The education has already become an integral part of the civilized society. There are a tremendous amount of definitions of the learning. Of course, everyone has the absolute right to understand this commonly known term in his own way. So, I'll do an attempt to redefine it in my own way. I think that the education is not just a way of acquiring knowledge in a specific area, but it is the universal process of socialization of young people, who are just beginning journey of life.
The acquisition of knowledge is without doubts the laudable and essential process in the life of modern human. It is a kind of ticket to the future! An educated man is usually confident in himself and his abilities (and if he is also purposeful and witty – that is even better!). People are accustomed to thinking that the learning is primarily connected with books, examinations and seminars. However, they have forgotten that inestimable time, when they were at school and then at university, or they just weren’t there at all.
What we remember best of all after the graduation: lectures and preparation for classes or how we’ve started an independent life, found friends, and learned how to solve the problems with studies and with other circumstances? I don’t underestimate the aspect of the gaining the knowledge, but I want to pay attention to the other side of the pupils’ and students’ life. For their parents the education is primarily something that will help their kids to get a job in the future. However, for young people it is something much bigger.
There is formal education (classroom-based) and there is informal education, based on work in libraries, after- school programs or even at home.("Formal vs. Informal Education.") It is not a secret that a person can acquire the knowledge at home. However, even if the best tutors will teach him, and he will have the comprehensive knowledge, the job search will be more difficult for him than for the person, who has gone through the process of socialization because of the education system.
The great advantage of the process of acquiring knowledge in an educational institution is the fact that young human is learning to interact with people, to find an approach to a particular person, to communicate, to prove his point of view, to form rationally his own schedule (by finding time for physics and for football).
In our contemporary age human friendship with modern technologies is developing rapidly; and online education is becoming more popular. Its advantage is that the students focused solely on studying. However, let me compare online learning with the cultivation of plants in house conditions that are getting used to a particular atmosphere, without developing immunity against the surrounding world with a lot of the obstacles.
Despite the fact that the learning is the individual process, it has to occur in a community.("Study Finds That Online Education Beats the Classroom.") Furthermore, there are fears that at least some kinds of online education are of low quality. Online learning in general depersonalizes the process of learning.("Online Learning in Higher Education - Education Next.")
In conclusion it can be said that the education is primarily a process of socialization. A human being at school and then at university studies not only such sciences as history, philosophy, chemistry, etc.; but apart from that, he is learning the art of dealing with people and different circumstances.
Probably the main task of modern person is to prevent the denial of human relations. After all, the possibility of going crazy at home near the computer becomes much more likely, if we’ll forget about the importance of the process of socialization in the period of acquisition of education!
Works cited:
"Formal vs. Informal Education." Enhancing Education:. Web. 19 Feb. 2016. <http://enhancinged.wgbh.org/started/what/formal.html>.
"Online Learning in Higher Education - Education Next." RSS. Spring 2013. Web. 19 Feb. 2016. <http://educationnext.org/online-learning-in-higher-education/>.
"Study Finds That Online Education Beats the Classroom." Bits Study Finds That Online Education Beats the Classroom Comments. 19 Aug. 2009. Web. 19 Feb. 2016. <http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/study-finds-that-online-education-beats-the-classroom/?_r=0>.
