The ManicaPost
Shelton Mwanyisa
Emerging Issues in Education
OUT of the growing misconceptions held by some youths that education may no longer be important, I am compelled to write on the importance of education to the individual and the society at large.
I usually recall the encouragement I got from my teachers and grandparents on the importance of being educated and my heart bleeds when some regard education as worthless.
It is important to differentiate between being educated and being certificated for one to appreciate the value of education.
I found it worthwhile to first share a 1980s popular kindergarten song that contained the following lyrics: Hande kuchikoro, kana warambidzwa, unofa wakadaro, usina kudzidza. Mabvudzi kudai, dundundu setara, unofa wakadaro! Usina kudzidza!
Welcome to the Emerging Issues in Education column, this week I thought it wise to encourage those who have given up on education by addressing the significance of education.
Employment
The most common reason for being educated is to get a job.
However, society has changed drastically and getting a job might not be as easy as one would expect.
This does not discredit the fact that education remains a great link to employment.
Education has a great economic importance, especially in the modern, complex societies.
Philosophers of all periods, beginning with ancient stages, devoted to it a great deal of attention.
Education gives skills that are required by the economy and any form of employment demands certain levels of education.
Organisations are always advertising for posts in newspapers and other platforms, which is evidence that education plays a huge part in opening up opportunities.
Entrepreneurship skills
There is no doubt the majority of Small and Medium Enterprises that are employing the majority of the workers in the country are owned by local entrepreneurs.
Education provides the individual with skills to start their own business.
Students who have completed the Diploma in Education programmes have taken heed of Government’s call to start their own schools.
There is no doubt that private schools and ECD centres require specific skills in order to be registered and recognised.
Education has a practical value and helps individuals earn a living.
Education prepares the youths to play a productive role in society.
Accordingly, great emphasis has been placed on vocational training.
This partly explains why there has been a shift from Education 3.0 to Education 5.0 which seeks to equip students with skills to fit and function in the modern society.
A certificated person can fail in life while an educated person can be very successful.
That is the essence of Education 5.0.
Literacy and numeracy skills
Society is becoming more sophisticated day by day as we are gradually consumed by technology.
Education equips the individual with basic reading and writing skills which are essential in places such as banks, hospitals and other public places.
I have often found young men and women struggling to complete very simple forms such as passport application forms and banking slips.
Also think of online application programs!
Completing the socialisation process
An educated individual interacts with others in a civilised manner.
The main social objective of education is to complete the socialisation process.
The family gets the child, but the modern family tends to leave much undone in the socialisation process.
The school and other institutions have come to complete the socialisation process.
An ability to function appropriately in various social settings is not only a benefit to the individual but to society as a whole.
It is the business of education institutions to train the whole child in honesty, fair play, consideration for others and a sense of right and wrong.
Upholding the law
In law it is often said ignorance has no defence.
The school devotes much of its time and energy to matters such as co-operation, good citizenship, doing one’s duty and upholding the law.
Directly through textbooks and indirectly through celebration of programmes, patriotic sentiments are instilled.
The nation’s past is glorified, its legendary heroes respected, and its military ventures justified.
The school instils co-operative values through civic and patriotic exhortation or advice.
Heritage preservation
All societies maintain themselves by exploitation of a culture. Culture refers to a set of beliefs and skills, art, literature, philosophy, religion, music, etcetera, which are not carried through the mechanism of heredity.
They must be learned.
A society without the knowledge of its past is at risk of repeating its past mistakes.
It therefore should be noted that education is the custodian of our culture and individuals should pass through the process.
This social heritage (culture) must be transmitted through social organisations.
Education has this function of cultural transmission in all societies.
Formation of personality
Individuals must have personalities shaped or fashioned in ways that fit into the culture.
Education everywhere has the function of the formation of social personalities.
Education helps in transmitting culture through proper moulding of social personalities.
Reformation of attitudes
In a society were prejudices, stereotypes and misconceptions affect the attainment of equity and equality, education becomes the panacea to the social attitudinal problems.
Education aims at the reformation of attitudes wrongly developed by children.
For various reasons, the child may have absorbed a host of attitudes, beliefs, loyalties and prejudices, jealously and hatred, etc, these need to be reformed.
With or without high level school or university certificates, we all need to live together in peace, love and harmony wherever we are with our families.
It is the function of education to see that unfounded beliefs, illogical prejudices and unreasoned loyalties are removed from the child’s mind.
Although the school has its own limitations in this regard, it is expected to continue its efforts in reforming the attitudes of the child.
Education acts as an integrative force
Education acts as integrative force in society by communicating values that unites different sections of society.
The family may fail to provide the child the essential knowledge of the social skills and values of the wider society.
The school or the educational institutions can help the child to learn new skills and learn to interact with people of different social backgrounds.
Conferring of status
Conferring of status is one of the most important functions of education.
The amount of education one has is correlated with his class position.
Education is related to one’s position in the stratification structure.
An evaluation of one’s status is partially decided by what kind of education one has received and many of the other important criteria of class position such as occupation, income and style of life are partially the result of the type and amount of education one has.
Fostering democracy
Education fosters participant democracy.
Participant democracy in any large and complex society depends on literacy.
Literacy allows full participation of the people in democratic processes.
Literacy is a product of education.
The curriculum of the school, its extracurricular activities and the informal relationships amongst students and teachers communicate social skills and values.
Through various activities, a school imparts values such as co-operation, obedience and fair play.
This is also done through lessons in history and literature.
If by any chance anyone had been discouraged in pursuing their educational goals, it is time to reconsider.
We cannot function properly without education.
