Function of education Classification of function of education; A.

Function toward individual: There are three categories of function of education towards individual. These are; 1. Education as growth Every child is immature at birth. He/she becomes mature when he/she go through a deliberate education. F a child is not guided deliberately he may not grow. Nature alone does not have contribution for the growth of the child. For instanc3e if we leave a fertile land to nature it may not yield product. With out plowing, it will produce weeds and thistles. When we say growth it is not only physical growth. It should be holistic i.e. mental, physical, spiritual, social, e.t.c. It should be all rounded. There should be an integrated growth. For this the teacher is responsible. It should be the same as the gardener who does everything to his garden. 2. Education as direction Direction is fixation of activity in a proper response by elimination of unnecessary and confusing movement. It is guiding to a proper goal and guiding to perfection in light. How do we achieve direction to our student? This is through;  Direct control- It is physical and temporary. We ask the child to do some thing by threat and it may lead to undesirable result. It is effective for short time and useless if used frequently.  Personal guidance- It is permanent and involve actual participation of the learner.

3. Preparation of child for responsibility of adult life This is a chief function of education. Children of today are an adult of tomorrow. Education is important to fit the young to fit for coping with the future. B. Function towards society : There are two functions of education to ward society. These are; 1. Socialization Education has a social function. Human beings live in the society and work for a society. Human dev t comes from the society. Individual learn experiences from their ancestors through socialization . Individual learn from their env t. At ancient time there was no formal education so that individual learn from env t. In modern time every thing is complicated. Technology is advanced so that individual learn more formally. Hence, formal education takes the great role in education. 2. Reconstruction of experience Child growth continues throughout life. The same is true for education. Every thing needs modification and this can be achieved through education. The old need to be modified so that it can be integrated with new. C. Function toward nation: There are three function of education towards nation. These are; 1. Inculcation of civic and social responsibility It is duties and responsibilities of an individual in building generation. Education serves to show an individual the rising generation and the direction of individual towards nation. 2. Training for leadership People who carried out responsibilities in social, religious, and political systems are trained.

3. Emotional integration In Ethiopia there are d/t cultures. It is a nation of diversified cultures. Education plays a great role to bring unity and integration .

Aims of education What education should do? 1. Personal dev t- including intellectual and spiritual dev t. 2. Vocational preparation- in terms of necessary practical skills and character qualities. 3. Social training- in which young people are initiated in to societal service at local and national level. A society said to be socially efficient if it fulfills the following criteria;  Physically strong  Intellectually enlightened  Economically self sufficient  Morally well disciplined Philosophy and principle of education There are d/t philosophy of education according to d/t Learning/education theories. Learning theories have their roots in philosophy and psychology. Philosophy- is that careful, critical, systematic work of the intellect in the formulation of beliefs, with the aim of making them represent the highest degree of probability in face of the fact that adequate data are not obtainable for strictly demonstrable conclusions. Philosophies- are organized belief systems based on reasoned judgment and logic, which provide a framework for understanding the human race and the universe. Some of the question addressed by philosophers are: what is the origin of knowledge? What does to know mean?

Philosophy of education , in most general senses, it is the application of philosophy and the method of philosophy to problems of education.

According to symposium organized by UNESCO from 27November to 2 December 1989 at Beijing, the following philosophy of education for the 21st century; 1. A new view of knowledge. 2. A greater integration of knowledge. 3. A renewed commitment to life long learning. 4. A commitment tom the goal that education must be for all not just for some. 5. A commitment for learning how to learn and to develop love for learning in order to provide the basic building blocks for life long learning. 6. A third passport of learning, namely the enterprise pass port. 7. An emphasis on principal dev t of self awareness, esteem and confidence, in order to deal with a rapidly changing world. 8. A commitment to cooperate globalization. Philosophical roots 1. Idealism According to Plato, one of the ancient idealist s Greek philosopher, mind or spirit is basic to every thing. Human knowledge, then is derived from the ideas existed in the mind since birth. Learning is a process of developing these innate or inborn ideas by turning the mind s aye in ward. Plato recommended the study of mathematics and the classic to develop the mind; a concept, which come to be known as mental discipline . What is knowledge ? It is more than sensual perception. It is more than purely mental; It is an interaction b/n the perceiver and the perceived under the guidance of the mind. Reality, or truth, is the result. Truth cannot be attained by senses, but by reason alone. What has true being is the essence of a thing.

The existence of essence is a proof of immortality. Men do not come in to the world with a clear knowledge of the essences. They understand thus things b/c the soul pre-existed and knew the essences b/4 in some transcendental realm. The essence is not a physical or personal experience. It is a conception of some thing that revels its truth or ideal . Chief assertion of idealism; Idealism believes in the universal mind: According to this school of thought, besides the physical or material universe, there is also a spiritual universe, which is permeated by the universal mind God. He is the creator while the rest is the created. Human mind is the part of the universal mind and is dependent on him. God or the universal mind is the source of all human values and the goal of all human activities is the realization off this universal mind in ones own self. Idealism regards man as a spiritual being: Mind or sprit is the essential world stuff and that mind is not merely brain and its activity, but is in itself a real thing. Reality is found in the mind of man and not in the external world. The world of ideas and values is more important than the world of matter. Idealism has full faith in eternal values which never change. They can neither be created nor destroyed. Real knowledge is perceived in mind: The knowledge, which is gained through the activity and creativity of mind, is more important than the knowledge, acquired through sense; innate ideas form the only secure basis for knowledge. Idealist school in education is represented by Plato, Descartes, Comenius, Kant, Pestalozzi, Hegel, Froebel, Tagore, and Gandhi.

