EDUCATION FOR SOCIETY AND INDIVIDUAL

The purpose of education has always been to every one, in essence, the same -
to give the young, the things they need in order to develop in an orderly, sequential way
into members of society. Any education is, in its forms and methods, an outgrowth of
the needs of the society in which it exists.

Education is essential for every society and individual. It is life itself but not a
preparation for life. Man has various qualities. These qualities of the individual should
be developed for the improvement of the society. So education plays a complementary
role for overall individual, social and national development. It enables an individual to
realize his highest self and goal.

KEY FUNCTIONS AND ROLES OF EDUCATION TOWARDS INDIVIDUAL AND

SOCIETY

Functions of education towards individual:

(1) Development of inborn potentialities- Education helps the child to develop the
inborn potentialities of child providing scope to develop.

(2) Modifying behavior- Education helps to modify the past behavior through learning
and through different agencies of education.

(3) All-round development- Education aims at the all round development of child-
physical, mental, social, emotional, and spiritual.

(4) Preparing for the future- After completion of education the child can earn its
livelihood getting proper education, which has productivity. The education should be
imparted according to the own interest of the child.

(5) Developing personality- The whole personality of the child is developed physically,
intellectually, morally, socially, aesthetically and spiritually. He is recognized in the
society.

(6) Helping for adjustability- Man differs from beast. Man has reasoning and thinking
power. Man tries his best to adjust with his own environment through education.

Functions of education towards society:

(1) Social change and control:
The society is never static. It is progressive and dynamic. The child lives in society. It is
the social environment where the personality of the child can be developed. The old
traditions, customs are preserved and transmitted with the situations, which are ever
changing. We should not think or believe in the blind beliefs, which are hindrances
towards our development. Education helps to walk with the development of science and
technology.

(2) Reconstruction of experiences: Education is life-long process. Life is education

and education is life. Life is full of experiences. One cannot live with his past
experiences which are unable to adjust in the society. So education helps the individual
to reconstruct the experience and adjust with the environment.

(3) Development of social and moral value: Society is always in tension with
narrowism. There is no social or moral value. Now the man is behaving like an animal.
Animality can be changed with moral education. Education teaches the moral value and
social value like co-operation, tolerance, sympathy, fellow feelings, love affection,
respect towards elder, helping the poor and needy persons.

(4) Providing opportunity or equality: Indian Constitution has introduced the term
‘equality’ because we are not getting equal opportunities in all aspects. Education
teaches us to give equal opportunities in all aspects irrespective of caste, creed, color,
sex and religion

AIMS OF EDUCATION

Individual and Social Aims:

Individual aims and social aims are the most important aims of education. They
are opposed to each other individual aims gives importance for the development of the
individuality. Social aim gives importance to the development of society through
individual not fulfilling his desire. But it will be seen that development of individuality
assumes meaning only in a social environment.

Individual Aims

Sir Percy Nunn observes, “Nothing goods enters into the human world except in and
through the free activities of individual men and women and that educational practice
must be shaped the individual. Education should give scope to develop the inborn
potentialities through maximum freedom.”
Because:

(1) Biologists believe that every individual is different from others. Every child is a new
and unique product and a new experiment with life. Thompson says, “Education is for
the individual”. Individual should be the center of all educational efforts and activities.
(2) Naturalists believe that central aim of education is the autonomous development of
the individual. Rousseau said, “Everything is good as it comes from the hands of the
Author of Nature, but everything degenerates in the hands of man.” God makes all
things good, man meddles with them and they become evil. God creates everything
good man makes it evil. So individual should be given maximum freedom for its own
development.

(3) Psychologists believe that education is an individual process because of individual

differences. No two individuals are alike. So education should be according to the
interest of the individual.

Criticism of Individual Aim:

Individual aim is not desirable because man is a social animal. Society’s interest should
be protected.
(1) Individual aim makes individual selfish.
(2) Maximum freedom may go against the society.
(3) Individuality cannot develop from a vacuum; it develops in a social atmosphere.
(4) Unless society develops, individual cannot develop.
(5) Who will recognize society- where individual is selfish?

Social Aim:

The supporters believe that society or state is supreme or real. The individual is only a
means. The progress of the society is the aim of education. Education is for the society
and of the society. The function of education is for the welfare of the state. The state will
make the individual as it desires. It prepares the individual to play different roles in
society. Individuality has no value, and personality is meaningless apart from society. If
society will develop individual will develop automatically. Here society plays an
important role.

Criticism of Social Aim:

(1) It makes individual only a tool of government.
(2) It reduces individual to a mere non-entity.
(3) Society ignores the legitimate needs, desires and interests of the individual.
(4) It is against the development of individuality of the individual.
Synthesis between individual and social aims of education:

Individual aim and social aim of education go independently. Both are opposing to each
other. It is not in reality. Neither the individual nor the society can exist. The individual is
the product of the society while society finds its advancement in the development of its
individual member.

Individual cannot develop in vacuum. According to John Adams, “Individuality requires a

social medium to grow.”

T.P. Nunn says,” Individuality develops in social environment.”

Conclusion:

The true aim of education cannot be other than the highest development of the
individual as a member of society. Let education burn the individual flame, feeding it
with the oil of society.

“Education can be a real panacea for all social evils.”

