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Some people probable enter the teaching profession without having in their minds any clear idea of the purpose of education.The result is perfunctory,dull and careless teaching.It is the aim of this question to suggest ways in which such an attitude may be avoided.
Unfortunately, students need an incentive to study, and oftentimes the incentive is to pass a test. Without any clear milestones or goals, many students simply do not see any point in their studies at all. I'm not sure how the education system in Duai is, however in the USA, the aim of education is to keep teachers' hands tied by forcing them to teach toward standardized tests. The success of the teacher AND the student is measured by the scores of these standardized tests. The real travesty here is that students are no longer being taught to think or problemsolve, and the teachers are being forbidden to really educate their students. What that has resulted in is a society of individuals who are not innovative, who are not free thinkers, not creative, unable to communicate effectively, etc. We are losing our future generations of scholars and innovators because they simply were never shown how to utilize their minds.
As far as ways in which this educational regurgitation can be avoided, would be to allow teachers more freedom in the classroom, permit service learning, hands-on teaching practices, and also more accountability put on the student for his or her own success. Instead of spoon-feeding a lesson to students, the students need to be more actively engaged within the lesson and the material itself. Teaching students to problem solve, think and postulate openly in immersive discussions and lectures to get the student more invested and involved in their own education would also be wonderful. On a societal/social level, having our societies actually place higher value upon education, instead of materialistism, superficiality, and socioeconomic perception would also stop hindering students from focusing on their educations as well.
This is a nice question.
As per my observations it is true and quite rampant that teachers sort of condition their students to pass the examinations, and make students believe that that is education.
Education is a lifelong process. If education is such, then does it mean that students will have to always pass examinations? Will those examinations always be conducted in schools? Does it mean that they will not graduate and grow up and work?
It is with this that for me education should not be perceived as merely entering or attending school. That is schooling. Education for me happens anytime, anywhere. Schooling is when you literally go to school and receive a diploma. Does it mean that a student may not be educated when he goes to school? Yes. Not all those who are schooled are educated. Not all those who are educated are schooled. For me, even if a person did not attend school, he/she may be educated as long as he/she has the right attitude and is not a burden to the society. Not all those who graduate are educated especially if they do not utilize appropriately what they have acquired from school, and if they look down or step on others. It does not matter if you are a lawyer or a doctor, or that you graduated from a well-known school.
Education as defined in dictionary.com is the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life.
From the given definition, obviously, education does not end in the four corners of the school. Education is not just about passing the examinations given and conducted by teachers, just to test how much has been absorbed or memorized from the instruction done. Education is about passing life's examinations. In school, lessons are taught first, before having the exams. In life, exams are taken first, before the lessons are taught and learned. It is with this that life lessons should be taught alongside the theories and principles of core subjects/disciplines. And doing such is education: teaching what students need to know for them to perform in the field of expertise they have chosen and more importanlty, the morals/values they need to learn to get them through life.
Although it is OK for teachers to encourage their students to aim for decent grades, teachers must help students in thinking or coming up for the answer to the questions in the examinations: teachers must teach their students how to think, not what to think. Students must be able to think beyond the box. After all, that is how life works. Students must be creative and resourceful. They must be streetsmart. Not all the principles or theories they learn from the subjects in school can be applied in real-life situations, but almost all the morals and values can be applied in almost all real-life situations.
Simply put:
education = positive attitude + schooling
Passing an examination shows that you can "absorb" knowledge and is the culmination of the educating process which has brought you to that level. In theory the exam itself should have no bearing on how the student is taught, there is a curriculum to follow which determines what should be learnt/taught and an exam should be a collection of questions representative of the subject matter in the curriculum.
The purpose of education is to inspire the student to learn - for life! As teachers were once students they need to remain students and keep learning for life as well.
I personally do not believe in standardized testing in and of itself as a fool-proof way to assess student progress, especially where children are concerned. I acknowledge that it has its place in education whereby it helps teachers to assess progress, however, I believe it is totally unreasonable to determine a student's success or aptitude based solely on standardized tests.
It is imperative to the fairness and thoroughness of our assessments that we take into consideration things like classroom participation, work done independently and without time constraints, and our personal relationships with students. There are many people, myself included, who have never done well on standardized tests, and yet manage to become extremely successful in post-graduate education, social networking, personal relationships, and career in general.
If my teachers has determined my academic worth based solely on my standardized test scores, I would likely have been expelled from school. Instead, they treated me with respect and consideration, as a human being worth far more than a percentile on an examination, and encoruaged me to pursue my own interests. I therefore graduated with excellent standing with a BA in English linguistics and literature, as well as an MA in TESOL.
According to me teaching is one of the great job, since professor's or lecturer's are creating many graduates according to their needful as considering of examination it is not only to get pass in exam it helps them to evaluate themself where they did mistake how it can be overcomed
yes that is to most extent true that teacher's main focus was to prepare students for the exams so that they may enter next grade but this should not be the aim of study.
The aim of study should be to be responsible and to get knowledge.
In today's era both the knowledge and study are of great importance if you have one thing and not the other then you can't do anything.
Therefore the aim should be clear to get knowledge as much as you can because when you have the knowledge then exams will be very easy for you and you can clear it easily in the same way teacher should focus on provide better knowledge to students so they may progress without having the fear of exams.
Of course the aim is to get passed in the examinations for the students. Teachers are also expected to present a good result which is measured by passing percentage. This is the duty of the teacher which he performs in all circumstances.
Best educational institutions always offer EDUCATION instead of TEACHING. They offer a package for the students in which there is a continuous process of character building of the students along with learning their subjects. This character build up is through three prong strategy.
1. Specific material is inculcated in the text books to determine future mind set of the students.
2. Special events and extra curicular activities are arranged in the institution to refine the character of the students and teachers.
3. Teachers are advised by the management to counsel their students time to time to encourage them to become an ideal person and a useful citizen of the country.
So when the student get passed out from this institution he is not merely a subject specialist rather he is also a good citizen having an ideal character.
NOTE: If someone is intersted to know where this system is being followed please send me a request to get a reply.
If examination and even teaching is governed and guided by the learning objectives ,examination will not be that lion at the end of the semesters. Student have to be aware of the learning objectives and shall know the purpose of what he/she is doing. As a health teacher ,we teach student to be (safe and competent practisioners ). That is usually reflected to their keeness to know the details that will enhance the knowledge and skills.
Passing or failing a test or an examination is definitely not the purpose of education. Tests or examinations are just instruments of measurement in the process of education. Sometime, the measurement may not necessarily be failing or passing , it may be for the determination of the effectiveness of the teaching-learning milieu. It may be for slection purposes based on availablea vacancies and other factors.
Education purpose is the evolution of the egalitarian mind. Combining knowledge with character. Education should be distinguished from certification. Skill acquisition is just an aspect of education. Education is more than reading many books. Urbanisation can be regarded as an aspect of education but not the education itself.
The purpose of education is to liberate the human mind from the fixation that hinders the free, fair disposition of the human capacity to evolve a human society that will produce paradise on the earth.
Understanding the philosophy of education and living by the teachings of the fundamentals of education are sin qua non for a just and equitable human society.
We will get there
