Introduction 3
Literature Review 3
Research and Methodology 6
Conclusion 8
References 9
Introduction
Education is an important factor in the development of a society. Evidently, the benefits of education go beyond the obvious advantage of improving life chances. Education empowers people not only with the skills, knowledge and means of succeeding in life, but also with the hope of a better productive and sustainable life. Education is thus an important tool in the realization of a prosperous and developing community. In many societies, education serves as a panacea to solving gender based problems such as hunger, overpopulation, preventable diseases and abusive marriages (Lindsey, 2011, p. 329). Like the western world during the Greek and Roman era, educational access is still limited to a small section of the society in the developing countries (Lindsey, 2011, p.303). While the developed world has made progress in terms of gender equality in education, many developing nations are still plagued by disparity of education between girls and boys (Lindsey, 2011, p.329).
One can argue that education begun when people first became conscious of education as a distinct human activity. Preliterate societies did not have the long range goals and the complex social systems that we enjoy in the modern times. In addition, they did not have the analytical tools of the modern tools. Still, preliterate societies had a well grounded understanding of education that was helpful for the immediate survival of human society. Children were taught the skills necessary for living their day to day lives. Overtime, humanity began using education for variety of different things. Contemporarily, education can still be used for survival, but it is also a means of getting work, improving human thinking, and making better use of leisure time. Similarly, education is used to refine the norms and social cultural attitudes and values. While looking at the development of education overtime, it is important to explore the philosophical, cultural and time effects on the growth and development of education.
Literature Review
Education is involved in the world of ideas and the world of practical activity (Ozman and Carver, p.3). In education, good ideas can lead to good practices, and good practices can lead to good ideas. In his book “The Republics”, Plato proposed the kind of education that would help bring about a world in which individuals and society are moved as far as they are capable of moving toward the good. Plato understood that most people in matter as an objective of reality, and that individual differences exist, and that injustice and inhumanity are ways of life. In Plato’s mind, he wished to create a world where philosophers were the rulers. He wanted philosophers such as Socrates to take a lead on issues that dealt directly with education. Plato suggested that for education to take a genuine path, the state must take an influential role in educational concerns and offer curriculums that lead intelligent students from concrete data toward abstract thinking.
Plato’s idea on education was very influential in the western understanding of arts in education. Plato discussed painting, sculpture, architecture, poetry, dance and music. While Plato understood art to be an imitation of life, Plato strongly believed that art needed to be taught through regulated and censored means to create a virtuous society. Understandingly, art became a paramount aspect of the educational development.
The University was a product of the middle ages. The urban revolution of the 11th century and 12th century led to the destruction of the old monastic schools that had been the centre of learning for the past few centuries. In Northern Europe, there was the rise of old cathedrals schools and semi circular municipal schools. The cathedral schools and the municipal schools became centre of learning for many Europeans in the 11th century. The enrollments of young people in the schools increased at an alarming rate by 12th century, most of the cathedrals had metamorphosed into universities. In the middle ages, the term university was as vague at it gets. In many cases, a university referred to a group of people united for a specific purpose. When the word university was used, it usually implied a group of learners with a specific agenda of gaining higher knowledge. This type of university was called “stadium generale” ( Stip, 433). The term referred to a large institution open to students from many lands with a number of teachers, not only one master. The stadium generale offered many disciplines. Most of the subjects taught in the discipline included astronomy, geometry, arithmetic, music, grammar, and rhetoric and dialect. It must be understood that the medieval university was neither a campus nor a complex of buildings but a guild. This was a conglomeration of Privileged Corporation of teachers, or sometime students.
In the thirteenth century, the entire Western Europe was painted with universities namely Paris, Bologna, Naples, Montpellier, Oxford, Cambridge, and among others. Most of the guilds were run by students who hired instructors to teach them. The professors could only leave town after completion of curriculum that they taught. Modern university sprung out of the idea of Universities in the middle ages. Medieval universities must be honored for the concepts Organized research learning, formal teaching license, the idea of an academic degree, and the notion of liberal arts education, as well as the culture of dressing in gowns to cover graduation ceremonies are all ideas that started in the medieval period.
While there was only less than two percent of the college age population enrolled in higher education at the turn of the 20th century, the Union had established institutions of higher learning. The establishment of the school was made possible by the states and through the federal land grant program made possible by the Morril Act of 1862. Philanthropists also played a role in the establishment of schools. There were about fifty-six schools founded by charity. For example, in 1869, Charles Eliot introduced the elective system that encouraged new teaching methods and offered classes in laboratory science, economics and modern languages (Garratty, 1997, p. 56).
John Hopkins University became the first University to offer graduate school classes specializing in research. It was instrumental in producing scholars such as Woodrow Wilson. John Rockefeller established the University of Chicago in 1892 as well as many others. Still, it should be noted that not all colleges established were productive to the society. The colleges owed allegiance to the donors and academic will was bent to meet the needs of the sponsors (Garratty, 1997, p. 56).
Like all other movements, the progressive, were mostly anti colored people in the United States. The prejudice extended even to immigrants from the nontraditional parts of Europe such as southern Europe and Eastern Europe. In 1913, the Dillingham commission restricted the number of newcomers in the United States. In the Dead Indian Act of 1902, Native Americans were given the rights to sell their lands but did not approve of Indian Education except for vocational trainings. In the South, the Progressives enacted laws that reinstated racial segregations denying black people the right to vote. In response, black progressives such as Booker T Washington encouraged black people to establish their own business and to learn basic skills that allowed them to live in the American society. Du Bois, another black progressive argued for black consciousness particularly in the areas of education, identity, and pan Africans (Garratty, 1997, p. 16). After the brief historical background on education, let us now focus on the evolvement of educational research and how it can be used to increase competence.