=John Dewey=
 SOCIAL REALITIES AFFECTING THE CURRICULUM

Philippine Social Realities Affecting the Curriculum

At present, the Philippines is enjoying political freedom. Its relation with other
countries is amiable. However, the population is continuously increasing while its food
resources continue to decline. The production of our food supplies has not kept pace
with the unabated increase of population. This imbalance has given birth to many
intricate social problems the solution of which demand utmost resourcefulness in
leadership and unflagging support in fellowship. The increase in population,
unaccompanied by widespread enlightenment and a corresponding improvement in the
economic position of the individual and the greater part of society, generated pressures
and created more problems never before encountered by our people.

Different means of communication, transportation and travel in our country have

increased in number and have become faster and cheaper. We now have thousands of
public and private schools, colleges and universities. Illiteracy has been reduced
considerably. Various industries, some locally capitalized, and others foreign owned,
have grown in our countryside. Medical science has brought to our people the blessings
and risks in the use of new wonder drugs.

Curriculum developers must have in mind that the problems of society are the
problems of education. Education cannot be divorced from the economic, political and
social realities of a country. Any society in order to progress economically must
progress educationally. Industry needs to indicate the direction and dimensions of
educational progress for manpower development. The question is, does such hold true
in the Philippines or does it follow a reverse pattern, that is, that educational progress
runs ahead of economic development? Is our curriculum relevant to the economic
demands of the society, not only for the present but also for years to come?

Education must enrich society, improve the living condition of its people and
make possible its optimum development. Herein lies the importance of the orientation,
organization, enrichment, adaptation and development of the local curriculum. The
curriculum must be made relevant to the economic demands of society if we are to
achieve the goal or producing people who are to provide direction and guidance in the
operation of commerce and industry. Technical skills, researchers for the discovery of
new products must be taken into consideration by curriculum developers in the
Philippines.

Stress on studies and activities related to history, values, social and economic
life from the viewpoint of the Filipinos are factors for consideration. The curriculum must
provide abundant materials to promote the unity of the people such that it should
embody the latest gains in Science since it must give an education for effective
participation in the modern society.

The curriculum must keep up with the changing political, economic and social
conditions of the country. In the New Society attempts have been made to reorient the
curriculum in both content and emphasis on liberal education providing balance
between academic learning’s and work experiences for the development of leaders and
creators of job opportunities. The new program is being redirected to ensure a greater
recognition of the value of hard and honest work unlike in the past when the emphasis
was on languages and academic excellence.

Economic development plan must be taken into consideration in order to draw

guidelines for curriculum development.

The Filipinos increasing dislike for colonial mentality is an indication that the
curriculum must be redirected to Philippine Culture. Different groups have arisen to
voice ambitious development goals. Our national history and
Guidelines To Social Considerations In Curriculum Development
In summarized form, here are some guidelines to social
considerations in curriculum development:

1. There are basic agencies in society that demand from educational

curriculums some special skills, attitudes and knowledge. they
are the family, the church, the state, economic agencies, non-
commercial community and other social agencies.

2. School curriculum developers must take into consideration not

only national and international needs but also local, regional
and provincial needs.

3. In the efforts of curriculum developers to gear the curriculum

toward the establishment of a sense of identity among Filipinos,
cultural pluralism should be respected, thus taking into
consideration the rich cultural heritage of all Filipinos, including
the minorities.

4. Curriculum development must draw upon analyses of society and

culture, of Filipino tradition and heritage, social pressures and
social habits. We must ask what the demands and requirements
of culture and society are, both for the present and for the
future.

5. The curriculum must prepare the learners to participate as

productive members of our culture. Not all cultures require the
same kind of knowledge. Nor does the same culture need the
same kinds of capacities and skills, intellectual or otherwise, at
all times. An analysis of culture and society thus provides some
guide for determining the main objectives of the curriculum, for
the selection of content, and for deciding what to stress in
learning activities.

6. Diagnosing of the gaps, deficiencies, and variations of the

backgrounds of Filipino students is an important step in
determining what the curriculum should be.

7. The task of selecting and organizing learning experiences in

curriculum development must take into consideration the
culture of society.
8. Society’s concept of the function of the school determines to a
great extent what kind of curriculum schools will have. Current
conceptions of the functions of the school by society are as
follows;

a. Education preserves and transmits the cultural heritage. Since all

cultural traditions have roots, cultural continuity is possible
only if education preserves this heritage by passing on the
truths worked out in the past to the new generation, thus
developing a common cultural background and loyalties. In the
main the transmission of the accumulated wisdom of the race
and of basic truths and value I emphasized.

b. Education is an instrument for and even reshaping the culture in

which it functions. Education and public policy are intimately
related, and progress in one is limited without progress in the
other. They maintain that education must deal with the needs
of current culture and even help shape the future.

c. Education results in individual development. Some progressive

educators emphasize the creative roie of education in society
by stressing the development of a creative individual. This point
of view centers educational effort on the development of all the
powers of the individual, especially his creative imagination,
physical and emotional powers.

9. To establish what demands society makes on education and what

contribution education can or should take to culture, especially
in a complex and changing society, I not an easy task. Thus, a
continuous examination of the goals and demands of this
changing society and of the forces operating in it is in order to
keep the curriculum reality oriented: to determine what
knowledge is most worthwhile, which skills must be mustered,
which values are relevant.