true potential of a student lies, be it in rocket science or cricket.
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5. Assigning limited amount of homework and projects to students so that they can focus of learning properly rather than copying the works from a friend or online guide.
Conclusion
The current educational systems are effective without a doubt. We have an array of great scholars and professionals in the field of science, mathematics, performing arts and so forth. These were trained through the very educational process which trains us. But it is to be considered that quality of education is the most important. The system should encourage students to learn and put the knowledge to good use. Simply learning a theory by heart is futile unless it is applied to benefit. With certain improvements, our educational system can be flawless. However, the success of an educational system shall always depend on the joint efforts of teachers and students.
