The concept of education

1. Western University Cultural Studies202
Department of English Academic Year 2019-2020
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Cultural Studies Homework
Topic: Concept of Education
Instructor: Ly Phyrith
Name: Pet Bunthorng
Introduction: What is education?
Unit1: Education
Education is the process by which people acquire knowledge, skills, habits, values, attitudes.
The word Education is also use to describe the results of the educational process. Education should
make people become members of the society. It should also help them develop an appreciation of
their culture heritage and live more satisfying lives. The most common way to get education is to
attend school. But much education also takes place outside the classroom.
Education involves both learning and teaching. Sometimes, people learn by teaching
themselves. But they also learn with the help of other people, such as parents or teachers. Parents
are a child’s first and perhaps the most important instructors. They teach their children attitudes,
habits and values that help sharp their character and remain with them throughout life. But, most
parents have neither the time nor the ability to teach their children everything they need to know.
Teachers and schools have the chief responsibility for education. The organized instruction
they provide is called formal education. Learning that results from less organized instruction are
called informal education.
The word Education is derived from Educare (Latin) “bring up”, which is related to Educere
“bring out”, “bring forth what is within”, “bring out potential” and ducere, “lead”.
Teacher in educational institutions direct the education of students and might draw on many
subjects, including reading, writing, mathematics science and history. There is also education in
field for those who want specific vocational skills, such as those required to be a pilot.
1. Systems of formal Education
Education is the process by which people learn:
• Instruction refers to the facilitating of learning, usually by teachers.
• Teaching refers to the actions of a real live instructor to impart learning to the
students
• Learning refers to learning with a view toward preparing learners with specific
knowledge, skills, or abilities that can applied immediately upon completion.
a. Preschool education
Preschool education or Infant education is an early childhood program in which
children combine learning with play in the program run by professionally trained adults.
Children almost commonly enrolled in preschool between the ages of three and five, though
those as young as two can attend some school. Preschool are different from traditional day
care in that their emphasis is learning and development rather than enabling parents to
works or pursue other activities.
In British English, nursery school or simply “nursery” or playgroup is the usual term for
preschool education, although the term preschool is also commonly used.
The framework includes structural (administration, class size, teacher-child ratio, services,
etc.), process (quality of classroom environments, teacher-child interactions, etc.), and
alignment (standard, curriculum, assessments) components that are associated with each
individual unique child that has both social and academic outcomes.

2. Western University Cultural Studies202
Department of English Academic Year 2019-2020
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i. Developmental areas
The areas of development which preschool education covers varies from country to
country. However, the following main themes are represented in the majority of systems.
• Personal, social, economical, and emotional development
• Communication, including sign language, talking and listening
• Knowledge and understanding of the world
• Creative and aesthetic development
• Educational software
• Mathematical awareness and development
• Physical development
• Playing
• Self-helps skills
• Social skills
ii. Age and importance
Preschool is generally considered appropriate for children between zero or three and
and five years of age, between the baby and toddlers and stages.
The environment of young child influences the development of cognitive skills and
emotional skills due to the rapid brain growth that occurs in the early years. Studies that
shown high quality preschool have a short and long term effect in improving outcomes of a
child, especially a disadvantaged child. However, some more recent studies dispute the
accuracy of the earlier results which cited benefits to preschool education, and actually point
at preschool being detrimental to a child’s cognitive and social development.
iii. Gratuity
The gratuity of infant education has been established in some countries, as Spain,
beginning in the second cycle (from three to six years), but extending to the first cycle (from
birth to three years).
iv. History of preschool in the United State
Head start, the first publicly founded preschool program, was create in 1965 by
president Johnson. Head start began as a summer pilot program that included an education
component, nutrition and health screenings for children, and support services for families
(CPE, 2007). In the 1960s only ten percent of nations three and four year olds were enrolled
classroom setting. By 2005 sixty- nine percent, or over 800,000, four year old children
nationwide participated in some type of state preschool program (CPE, 2007). The yearly
increase in enrollment of preschool program throughout the year is due to the increase of
high maternal employment rates, nation anti- poverty initiatives, and research showing the
link between early childhood experiences and brain development of young children.
In most states, there are multiple preschool or Pre-K options for young children.
Parents have the choice of sending their child to a federally funded Head Start program.
v. Methods of Preschool Systems
Some preschool have adopted specialized methods of teaching, such as Montessori,
Waldorf, Head Start, HighReach Learning, High Scope, The creative Curriculum, Reggio
Emilia approach, Bank Street, Forest Kindergartens, and various pedagogies which
contribute to the foundation of education.

