What is education?

A definition and discussion

What is education? Is it different from schooling? In this piece Mark K Smith explores the meaning of education and
suggests it is a process of inviting truth and possibility. It can be defined as the wise, hopeful and respectful cultivation of
learning undertaken in the belief that all should have the chance to share in life.
When talking about education people often confuse it with schooling. Many think of places like schools or colleges when
seeing or hearing the word. They might also look to particular jobs like teacher or tutor. The problem with this is that while
looking to help people learn, the way a lot of schools and teachers operate is not necessarily something we can properly call
education. They have chosen or fallen or been pushed into ‘schooling’ – trying to drill learning into people according to
some plan often drawn up by others. Paulo Freire (1973) famously called this banking – making deposits of knowledge. Such
‘schooling’ quickly descends into treating learners like objects, things to be acted upon rather than people to be related to.
Education, as we understand it here, is a process of inviting truth and possibility, of encouraging and giving time to
discovery. It is, as John Dewey (1916) put it, a social process – ‘a process of living and not a preparation for future living’. In
this view educators look to act with people rather on them. Their task is to educe (related to the Greek notion of educere),
to bring out or develop potential. Such education is:
 Deliberate and hopeful. It is learning we set out to make happen in the belief that people can ‘be more’;
 Informed, respectful and wise. A process of inviting truth and possibility.
 Grounded in a desire that at all may flourish and share in life. It is a cooperative and inclusive activity that
looks to help people to live their lives as well as they can.
In what follows we will try to answer the question ‘what is education?’ by exploring these dimensions and the processes
involved.

A definition for starters: Education is the wise, hopeful and respectful cultivation of learning undertaken in the belief that
all should have the chance to share in life.

Education – cultivating hopeful environments and relationships for learning

It is often said that we are learning all the time and that we may not be conscious of it happening. Learning is both a process
and an outcome. As a process it is part of living in the world, part of the way our bodies work. As an outcome it is a new
understanding or appreciation of something.
In recent years, developments in neuroscience have shown us how learning takes place both in the body and as a social
activity. We are social animals. As a result educators need to focus on creating environments and relationships for learning
rather than trying to drill knowledge into people.
Teachers are losing the education war because our adolescents are distracted by the social world. Naturally, the students
don’t see it that way. It wasn’t their choice to get endless instruction on topics that don’t seem relevant to them. They
desperately want to learn, but what they want to learn about is their social world—how it works and how they can secure a
place in it that will maximize their social rewards and minimize the social pain they feel. Their brains are built to feel these
strong social motivations and to use the mentalizing system to help them along. Evolutionarily, the social interest of
adolescents is no distraction. Rather, it is the most important thing they can learn well. (Lieberman 2013: 282)
The cultivation of learning is a cognitive and emotional and social activity (Illeris 2002).
Intention
Education is deliberate. We act with a purpose – to develop understanding and judgement, and enable action. We may do
this for ourselves, for example, learning what different road signs mean so that we can get a license to drive; or watching
wildlife programmes on television because we are interested in animal behaviour. This process is sometimes called self-
education or teaching yourself. Often, though, we seek to encourage learning in others. Examples here include parents and
carers showing their children how to use a knife and fork or ride a bike; schoolteachers introducing students to a foreign
language; and animators and pedagogues helping a group to work together.
Education is about teaching and learning skills and knowledge. Education also means helping people to learn how
to do things and encouraging them to think about what they learn. It is also important for educators to teach ways
to find and use information.
Through education, the knowledge of society, country, and of the world is passed on from generation to
generation. In democracies, through education, children and adults are supposed to learn how to be active and
effective citizens.
More specific, education helps and guide individuals to transform from one class to other. Empowered individuals,
societies, countries by education are taking edge over individuals stand on bottom pyramid of growth.

Types of education
There are different methods of categorizing types of education. One way is to divide it into formal education, non-
formal education, and informal education.
Formal education is usually in school, where a person may learn basic, academic, or trade skills. Small children
often attend a nursery or kindergarten but often formal education begins in elementary school and continues with
secondary school. Post-secondary education (or higher education) is usually at a college or university which may
grant an academic degree.
Non-formal education includes adult basic education, adult literacy education or school equivalency preparation.
In nonformal education someone (who is not in school) can learn literacy, other basic skills or job skills. Home
education, individualized instruction (such as programmed learning), distance learning and computer-assisted
instruction are other possibilities.
Informal education may be a parent teaching a child how to prepare a meal or ride a bicycle. People can also get
an informal education by reading many books from a library or educational websites. Informal education is when
you are not studying in a school and do not use any particular learning method.

Public schooling
Many public schools provide a free education through the government. Parents may send their children to a private
schools, but they must pay for it. In some poorer places, some children cannot go to school, because their countries
do not make education available in their countries, or because their families do not have enough money, or because
the children have to work for money, or because the society have negative prejudice on education for girls.

Higher education
There are primary schools and secondary schools. In many places they are government funded. Colleges and
universities usually charge Tuition payments which may be very different in different countries. .