MEANING, AIMS AND PROCESS OF EDUCATION

In general speaking, ‘Education’ is utilized in three senses: Knowledge, Process and Subject.When a person achieves degree up to certain level we do not call it education. As example as if a person has obtained Master’s degree then use education as a very narrow sense and call the person has attained education up to Master level. In the second sense, education is utilized in a sense of discipline. As for example if a person had taken education as a paper or as a discipline during his study in any institution then we utilize education as a subject. In the third sense, education is used as a process. In actual fact when we talk of education, we talk in the third sense that is education as a process.

By going through the text you will be able

• To make out the meaning and concept of education

• To classify the narrower and wider meaning of education

• To describe the analytical meaning of education

• To know the aims and scope of education

Etymological Meaning of Education

In English the term “Education” has been derived from two Latin word Educare (Educere) and Educatum. “Educare” means to train. It again means to bring up or to lead out or to draw out, propulsion from inward to outward. The term “Educatum” denotes the act of teaching. It throws light on the principles and practice of teaching. The term Educare or Educere mainly indicates development of the latent faculties of the child. But child does not know these possibilities. It is the teacher or the educator who can know these and take appropriate methods to develop those powers.

If we mention certain definitions of education of great educators of the East and the West, we may have a clear picture of the nature and meaning of the term education.

According to Swami Vivekananda:

Education is the manifestation of perfection already in man. Like fire in a piece of flint, knowledge Exists in the mind. Suggestion is the friction; that brings out.

Mahatma Gandhi said:
By education, I mean an all-round drawing on the best in children and the body, the human mind and spirit

Rabindranath Tagore opinion about Education:

The highest education is that which does not only give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence.

Rigveda opinion about Education:

Education is something, which makes it an autonomous man and self- less.

Upanishada opinion about Education:

Education is one whose end product is salvation.

Plato’s point of view:

Education develops in the body and soul of the student all the beauty and all the perfection of which he is capable.

Aristotle defines Education as:

Education is the creation of healthy mind in a healthy body. He develops the faculty of man especially his mind so that he can be able to enjoy the contemplation of the supreme truth, goodness and beauty.

Rousseau’s point:

Education is the development of the interior of the child.

Froebel shares his idea about Education as:

Education is enfoldment what is already wrapped in the germ. It is the process by which the child is the internal-external.

Pestalozzi’s thought about Education:

Education is the harmonious and progressive development of all the powers and faculties of physical mandate, intellectual and innate morality.

J.F.Herbert shares his thinking about Education:

Education is the development of good character.

John Dewey writes in his book to clarify the Education as:

Education is not a preparation for life, but rather life. Education is the process of life through continuous reconstitution experiments. It is the development of all the capabilities of the individual who will allow him to control his environment and fulfill its possibilities.

T.P.Nunn thought about Education:

Education is the complete development of the child's individuality so that it can make an original contribution to human life to the best of its ability.

From all above discussion it is now clear that since the times of Plato to the modern times of John Dewey and Gandhi, various educationists have cleared education in different ways. Speaking frankly, the field of education is so vast and varied that to give an exact definition of education about which all educationists agree is very difficult. We sew that some educationists have defined only one feature of education whereas the others emphasize its other phases. The reason of this difference of opinions is that different educationists, most of whom are philosophers, have different outlooks about the aim of life. According to Idealists, the aim of life is spiritual development. As such, they regard education as a spiritual process, which aims at bringing together the soul and the creator leading to self-realization. Pragmatists think about education as a process of social progress. Because of this difference in the philosophy of life, different educationists define education differently. The fact is that the real concept of education is not related solely to any of the above mentioned views. It is more than either of them. In a real logic, education is a kind of synthesis of all the above viewpoints. In this sense, education includes the individuals, the environment,  the society, the social fabric and the prevailing customs. Hence, the definition of education ought to be a very comprehensive and all-inclusive one.