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Department of English Academic Year 2019-2020
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Creative curriculum has an interactive website where parents and teachers can work
together in evaluating preschool age children.
The international Preschool Curriculum adopted a bilingual approach to teaching and
offers a curriculum that embraces international standards and recognizes national
requirements for preschool education.
vi. Funding for Preschool Program
The benefits and challenges of a public preschool are closely tied to the amount of
funding provided. Funding for public preschool can come in a variety of sources.
According to Levin and Schwartz (2007) funding can range from federal, state, local
public allocations, private sources and parental fee. The problem of funding a public
school occurs not only from limited sources but also from the cost per child.
b. Primary Education
Primary (or elementary) education normally stated between the ages of 5-7, and was
designed to give a sound basic education in reading, writing and mathematics along with an
elementary understanding of other subjects.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) believes that providing children with
primary education has many positive effects. It
• Decreases poverty
• Decreases child mortality rate
• Engages gender equality
• Increases environmental understanding.
c. Secondary Education
Secondary education is in most countries the phase in the education continuum
responsible for the development of the young during their adolescences, the most rapid
phase of their physical, mental and emotional growth. The secondary education mainly
occurs during the teenager years. The purpose of secondary education can be to give
common knowledge, to prepare for higher education or to train directly in a profession.
The emergence of secondary education in United States did not happen until 1910,
caused by the rise businesses and technological advances in the factories (for instance,
emergence of electrification), that required skilled workers. In Europe, the grammar school
and academy existed from as early as the 16th
century; public schools and fee-paying
schools or charitable educational foundations have an even longer history.
d. Higher Education
Higher education, also called tertiary, third stage, or post-secondary education, is the
non-compulsory educational level. Tertiary education is normally taken include
undergraduate and postgraduate education, as well as vocational and the training. Tertiary
education generally results in the receipt of certificates, diplomas, or academic degrees.
Higher education includes teaching, research and social services activities of
universities and within the realm of teaching and it generally involved works towards a
degree level or foundation qualification degrees. Higher education is very important to
national economies, both as a significant industry its own right, and as a source of trained
and educated personnel for the rest of the economies.
e. Adult Education
Adult education takes on many forms, ranging from formal class-based learning to
self-directed learning and e-learning.

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Department of English Academic Year 2019-2020
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f. Alternative Education
Alternative education is an educational program or system that is separate from a
mainstream educational program or system and that is designed especially for students with
academic or behavioral difficulties (ranging from teenage pregnancy to intellectual
disability).
g. Indigenous Education
Indigenous education specifically focuses on teaching Indigenous knowledge,
models, methods, and content within formal or non-formal educational systems. The
growing recognition and use of Indigenous education methods can be a response to the
erosion and loss of Indigenous knowledge through the processes of colonialism,
globalization, and modernity.
2. Process
a. Curriculum
An academic discipline is branch of knowledge which is formally thought, either at
the university, or via some other such method. Example of broad areas of academic
disciplines includes the nature sciences, mathematics, computer sciences, social sciences,
humanities and applied sciences.
b. Learning modalities
It is currently fashionable to divide education to different learning “modes”. The
learning modalities are probably the most common:
• Visual: learning based on observation and seeing what is being learned
• Auditory: learning based on listening to instructions/information
• Kinesthetic: learning based on hands-on work and engaging activities
Although it is claimed that, depending on their preferred learning modality, different
teaching techniques have different levels of effectiveness.
A consequence of this theory is that effective teaching should present a variety of
teaching methods which covers all three learning modalities so that different students have
equal opportunities to learn in the way that is effective for them.
c. Teaching
Teachers need to understand a subject enough to convey its essence to students.
While traditionally this has involved lecturing on the part of the teacher, new instructional
strategies put the teacher more in role of course designer, discussion facilitator, and the
students more into the role of active learner, discovering the subject of the course. Good
teachers can translate information, good judgment, experience and wisdom into relevant
knowledge that a student can understand, retain and pass to others.
d. Technology
Technology is an increasingly influential factor in education. Computers and mobile
phones are used in developed countries and both to complement established education
practices and develop new ways of learning such online education (a type of distance
education). Technology offers powerful learning tools that demand new skills and
understandings of students, including Multimedia and provides new ways to engage
students, such as Virtual learning environments. Technology is being used more not only in
administrative duties in education, but also the instruction of students and it is also being in
the assessment of students.
Information and communication and technologies (ICTs) are a “diverse set of tools
and resources used to communicate, create, disseminate, store and manage information.

