What Is Education?

SEEKING A VOICE IN SOCIETY

“What is Education?” This is one of the critical questions in y mind. Most of us have asked this question. There are also too many questions to that “question marks”. When I ask “What is Education?” instead of its answers, other difficult questions come to my mind : “What is the goal of Education?” , “Why is Education so important?”, “What are the right methods and programs for Education?”, vice versa…I want to find my answers with the help of this course. In order not to lose time, I have started to search the keys by writing this reflection.

“Education” is a general term. It has also a lot of subtitles such as; primary education, secondary education, math education, science education, etc. If you start to think with subtitles, the term education can be seen more complex. For that reason, firstly we should understand the general meaning of “education”. Later on, math education, science education or other kinds of education can be understood easily.

Another important fact is that education should be separated from other social institutes like economy, politics, art and so on. Society is a whole like a big tree. Economy is the root of the tree and education, politics, art, religion, language, culture and the other institutes are the branches of that tree. I want to emphasize the importance of education among these branches.

Combined with the so-called macroeconomic policies, education is fundamental for the globally competitive economies and democratic societies. Education is a key for creating, applying, and spreading new ideas and technologies which are in turn critical for sustained growth. That is, it augments cognitive and other skills, which in turn increase labor productivity. The expansion of educational opportunity is a “win-win” strategy that is far easier in most societies than the redistribution of other assets such as land or capital. Ultimately, education builds- what Amartya Sen (1999) calls “human capabilities”- the essential and individual power to reflect, make choices, seek a voice in society and enjoy a better life. In short, education is one of the most powerful instruments known for reducting poverty and inequality and for laying the basis for sustained economic growth, sound governance, and effective institutions.

Because of the importance given to education by governments, educators, educational researchers, psychologists, and philosophers various approaches and methods are studied. We can categorize these approaches into two parts: Traditional, teacher- centered and modern, student-centered education.

Over the past century, the two basic educational approaches-teacher-centered and student-centered- have been proposed, practiced, and discussed under a variety of labels.

John Dewey used the terms “progressive” and “new education” to contrast his recommended approaches with the traditional, old education. In the “School and Society (1900)”, Dewey gives us perhaps the most vivid distinctions beetween them.

According to Dewey, “simply studying lessons out of a book is only another kind of listening; it marks the dependency of one mind upon another” (Dewey,1900,p.31)

Dewey states that this distinction “tells the story of the traditional education”-ugly desks crowded together, as little moving room as possible, and only the educational activities that can possibly go on in such a place, namely, studying lessons out of a book.

In the traditional schools, he observed,there is little space for the child to work, “create, and actively inquire.”

Another important