UGC NET > Paper 1 > Teaching Aptitude > Introduction > Defining Education
Defining Education is not so easy. Etymologically, the word “Education” is derived from the Latin words “educare” and “educere”. Some others believe that the word has been derived from another Latin words “educatum” and”educo”.
- Educare: The term educare means “to nourish”, “to bring up”, “to raise”. So the meaning of the word “education” is to bring up children physically and mentally.
- Educere: The word educere implies “to draw out”, to lead out”, “to bring forth”. Hence, ‘Education’ means bringing forth or leading out the inner power of the child, that is, drawing out what is inside the child.
- Educatum: This word educatum means “to train”, “to teach”, which implies education is the act of training or teaching the child.
- Educo: Educo is considered to be the combination of ‘E’ and ‘duco’. Duco means “I lead” and E stands for “out of. Therefore, education means to draw out or lead out the internal power of man.
An analysis of these words reveal that education aims at providing a learner or a child a nourishing environment to bring out and develop the latent potentiality hidden inside him.
In India, the concept of education is traced back to the “Gurukula Parampara” which developed in ancient times. Basically, a Guru-Shishya or Teacher-Pupil tradition emphasized the education of the latter in ancient times. Two prominent words in Sanskrit namely, “Shiksha” and “Vidya” also stand out as equivalents of the term “Education”. The former has been derived from the root word “Shas” meaning “to discipline” or “to control”. The latter word is derived from the root word “Vid” which means “to know”. Therefore, ancient Indian education stressed emphasis on two major aspects in the education of an individual. These are discipline and knowledge. A learner must be disciplined and develop a curiosity to acquire new knowledge to lead a fruitful life.
Defining Education:
Dimension of Spiritual Development:
Right from the Vedic period, Indian’s spiritual thinkers have tried their best to propagating education as means of achieving spiritual goals. According to A. S. Altekar, education has always been regarded in India as a source of illumination and power which transforms and enables our nature which is essentially good and divine”.
- Upanishads: “Education is that whose end product is salvation (Mukti)”.
- Rig Veda: “Education is something which makes a man self-reliant and self-less”.
- Sankaracharya: “Education is the realization of the cosmic self”.
- Swami Vivekananda: “Education is the manifestation of perfection already in man”.
- Panini: “Education means the training which one gets from the nature”.
- Swamy Dayanand: “Education should develop in man those noble and divine qualities which enable him to tread the harsh path in the quest of truth”.
- Rabindranath Tagore: “Education means enabling the mind to find out that ultimate truth which emancipates us from the bondage of the dust and gives us the wealth, not of things but of inner light, not of power but of love, making this truth its own and giving expression to it”
- Sarvapally Radhakrishnan: “Education according to Indian tradition is not merely a means of earning a living; nor it is only a nursery of thought or a school for citizenship. It is initiation into the life of spirit and training of human souls in the pursuit of truth and the practice of virtue”.
All these definitions underline the presupposition that human beings are creation of God, the omni-present, omniscient and omnipotent. It is education whose role is to bring out the divinity already existing in man and help him to realise himself as well as lead him to achieve salvation.
Dimension of Human Potential Development:
The view of this category is that human being is the embodiment of rich inherent potentialities and it is the task of education to help him/her to develop, enhance and realise these potentialities. It believes that every child is capable of developing into a competent adult individual and innate potentialities are to be trapped within right from the birth and nurtured through his/ her growth and development for adulthood.
- Socrates: “Education means the bringing out of the ideas of universal validity which are latent in the mind of every man”.
- Plato: “Education is the capacity to feel pleasure and pain at the right moment. It develops in the body and in the soul of the pupil all the beauty and all the perfection which he is capable of’’.
- Aristotle: “Education is the creation of a sound mind in a sound body. It develops man’s faculty, especially his mind so that he may be able to enjoy the contemplation of supreme truth, goodness and beauty of which perfect happiness essentially consists.
- Rousseau: “Education of man commences at his birth; before he can speak, before he can understand he is already instructed. Experience is the forerunner of the perfect”.
- Froebel: “Education is enfoldment of what is already enfolded in the germ. It is the process through which the child makes the internal-external”.
- Pestalozzi: “Education is natural, harmonious and progressive development of man’s innate powers”.
- Froebel: “Education is enfoldment of what is already enfolded in the germ. It is the process through which the child draws out his internal potentialities. It is the cultivation of awareness, love and independence of the child”.
- J. F. Herbert: “Education is the development of good moral character”.
- T. P. Nunm: “Education is the complete development of child so that he can make an original contribution to human life according to the best of his capacity”.
- Aurobindo Ghosh: “Education is helping the growing soul to draw out that is in itself’’.
- Malcolm S. Forbes: “The purpose of education is to replace an empty mind with an open one”.
- Benjamin Franklin: “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn”.
- Mahatma Gandhi: “Education means an all-round drawing out of the best in child and man’s body, mind and spirit”.
- Rabindranath Tagore: “The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence”.
- Albert Einstein: “Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.”
- B. F. Skinner: “Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten”.
- UNESCO: “Education includes all the process that develops human ability and behaviour”
Dimension of Social Development:
According to some thinkers education is a means to achieve larger societal goals as it is a sub-system of the macro-societal system, hence education of an individual should emphasize his/her orientation to achieve the social goals.