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Department of English Academic Year 2019-2020
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These are technology include computers, the internet, broadcasting technologies (radio and
television) and telephony.
The use of computer and internet is in its infancy in developing countries, if there
used at all, due to limited infrastructure and the attendant of high costs of access.
The term “computer-assisted learning” (CAL) has been increasingly used to describe
the use of technology in teaching.
3. Education theory
Education theory is the theory of purpose, application and interpretation of education
and learning. Its history begins with classical Greek educationalists and sophists and
includes, since the 18th
century, pedagogy and andragogy.
4. Economics
It has been argued that high rate of education are essential for countries to be able to
achieve high levels of economic growth. Empirical analyses tend to support the
theoretical prediction that countries should grow faster than rich countries because they
can adopt cutting edge technologies already tried and tested by rich countries. However,
technology transfer requires knowledgeable managers and engineers who are able to
operate new machines or production practices borrowed from the leader in order to close
the gap through imitation.
5. History
The history of education according to Dieter Lenten, president of the University of
Berlin 1994, “began either millions of years ago or at the end of 1770”. The history of
education is the history of man as since it’s the main occupation of man to pass
knowledge, skill and attitude from one generation to other so is education.
Nowadays some kind of education is compulsory to all people in most countries.
Due to population growth and proliferation of compulsory education, UNESCO has
calculated that in the 30 years more people will receive from education than in all of the
human history thus far.
6. Philosophy
As an academic field, philosophy of education is a “the philosophical study of
education and its problems… its central subject matter is education, and its methods are
those of philosophy.” The philosophy of education may be either the philosophy of the
process of education or the philosophy of the discipline of education.
7. Psychology
Educational Psychology is the study of how humans learn in education settings, the
effectiveness of educational interventions, the psychology of teaching, and social
psychology of schools as organizations.
Educational psychology can in part be understood though its relationship with other
disciplines. Educational psychology in turn informs a wild range of specialties within
educational studies, includes instructional design, educational technology, curriculum
development, organizational learning, special education and classroom management.
Educational psychology both draws from and contributes to cognitive science and the
learning sciences.
8. Sociology
The sociology of education is the study of how social institutions and forces affect
educational processes and outcomes, and vice versa. The purpose of education can be to
develop every individual to their full potential. The understanding of the goals and

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means of educational socialization processes differs according to the sociological
paradigm used.
9. Education in the Development world
Demand in the developing world for improved educational access is not as high as
one would expect as governments avoid recurrent costs involved and there is economics
pressure on those parents who prefer their children making money in their short term
over many long term benefits of education. Recent studies on child labor and poverty
have suggested that where poor families reach a certain economic threshold where
families are able to provide for their basic needs. Parents return their children to school.
But, without capacity, there is no development. A study conducted by UNESCO
International Institution for educational planning those stronger capacities in educational
planning and management may have an important spill-over effect on the system as a
whole. Sustainable capacity development requires the complex interventions at the
institutional, organizational and individual levels that could be based on some
foundational principle:
• National leadership and ownership could be touchstone in many interventions;
• Strategies must be context relevant and context specific
• They should embrace an integrated set of complementary interventions, though
implementation may need to proceed in steps
• Partners should commit to a long term investment in capacity development,
while working towards some short term achievements;
• Outside intervention should be condition on an impact assessment of national
capacities at various levels.
A lack of good universities, and a low acceptance rate for good universities, is
evident in countries with a high population density. In some countries, there are
uniform, over structured, inflexible centralized program from a central agency that
regulates all aspects of education.
• Due to globalization, increased pressure on students in curricular activities.
• Removal of the certain percentage of students for improvisation of academics
(usually practiced in schools, after grade 10th
).
In Africa, NEPAD has launched an “e-learning program” to provide ass 600,000
primary and high schools with computer equipment, learning materials and internet
access 10 years. An International Development Agency project called nabuur.com,
started with the support of former American President Bill Clinton, uses the internet
to allow co-operation be individuals on issues of social development.
1. Internationalization
Education is becoming increasingly international. Not only are the materials
becoming more influenced by the rich international environment but exchanges among
at all levels are playing increasingly important role. In Europe, for example the Secretes
Erasmus Program stimulates exchanges across European universities. Also the Soros
Foundation provides many opportunities for students from central Asia and Eastern
Europe.

