Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!

Reply to comment

eledford's picture

Language... and a lot of questions.

How have our societies shaped us, our thinkings, our beliefs... as to what an education really is?

I find myself interested in how a certain language has developed around education. For example, terms like primitive, indigenous, savage, are often indicative of being uneducated, just as advanced, civilized, cultured, hint at being educated. It illustrates this idea of progressing to a point of greater knowledge than before, enhancing one's position in society (or power, as some of you have suggested). Hello Western Civ?!?!

What is the evolution of education? We learn by watching, doing, mimicking. We tell stories. We remember. We recreate situations. We regurgitate information. We cannot know everything yet we strive to know more and more each day. Perhaps it's biological? Do we learn to be more efficient? Do we learn to survive? How much of learning is done on purpose or consciously? Perhaps most of our learning is unintentional? There may definitely be an interplay between power and ownership. Power over others? Power over self? Why is education equated with an institution rather than with life or experiences?

 

 

Reply

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
To prevent automated spam submissions leave this field empty.
12 + 4 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.