Meaning of Education, Definition, Aims, Functions, and Principles PDF

1 2 3 4  Meaning of Education, Definition, Aims, Functions and Principles ►MEANING, NATURE AND AIMS OF EDUCATION Education is a systematic process through which a child or an adult acquires knowledge, experience, skill and sound attitude. It makes an indi...

1 2 3 4  Meaning of Education, Definition, Aims, Functions and Principles ►MEANING, NATURE AND AIMS OF EDUCATION Education is a systematic process through which a child or an adult acquires knowledge, experience, skill and sound attitude. It makes an individual civilized, refined, cultured and educated. For a civilized and socialized society, education is the only means. Its goal is to make an individual perfect. Every society gives importance to education because it is a panacea for all evils. It is the key to solve the various problems of life. Education has been described as a process of waking up to life:  Waking up to life and its mysteries, its solvable problems and the ways to solve the problems, and celebrate the mysteries of life.  Waking up to the interdependencies of all things, to the threat to the global village, to the power within the human race to create alternatives, to the obstacles entrenched in economic, social and political structures that prevent the waking up.  Education in the broadest sense of the term is meant to aid the human being in his/her pursuit of wholeness. Wholeness implies the harmonious development of all the potentialities God has given to a human person. 5   True education is the harmonious development of the physical, mental, moral (spiritual), and social faculties, the four dimensions of life, for a life of dedicated service. ►ETYMOLOGICAL MEANING OF EDUCATION Etymologically, the word ‘education’ has been derived from different Latin words: 1. ‘Educare’, which means ‘to bring out’ or ‘to nourish’. 2. ‘Educere’, which means ‘to lead out’ or ‘to draw out’. 3. ‘Educatum’, which means ‘act of teaching’ or ‘training’. 4. ‘Educatus’, which means ‘to bring up, rear, educate’. 5. ‘Educatio’, which means ‘a breeding, a bringing up, a rearing.’ The Greek word ‘pedagogy’ is sometimes used for education. The most common Indian word ‘shiksha’ is derived from the Sanskrit verbal root ‘shas,’ which means ‘to discipline’, ‘to control’, ‘to instruct’ and ‘to teach’. Similarly the word ‘vidya’ is derived from Sanskrit verbal root ‘vid’, which means ‘to know’. Vidya is thus the subject matter of knowledge. This shows that disciplining the mind and imparting knowledge where the foremost considerations in India. Back in the 1,500s, the word education meant ‘the raising of children’, but it also meant ‘the training of animals.’ While there are probably a few 6 teachers who feel similar to animal trainers, education these days has come to mean either ‘teaching’ or ‘the process of acquiring knowledge.’ ►DEFINITIONS Since time immemorial, education is estimated as the right road to progress and prosperity. Different educationists’ thoughts from both Eastern and Western side have explained the term education’ according to the need of the hour. Various educationists have given their views on education. Some important definitions are: 1. ‘By education I mean an all-round drawing out of the best in man—body, mind and spirit.’ — Mahatma Gandhi 2. ‘Education enables the mind to find out the ultimate truth, which gives us the wealth of inner light and love. and gives significance to life.’ — Rabindranath Tagore 3. ‘Education is the process of the individual mind, getting to its full possible development.’ — Dr. Zakir Hussain 4. ‘Education is the manifestation of divine perfection already existing in man.’ — Swami Vivekananda 7  5. ‘Education is the creation of sound mind in a sound body.’ — Aristotle 6. ‘Education is the child's development from within.’ — Rousseau 7. ‘Education is complete living.’ — Herbert Spencer 8. ‘Education is the capacity to feel pleasure and pain at the right moment.’ — Plato 9. ‘Education is the creation of a sound mind in a sound body.’ — Aristotle 10. ‘Education is natural, harmonious and progressive development of man's innate powers.’ — Pestalozzi 11. ‘Education is enfoldment of what is already enfolded in the germ.’ — Froebel 12. ‘Education is the complete development of the individuality of the child.’ — TP Nunn 8  13. ‘Education is the process of living through a continuous reconstruction of experiences.’ — John Dewey 14. ‘Education is a liberating force and in our age it is also a democratizing force, cutting across the barriers of caste and class, smoothing out inequalities imposed by birth and other circumstances.’ — Indira Gandhi 15. John Locke said, ‘Plants are developed by cultivation and men by education’. This world would have been enveloped in intellectual darkness if it had not been illuminated by the light of education. It is right to say that the story of civilization is the story of education. Thus, education is an integral part of human life. It is the basic condition for a development of a whole man and vital instrument for accelerating the well-being and prosperity by the light of education. 9 10 11 12