- Kautilya: “Education means training for the country and love for the nation”.
- John Dewey: “Education is not a preparation for life, rather it is the living. Education is the process of living through a continuous reconstruction of experiences. It is the development of all those capacities in the individual which will enable him to control his environment and fulfil his possibilities. All education proceeds by the participation of the individual in the social consciousness of the race”.
- Nelson Mandela: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
- Horace Mann: “Education, then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of me, the balance-wheel of the social machinery”.
- The University Education Commission (1948-49): “Education should aim the preservation and enrichment of the democratic values of life such as justice, liberty, equality and fraternity”.
- The Kothari Commission (1964-66): “The progress of modernization will be directly related to the pace of educational advancement. And the one sure way to modernize is to spread education to produce educated and skilled citizens and to train an adequate and competent intelligentsia from all strata of society”.
- International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century, 1996: ‘The report states’ that “formal education must therefore provide enough time and opportunity in its programmes to introduce the young, from childhood to cooperative undertakings through participation in social activities such as neighbourhood renovation, helping the unprivileged, humanitarian work, inter-generational assistance, etc.”.
- A. P. J. Abdul Kalam: “Education is one that fosters capacities such as spirit of enquiry, creativity, entrepreneurial and moral leadership which are central to nation building in a democracy’’.
Narrower meaning of Education:
The aims of education in these contexts are measured in terms of degrees or certification or promotion. This is a narrow concept of education, which is confined only to a few specific, deliberate, and planned efforts that have a bearing on the development of the individual.
- T. Raymont: “In the narrower and more definite sense, Education does not include self-culture and the general influences of one’s surroundings, but only those special influences which are consciously brought to bear upon the young, by the adult portion of the community, whether through the family, the church or the state.”
- S. S. Mackanzy: “In narrow sense, education may be taken to mean any consciously directed effort to develop and cultivate our powers”.
Many educationists have criticized this narrower sense of education. They argue that emphasis on the knowledge is likely to reduce all schools to mere knowledge shops. The acquisition of knowledge is not the only or supreme aim of education, yet it is one of the important aims of education.
Broader meaning of Education:
In broader sense is the modification of behaviour and experiences from different means of sources of education. The broader view considers education as an act or experience that has formative or additive effect on the personality of an individual.
- Maria Montessori: “Education is a natural process carried out by a child and not acquired by listening words but by experiences in the environment”.
- Durnvile: “Education in its widest sense includes all the influences, which act upon an individual during his passage from cradle to the grave”.
- John Dewey: “Education, in its broadest sense, is the means of the social continuity”.
- S. S. Mackenzie: “In the wider sense, it is a process that goes on throughout life, and is promoted by almost every experience in life”.
Therefore, education means both the acquisition of knowledge and experience as well as development of skills, habits and attitudes, which help a person to lead a full and meaningful life in this world and to develop the wholesome personality.
Education as a Process:
Process is a deliberate and purposeful activity, which is carried out to attain the desired outcome or objective. Activities related to education are educative processes. It is a way of learning to the learner and instruction or guidance to the teacher. John Adam called education process as a bi-polar. In this process two poles are involved. One is the educator and other is the educand. Learner with a learned and the teacher with a taught. The resultant of this process between this two is education. Here one will teach and another will learn. The activities are interrelated and interdependent.
The modern concept of education defined the process of education and identified three important elements. These are: “Educand” or the child who is to be educated: the “educator” or the teacher who provides opportunities and organizes learning experiences for child education: and the “social setting” or socio-cultural influences or forces in the process of education is carried on.
- Redden: “Education is the deliberate and systematic influence, exerted by the matured person upon the immature through instruction, discipline and harmonious development of physical, intellectual, aesthetic, social and spiritual powers of the human being, according to individual and social needs and directed towards the union of the educand with his/her creator as the final end”.
Proponents of Important Concepts in Education and Teaching
| Proponent | Concept |
| Rabindranath Tagore | Learning must take place in nature and from nature. |
| Sri Aurobindo | Integral Education. |
| Rousseau | No formal learning; nature is the only teacher |
| Mahatma Gandhi | Basic education (Wardha Education System) |
| Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan | Focus on the spiritual aspects of Indian Philosophy |
| Frobel | Kindergarten focuses on self-activity, creativity, and social cooperation |
| J. Krishnamurti | Education to transform the human mind |
| John Dewey | Experiential learning |
| Maria Montessori | Self-education through the development of individual |
Conclusion:
Education is considered a fundamental human right and a cornerstone for achieving sustainable development, as it empowers individuals and communities, promotes equality, and drives economic growth. Defining education is multifaceted, encompassing various perspectives and dimensions. At its core, education is the systematic process of facilitating learning, acquiring knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and habits. It can occur in formal settings like schools and universities, as well as informal contexts such as home or through life experiences. Thus, we can conclude that education is the methodological and deliberate process of acquiring knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and habits through teaching, training, story-telling, discussion, or research.
The purpose of education is to empower individuals to think critically, solve problems, and engage in lifelong learning. It also aims to foster social and emotional development, cultural understanding, and civic responsibility. Education is both a personal journey and a societal imperative, essential for personal growth, economic development, and social cohesion.
In conclusion, education is a dynamic and ongoing process that shapes individuals and societies, equipping people with the tools necessary to navigate and contribute to an ever-changing world.