Posts from — May 2008
Schooling vs Education
I’ve been remembering – and thinking about – the fact that words and language have a lot of power. There are studies and entire bodies of knowledge about the power of words and the connection between words and mental images and mental models.
For many years I have considered the system of public schools in this country to be an ‘education system.’ It wasn’t until recently when I really understood the roots of the free public school system that I understood that the network of teachers and schools in this country was not intended to be an education system – but a schooling system.
Does it matter? What’s the difference between schooling and education?
In many dictionary definitions for school and schooling the use of the word education finds its way into the text. In the following definitions from the web I have purposefully chosen a number of the sentences that do not refer to education. This may shed some light on this subject – or it may tend to annoy people. But let’s look anyway.
Form the Free Dictionary:school·ing (skooling) n.
- Instruction or training given at school.
- Education obtained through experience or exposure: Her tumultuous childhood was a unique schooling.
- The training of a horse or a horse and rider in equitation.
From Webster:Schooling \School”ing\, n.Discipline; reproof; reprimand; as, he gave his son a good schooling. –Sir W. Scott.School \School\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Schooled}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Schooling}.]
To tutor; to chide and admonish; to reprove; to subject to systematic discipline; to train.From Wikipedia:Education encompasses teaching and learning specific skills, and also something less tangible but more profound: the imparting of knowledge, positive judgment and well-developed wisdom. Education has as one of its fundamental aspects the imparting of culture from generation to generation (see socialization). Education means ‘to draw out’, facilitating realization of self-potential and latent talents of an individual. It is an application of pedagogy, a body of theoretical and applied research relating to teaching and learning and draws on many disciplines such as psychology, philosophy, computer science, linguistics, neuroscience, sociology —often more profound than they realize—though family teaching may function very informally.
In my mind understanding the difference between schooling and educating is important. One reason this is important is because the system of schooling uses discipline and extrinsic motivation as a modality and a methodology – to “motivate” young people to learn. The formation of the free public school system in the United States was intended to provide the bare minimum for the poor to become good citizens.
A system of education uses intrinsic motivation and the natural desire of humans to learn and improve. A system based on internal motivation will support a person to achieve their full potential (move towards achieving their full potential) while a system of schooling will be satisfied with a minimum standard.
A system of schooling will intend to control and use discipline when students become noisy or out of control. A system of education will be based on relationships and respect. Discipline will be something one does because it is in their best interest and not because it is enforced from outside.
From Wikipedia on Schooling:Schools and their teachers have always been under pressure — for instance, pressure to cover the curriculum, to perform well in comparison to other schools, and to avoid the stigma of being “soft” or “spoiling” toward students. Forms of discipline, such as control over when students will and will not speak, and normalized behaviour, such as raising one’s hand to speak, are imposed in the name of greater efficiency. Practitoners of critical pedagogy point out that such disciplinary measures have no positive effect on student learning; indeed, some would argue that disciplinary practices actually detract from learning since they undermine students’ individual dignity and sense of self-worth, the latter occupying a more primary role in students’ hierarchy of needs.
I think one of the reasons people involved in the public schooling system experience frustration when they attempt to make changes or improve is because there is confusion between what is schooling and what is education. I believe some of this confusion is caused because there is often overlapping and contradictory goals and objectives in each ‘system.’
Anyone engaged in a process of improvements would do themselves well by understanding these distinctions and clarifying their own goals and objectives relative to each system.
May 3, 2008 No Comments
