EDUC 1000 Chapter 1: ED EDUC- What is Education (Question 1)
Document Summary
Education is like democracy or culture in being some have called an essentially contested concept . It"s been identified as instilling knowledge of basic skills at one extreme which is concerned with civilized thinking and behaviour at the other. Education cannot be unproblematically identified with whatever goes on in the institutions set up to provide it because it"s a possible to complain that a school isn"t educating students properly. Ex: it would be odd to say kids were being educated if they were being taught to bully or if they were learning how to make instruments of torture. Education is also said to aim at the development of knowledge and understanding a way no other institution can by helping individuals achieve their potential and live richer lives. Although we are teaching them moral and cultural norms of society, we also want them to question and oppose norms such as racism, bullying and homophobia.