Research Design and Methodology
In reference to a research on education, the researcher must put in consideration that, he or she is examining a trend or behavior that has historical roots. This complicates the task because there is limited application of different research methodologies. Children are minors in the community and thus, one cannot rely on them as sources of reliable information. From this situation, the primary research methodology will be already available historical books and opinions. However, researchers also have to examine education hollitsically. The most appropriate methodology in examining the history of education would be the use of secondary sources such as books and relevant stuff.
Analysis and interpretation of Data
The research will use the collected information to draw a conclusion based on the theory of the research. The information may be analyzed in different formats using graphs, pie charts, or any other statistical analysis method. Trehub (2003) argues that there is a need to examine the research and draw the conclusion in reference to other research under the same line.
After collection of the information, the researcher should save the data in an electronic media. This reduces bulkiness as well as risks of losing the data. However, data back-up is crucial; the most convenient option is saving the formation in the email or uploading it on a website. All identities will be protected to ensure anonymity, and all information will remain confidential.
Recommendation
According to Levine, parents can assist children learn by knowing their children and helping them develop their strengths. Levine argues that helping children requires that society tolerate that there are people with different minds. He argues that lot more focus should be bestowed on enhancing the concept differential learning that employs different strategies for different children. This method allows children to have a choice of what works best for them. In general, I think that Levine does a remarkable job and accomplishes his goal of developing a new strategy that helps children understand and help children become successful. This is an indispensable book for everyone working with children. Contemporarily, there has been burgeoning of interest in natural studies of cognition. Some scholars have argued for emphasizing the continuity of linking memory and other aspects of cognition. I think that Levine provides a middle ground that does capture even thinking of nonprofessionals.
Runfola & Crump (2005) reports Gordon’s Music Learning theory. According to them, Music Learning theory is a helpful tool for understanding the music development of children. In music theory, teachers have the ability to nature the musical growth of the children after carefully observing the children’s talents and characteristics. Gordon’s Music Learning theory treats music, not as a language but literature (p.52). Music becomes a subject of study, learned the same way as a language. Both music and literature originates from a period of exposure and moves to stage of bubble before emerging as a distinct form of communication (p.53). In addition, Gordon’s theory holds that the child is not born with a capacity to understand and to create music (p.54).
In Young’s article, Waiting around the corner: Playing with songs in early Childhood Practice, she posits that the adult led traditions of group song-singing in early years practice are so deeply embedded in conventions of practice that they are rarely questioned. However, early children practitioners examine the effectives of this method in the development of children’s talent (p.7). An approach that allows the germination of children’s musicality by allowing children to form their own music instead of adult led song singing would be helpful for children’s development. Young’s premise that children talent is best cultivated if they do it their own way. On the same note, Barret (2006), also documents that song making by children allows for the development of children’s creativity basing on what makes meaning to the children. The process of song making enables the children to develop identity, development of art, and the development of speech (p.3). Barret writes that “To profit from the early creative work, it is crucial that children’s musical agency as song makers and the unique processes and practices of children’s communities of musical practices are valued , celebrated, and fostered in early childhood settings” (p.19).
In the best selling Mind at a Time, Mel Levine reports that children’s learning is complex and varying depending on the nature of their brain. By using his abundance experience at the Children’s Hospital, and as an educator, Levine writes a book that targets a larger audience on children is learning strategies. The book uses the concept of objective observation that allows the children and parents to tell their stories. In addition to using observation, the book also employs a wide range of research available from writings of many people such as Howard’s concept of emotional intelligence, and many other conventional scholars. Levine describes the workings of the human brain, which he exploits to find a way of helping students learn better. In my view, the book accomplishes the original goal of providing a reroute for analyzing the mind development (p.15).
Conclusion
While learning the importance of education on children, it is important to realize that education is a way of knowing. Howard Gardner (1983) reported that educational intelligence is similar to other intelligences such as logical that encompass mathematical intelligence, linguistic intelligence, and other forms of intelligence. Scholars should realize that education should be treated as a basic skill such as walking, talking, or doing any other thing. I think that Young argues that it is in order for children to be subjected to the understanding on a personal basis. Children’s educational development should not be compromised by the adult’s values or taste. It should be left to germinate on its own without the interference of adults. While accepting the role of teachers in the development of infant’s educational aptitude, parents should be left behind in this important aspect of children’s life. As the primary influence in a child’s life, parents can do the following to insinuate the educational development of a child.
References
Gardener. H. (1983). Frames of Mind, New York: Basic Books.
Machado, J., & C., M. (2012). Early Childhood Experiences in Language Arts: Early Literacy. New York: Cengage Learning,
Ozmon, H & Samuel Craver.(2008) Philosophical Foundations of Education. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, Ohio.
Stip, L.John, Warren Hollister& Allen Dirrim. (1967). The Rise and Development of Western Civilization. John Wiley & Sons, Inc, New York.
Young, S. (2004a). Peer Review Paper: Waiting around the corner: Playing with songs in early childhood practice, University of Exeter.
Young, S. (2004b). Changing tune: Reconceptualizing music with under three year olds. University of Exeter, UK.
