Education has always been a topic of great debate around the world. It has been proven on numerous occasions that what a person learns is different from one person to the next yet this has not stopped the world of opening and continuing “formal” education centers in every country.
The French film entitled “The Class” covers this topic and many others in regards to the system of education. While the concept of a caring teacher for a group of troubling students is probably one of the most used clichés in the genre of drama in film, the movie still manages to pull it off with a mix of realism, humanism and optimism
The film covered a great amount of social and educational issues which was presented in the varying forms of communication between the characters and their shifting relationships. One such issue was presented in the tattoo of a character named Souleymane which read “If your words are less important than silence, keep quiet.” This can be interpreted in a number of ways.
For instance, it can be related to the fact that the character barely participates in class; it can also be relation to how he grew up. While the issue is one that can be talked about intensively, it is however, not an educational issue but rather, a social one.
As such, the main educational issue that I wish to address is the priority given to both formal and informal education. The film was set only inside the school, true, but most of the methods used by the main character (Francois Marin) were unorthodox at best and possibly unhelpful at worst. This can be seen when the students begin to question his methods .
The questions being asked in the film were varied, but one that really hit the spot was the question of why must a child get formal education when it is rarely used in real life. This is a question that every student has asked himself or herself at one point in their lives. From experience, I have found that formal education is merely a social “proof” to the world; a way of getting the world to take you seriously.
Most of what a person truly learns and uses can be found outside the classroom. While this is true, the classroom (and the academe in general) has proven time and again to improve the lot of life for humanity in general. While the tools for survival can be learned informally, a formal educational institution is a place where people of the same mind can come together to answer a question that has been plaguing them for a long time. This is especially true in higher educational institutions such as colleges and universities, or at least that is what I have observed.
Yes, there are different ways that a person learns, but these theories would not have been formulated had the person not gone through formal education. So yes, a diploma is a social proof, it is a way of showing the world to take you seriously, but it is not just that. The role an institution plays in the lives of its students is vast. Take for instance, college.
In the words of the philosopher and writer Robert Heinlein, man is supposed to be able to do many things. “Specialization is for insects” as he puts it in his novel “Time enough for love” . He had a point when he wrote it. Man assumes that it is the dominant species of the planet, yet we quake easily when faced with an intellectual problem. This is the main reason why formal education is tedious. It makes us pass through steps that, while we may not use in the future, we still have to go through it to be considered an education human.
Informal education in turn also has its merits and demerits. Speaking from experience, the main advantage of an informal education is the fact that you can learn at a faster pace and use a different method than the one established if the current method does not suit the learning process of a person. The disadvantages lie in the fact that a person undergoing informal education may not be receiving the same amount of education as other people of his age group.
For example, extracurricular activities can be considered informal education in a formal institution. These organizations ten to teach more than just, say, acting (if the organization is a theatrical one), it also teaches a student to think fast on their feet, adapt to changing circumstances, how to be a leader and how to face an audience.
Using the same example organization (a theatrical one), a person will learn how to speak to an audience, which can be applied in different fields, but he or she may not know the correct terms or the correct meaning of the terms he or she studied. To be more clear, informal education runs the risk of teaching a person how to do something, but not why it works as such.
The film was able to highlight this in the discussions and debates that they had while inside the classroom, but from personal experience, can and must exist side-by-side. Formal education gives everyone the opportunity to learn while still looking for that one subject they wish to dedicate their lives to. While informal education will help a person learn the things he or she wants to and the things a person needs to learn to survive.
Furthermore, informal education also shows just how far a person is willing to learn without the need for something or someone to push them into a situation which gives them the chance to study. In turn, formal education will continuously give birth to institutions where knowledge and the continuous addition of new information, and the preservation of old information is kept and will be readily available to those who wish to expand their stock of knowledge.
In the end, it does not matter which type of learning process one prefers, a person will still have to go through one or the other and the main idea of it is not the process, but the fact that a person learns.
\
Works Cited
Bradshaw, Peter. The Class. 27 February 2009. 20 May 2013.
Film Education. The CLass. 2009. 20 May 2013.
Heinlein, Robert A. Time Enough for Love. G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1973.
