AIMS
OF EDUCATION
The aims
of education serve as broad guidelines to
align
educational processes to chosen ideals and
accepted
principles. The aims of education
simultaneously
reflect the current needs and aspirations
of a
society as well as its lasting values, and the
immediate
concerns of a community as well as broadhuman ideals. At any given time and
place they can be
called the
contemporary and contextual articulations
of broad
and lasting human aspirations and values.
Educational
aims turn the different activities
undertaken
in schools and other educational institutions
into a
creative pattern and give them the distinctive
character
of being ‘educational’. An educational aim
helps the
teacher connect her present classroom activity
to a
cherished future outcome without making it
instrumental,
and therefore give it direction without
divorcing
it from current concerns. Thus, an aim is a
foreseen
end: it is not an idle view of a mere spectator;
rather, it
influences the steps taken to reach the end. An
aim must
provide foresight. It can do this in three ways:
First, it
involves careful observation of the given
conditions
to see what means are available for reaching
This may
require a careful study of children, and an
understanding
of what they are capable of learning at
different
ages. Second, this foresight suggests the proper
order or
sequence that would be effective. Third, it
makes the
choice of alternatives possible. Therefore,
acting
with an aim allows us to act intelligently. The
school,
the classroom, and related learning sites are
spaces
where the core of educational activity takes
place.
These must become spaces where learners have
experiences
that help them achieve the desired curricular
objectives.
An understanding of learners, educational
aims, the
nature of knowledge, and the nature of the
school as
a social space can help us arrive at principles
to guide
classroom practices.
The
guiding principles discussed earlier provide
the
landscape of social values within which we locate
our
educational aims. The first is a commitment to
democracy
and the values of equality, justice, freedom,
concern
for others’ well-being, secularism, respect for
human
dignity and rights. Education should aim to build
a
commitment to these values, which are based on
reason and
understanding. The curriculum, therefore,
should
provide adequate experience and space for
dialogue
and discourse in the school to build such a
commitment
in children.
Independence
of thought and action points to a
capacity
of carefully considered, value-based decision
making,
both independently and collectively.
A
sensitivity to others’ well-being and feelings,
together
with knowledge and understanding of the
world,
should form the basis of a rational commitment
to values.
Learning
to learn and the willingness to unlearn
and
relearn are important as means of responding to
new
situations in a f lexible and creative manner. The
curriculum
needs to emphasise the processes of
constructing
knowledge.
Choices in
life and the ability to participate in
democratic
processes depend on the ability to
contribute
to society in various ways. This is why
education
must develop the ability to work and
participate
in economic processes and social change.
This necessitates
the integration of work with education.
We must
ensure that work-related experiences are
sufficient
and broadbased in terms of skills and
attitudes,that
they foster an understanding of
socio-economic
processes, and help inculcate a mental
frame that
encourages working with others in a spirit
of
cooperation. Work alone can create a social temper.
Appreciation
of beauty and art forms is an
integral
part of human life. Creativity in arts, literature
and other
domains of knowledge is closely linked.
Education
must provide the means and opportunities
to enhance
the child’s creative expression and the
capacity
for aesthetic appreciation. Education for
aesthetic
appreciation and creativity is even more
important
today when aesthetic gullibility allows for
opinion
and taste to be manufactured and manipulated
by market
forces. The effort should be to enable the
learner to
appreciate beauty in its several forms.
However,
we must ensure that we do not promote
stereotypes
of beauty and forms of entertainment, that
might
constitute an affront to women and persons with
disabilities.
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