Education and life
Education
encompasses
teaching
and
learning
specific
skills, and also something less
tangible but more profound: the imparting of
knowledge,
good judgement
and
wisdom. Education has as one of
its fundamental goals the imparting of culture
from
generation to generation
The education of an individual human begins at birth and
continues throughout life. (Some believe that education
begins even before birth, as evidenced by some parents'
playing music or reading to the baby in the womb in the
hope it will influence the child's development.) For some,
the struggles and triumphs of daily life provide far more
instruction than does formal schooling
(thus
Mark
Twain's
admonition to "never let school interfere with your
education"). Family members may have a
profound educational effect — often more profound than they
realize — though family teaching may function very
informally.
The origins of the word "education" reveal one theory of
its function: the Latin educare
comes from
roots suggesting a "leading out" or "leading forth", with
possible implications of developing innate abilities and of
expanding horizons.
Formal education occurs when society or a group or an
individual sets up a curriculum
to educate
people, usually the young. Formal education can become
systematic and thorough, but its sponsor may seek selfish
advantages when shaping impressionable young scholars.
Life-long or adult education
has become
widespread. Lending libraries
provide
inexpensive informal access to books and other
self-instructional materials. Many adults have given up the notion
that only children
belong "in
school". Many adults enroll in post-secondary
education schools, both part-time
and full-time, which often classify them as
"non-traditional
students" in order to distinguish
them administratively from young adults entering directly
from high
school.
Computers
have become an
increasingly influential factor in education, both as a
tool for online education
(a type of
distance education) and e-Learning.
By this approach, individual students can access lessons
and materials easily via the Internet
and
CD-ROM
(for example,
via a WebQuest)
and participate in a range of interactive online learning
activities.
Source: Wikipedia