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Unit 2: HOME EDUCATION – CONCEPTS AND OBJECTIONS
Home education is an education otherwise than education in school. A definition of
“otherwise” is chosen and controlled by parents, inside generally educational law paragraphs. It has
to be like this to keep such an education a free choice of education.
Lately the concept home-based education is more often used instead of homeschooling or
home education.
In England, home education is the used concept for parents who educate their children
themselves. Home education is chosen, because it states very clear that such an education is not
ordinary inside home.
Arguments in favor of home-based education end up underlining with how important it is
that parents and authorities (and schools) cooperate to the best for children. The actors in home-
based education are very often internet-schools who cooperate with school authorities on different
levels.
Home-based education seems to be a hidden strategy to control and re-school home
education
Objection to homeschooling
When parents decide to homeschool their children, they face many hurdles. These
include self-doubt about decision, worries about the reactions of family and friends,
bureaucratic interference from school officials, and sometimes even problems with the
legality of their decision, depending on how they choose to pursue homeschooling and laws
of their jurisdiction (Marlow, 1994; Mayberry, et al., 1995).
Socialization
One of the most common questions homeschool graduates and homeschooled
children face is that of socialization. In order to address this question, it is important to first
understand what is meant by the term “socialization.” Socialization refers to social
interaction but it also refers to understanding and learning to navigate a society’s social
norms and rules of behavior. Most scholars view peer interaction, which generally centers
on the school, as a critical component of this kind of socialization. However, many
homeschool parents and leaders argue that the socialization children receive in school is
unnatural and actually harmful, and that socialization is best gained through life experiences
that center on the family, and should include interactions with those in a variety of age
groups.
The inability to cope, one of the interpretations of the socialization question is that
students who are homeschooled will not be able to cope with the harsh realities of life
beyond their family environment (Huffman, 1997). In school the argument goes, children
learn value skills such as the ability to work with others, to handle interpersonal conflicts,
works in groups or teams and to make personal sacrifices for the betterment of the group.
Homeschooled children, who will not necessarily acquire these skills because of detective
cocoon of the home, will then be at an advantage when they grow up.
Bias and narrow curricular content, a second issue which is sometimes refer to by
the socialization question is whether or not parents can provide their children with a
sufficiently broad education. In school, critics argue children are exposed to many teachers,
each with their own area of expertise. No parents, no matter how intelligent and dedicated,
could possibly provide this breadth of understanding of their children.

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The problem of bias and narrow curricular content is more serious when parents
deliberately set out to teach of their children a “distorted” or erroneous view of the world.
This claim is usually reserved for those people to keep their children out of school because
they want to teach them the dogmatic view of the world, such as a belief in a creationism.
Occasionally, people who tried to instill “new age” values or beliefs in their children are
accused of bias.
Lack of exposure to others, a final thread of the socialization objection to
homeschooling is that homeschooled children do not receive enough exposure to other
people and their distinctive way of life. Especially in this era of many cultures, schools teach
students from extremely diverse culture of ethnic backgrounds.
Elitism
Homeschoolers have been accused of being elitist. The argument takes one of two
forms. The first one is that the current public system is in disarray, but parents have a duty to
tries to improve that is system to make it better to all children.
A second version of elitism criticism of homeschooling is that homeschooling can
only be done by parents with high level of education. The argument of homeschooling may
work for the well-educated elite because they have the ability to teach their kid at home. But
for people who don’t have high levels of education, they must rely on the public school
system.
High education
Another worry of critics of homeschooling is that homeschooled kids will be
disadvantaged in their abilities to apply for post-secondary education opportunities. This
criticism is different from all of the other criticisms because it is a concern that is shared by
homeschoolers. The argument from the critics is that homeschooler will not have the
credentials (namely a high school or equivalent diploma) to apply for college, trade school
or university.
Citizenship and choice in education
All of the above criticism of homeschooling are really concerns about parental
choice in education, and another conflict between parental rights and state rights in
education worries about coping in the real world, getting along with others, working for the
common good rather than individual privilege and being able to contribute to society
through higher education are all based on a vision of what good citizens do. Because of this,
they are also concerns about citizenship and whether or not homeschoolers will fit into the
larger society in the proper way.