2. Realism/Naturalism In contrast, Aristotle, a pupil of Plato believed that reality exist in the physical world, not in the mind conception of it. He believed that universal laws or ideas are not innate but are r/ships observed in nature. Learning then comes from organizing and structuring the sensory experience received from outside world. Different forms on Realism/Naturalism;  Physical naturalism: Reality does not exist with in the individual. It is rather outside him, in the natural universe.  Mechanical naturalism: There is a sprit or soul. Only matter is everything. Mind is also matter, which is made up of atoms, empty space and motion. Matter keeps on moving and changing and the laws of physical science govern this change.  Biological naturalism: Explains mans in terms of the lower forms of life from which is evolved, man s natural property such as emotional & temperaments are the real spring of the behavior. If our behavior is according to our instinct, we feel happy, if not, we feel unhappy,& disappointed. Education, therefore, should try to sublimate thus natural impulses for socially desirable ends. Some of the prominent naturalists include Aristotle, Spencer, Bacon, Bernard Shaw, Rousseau, & Darwin. 3.Rationalism  Descartes, a 17th century mathematician and philosopher, further developed a plattos concept of innate knowledge. He maintained that individual develop knowledge through the process of deductive reasoning from a few basic ideas. Descartes believed that doubt in all things including his own existence lead to the discovery of truth. Up on this truth, other truths could be built. The first truth was that he himself was thinking. Therefore he must exist. C

Cogito ergo sum= I think, therefore I am . He outlined four rules: Never accept anything except clear & distinct ideas. Devide each problem in to as many parts as are needed to solve it. Order your thought from the simple to the complex. Always check thoroughly for oversight. 4. Empiricism Empiricism, based on Aristotle s realism, was introduced by Thomas Hobbes and formally developed by philosopher john Loke. Loke believed that the mind at birth was a blank Slate . Ideas, the building blocks of the mind, were develop through two types of experience sensation (acquisition of information through the senses ) and reflection (combining simple ideas). These contrasting philosophies led to the nature/ nurture debate about human intelligence. That is, is intelligence an inborn trait or does it develops through experience with the env t? The debate finally subsided in the 1950 s with the consensus that both heredity and env t are important to intellectual dev t with more emphasis on the latter one. Psychological root 1. Scientific Empiricism From 400 B.C. to the late 19th century, philosophy served as the primary source of information about the human mind. Although scientific methods were used to investigate the physical world and natural events, research on the mind was considered the violation of the gift of God. This view point changed with publication of Darwin s origin of species and the rise of scientific empiricism. Herman Von Helmholtz a medical doctor, scientist, and philosopher, refuted Descartes' arguments that knowledge is innate, and argued for the accumulation of facts through carefully designed experiments. He wrote a text book on the function of human eye and invented the ophthalmoscope.

2. Pragmatism The term pragmatism is derived from a Greek word, meaning active and efficient . In ordinary language, it means a matter of fact treatments of things, based solely on their practical utility. It is the element of utility that has the greatest appeal for pragmatist. For pragmatist what ever useful is good and what ever good is useful. A pragmatist lives in the world of facts and not in a world of ideas. Utility is truth and truth is utility. In other words, pragmatism believes in practical and utilitarian philosophy. Values are not fixed in advance. They are man made. In other words of John Dewey, values are as unstable as the forms of clouds . They keep on changing from time to time and reality is still in the process of making. Men naturally devote themselves to the present conditions rather than in remote. Important principle of pragmatism; No ultimate values: no fixed values for all times to come. There is nothing like absolute truth. Truth is that which gives satisfactory results when put in practice. Emphasis on experimentation: Stands for testing every statement by finding out its practical implications. No judgment is possible b/4 and experiment is tested by experiences. Belief in practical philosophy: True philosophy is one that helps in the solution of pracrical problems of life. Human dev t according to env t: Pragmatism believes that growth of human personality takes place b/c of interaction with the env t. Faith in democracy: A democratic social order is considered essential for the healthy growth of individauls.

a. b. c. d. e.

f. Revolt against traditionalism: Pragmatism believes that reality is the making. Truth is that which works in practical situation what ever fulfills one s purpose and develops his life is true. Pragmatism is not in favor for fixing curriculum in advance. Only an outline of activities may be kept in view in the beginning and a curriculum be evolved according to the requirement of the situations. Thus, It will be flexible and changing curriculum. While deciding it, the nature of the student and multiple activities of life must be taken into consideration. Its curriculum is utilitarian which gives as much knowledge and skills to the student, he/she requires for present and future life. Instead of dividing knowledge into various subject fields, integrated knowledge , round various problems of life is preferred. Methodology is based on learning by doing rather than teaching or imparting knowledge. The chief function of a pragmatic teacher is to create life situation in which some problems may emerge and the student be interested in the solution of those problems. Eclectic tendency in education From the above discussion on the d/t schools of philosophy, we can understand that no school exclusively meets the entire requirements of varied situations. It is there fore, that no systems of education can be exclusively based on a particular school of philosophy, whether idealism, naturalism, or pragmatism. In other words, no education is exclusively idealist, naturalist, or pragmatist. For modern education, it has been found beneficial and effective to study the d/t school of philosophy. They have been rearranged and related to the essential principles to bring about one harmonious whole. This theory of education is known as Eclectic tendency in education. It is the fusion of or synthesis of d/t philosophies of education.

Reason for Eclectic tendency No philosophy is complete in itself. It can not be applied successfully in all situations. There fore the task is to find unity in diversity, using an eclectic approach. It is not safe to stick only to one philosophy The world is continuously changing. Values of life are also changing with living conditions. Remember that based on this philosophy, each school of thought has its own philosophical aims of education, curriculum approach, and methods of teaching in education. (Refer more on these areas.)