Introduction

What is the purpose of education? Education, as to its responsibility, can be approached from the perspectives of the students, the teachers and the process as to how knowledge is taught, which is usually represented by the schools. However, education remains to be a sociological process in which individual development can be seen to be directed at, initially, the purpose of one’s immediate society, and later on, the rest of the state. As Rothstein explains, since schooling has become the state’s responsibility thereby reflecting the statement “education as a right”, the state can also control as to what the students should learn for its own benefit. On one hand, Rothstein also presents that “educational systems cannot exist in a vacuum” (1); this means that although there are the controls that are meant to shape education, there are still the influences in which education becomes a tool that steps outside the framework of control. Hence, the purpose of education can be seen to exist in the co-dependence among individual, society and general social systems where education becomes a core responsibility and element that will shape the decisions of today and project a certain future. Therefore, such ideals and responsibilities can be founded in the evolution of education, from the teachings of the basics in reading, writing and character and moral development, to a number of other skills which have increased in number through time, the diversity of the society and the student body, and the coverage of the world.

Education: Development and Effects

It is interesting to know that the beginnings of education may be seen in the proliferation of knowledge although what also works with knowledge are the technical and basic aspects that are still common today such as the case of reading and writing. Literacy is founded on these skills, which can be seen to work hand-in-hand with substance and content; substance and content, in this regard, then gives way to moral and character development, which is also another equally significant factor that would become among the fundamentals of education (“College Week”). Through time, basic skills of reading and writing would further expand to analysis and comprehension, the same way the basic knowledge would further expand to hundreds of courses that institutions offer today. In a way, this shows that this “explosion of knowledge” (“College Week”) can be seen to have rooted from the development of the society where technologies become more sophisticated and information and knowledge have become the core of the modern economy.

The development of these courses, on one hand, can be regarded as an eventual departure from the fundamentals; after all, if American universities in the 18^th century taught metaphysics as a “capstone” course (“College Week”), today, metaphysics can be just some post-graduate’s elective. The selection of courses among the students, albeit the existence of the standard curriculum, can be still regarded as democratic as students can freely put together an entire academic career. However, what happens to the “moral development” part? Are students today still concerned about their moral and character development? How strong is the association of moral and character development with schools today?

These “experiences of understanding” which students can freely choose as based on their curriculum can be also experienced through their selection of institution. Colleges and universities are not just known according to their reputation but the kind of academic environment they provide the students. Through time, it can be observed that various “schools” in the field of philosophy have emerged, some of which are rallying for pragmatism and rationalism, whereas some have preserved the moral forces through the maintenance of religious influences. These developments had also led to the emergence of various academic institutions such as the secular schools that are more “scientifically based, research-oriented” (“A recent survey…”) as opposed to the traditional schools that would dominate the 19^th century which were run by religious groups or churches.

The departure from this traditional educational framework, in a way, can be considered to be a reflection of the society’s development in which educational values are not just concentrated on the conventional approach at moral and character development but through the development of relevant skills through the introduction of non-conventional (i.e. liberal arts) and more scientific courses. The emergence of various disciplines, in a way, can be regarded as a means for the students to develop their own moral character without the moral restrictions posed on them in the “older” system.

Although it can be observed that the adaptation of these course developments would lead to the introduction of various disciplines, another concern arises; this is directed at the content of the education, which also leads to the process as to how the course is going to be taught to the students. Hence, this also brings up the degree of importance of the interdisciplinary knowledge brought by liberal arts versus the specializations brought by the academic courses. Institutions have long introduced “general courses” which are mostly disciplines from the liberal arts, and the importance of these courses can be observed to have the same importance as the teaching of the fundamentals.

Interestingly, the “liberation” of knowledge can be seen in the content and course areas of liberal arts. Academic courses teach students depending on their specializations but liberal arts emerged based on the political radicalization of students and their demand for empowerment (“A recent survey…”). Such radicalization can be found to have reflected from the social development in the 1960s in which the society has become more culturally diverse and that the push for individualization and equal rights were more emphasized. As a result, liberal arts do not only offer courses on the classic languages and the common teachings on civilization (which mostly acknowledged Western cultures), liberal arts would also further expand to other “specializations” such as Women’s Studies, Africa-American Studies and a host of other scientific disciplines such as biophysics and neuroscience (“A recent survey…”). This shows that liberal arts would further “liberate” education that made knowledge more accessible to the students, as opposed to the elitist stance that education seemed to have had, especially during the time education was mostly a privilege.

However, what are the effects of these developments to the schools and the students? Although education was “liberalized” through the “explosion of knowledge”, the educational system seem to have created a certain hierarchy in terms of academic levels and how some classes are treated in schools. The hierarchy can be initially seen in the emergence of academic levels where the undergraduate level has become the “fundamental” and the succeeding levels such as masters, graduate, post-graduate, and Ph. D., as the specializations. Hence, in schools, it has been noted that undergraduate courses, particularly the general education classes, have been treated less in a sense that the classes are less focused and have become classrooms of the masteral students (“A recent survey…”). In addition to this, undergraduate education has somehow also lost its value because it has become “too general” and “too fundamental”; as a result, although the undergraduate level is already a passage into higher education, the further complexity of the educational systems and hierarchies have somehow devalued what undergraduate education can bring, more so as to how undergraduate education has influenced the students. In addition to this, given the continuous demand and competition in the world, the society may have already seen undergraduate education as too insubstantial because of the current demands.

Conclusion

The United States has been home to a substantial number of top universities found all over the world; because of this, the United States has become an important destination for international students (“A recent survey…”). Because of this, there is a sense of responsibility when it comes to the education that is being offered, especially when it comes to general nature of the student body of today. The evolution of education reflects the changes through time, and its growing complexity can be also traced historically. However, the concern that can be observed today is not just about the quality of the education and its related processes, but how education fares in the society today. In the modern world where competition has become a main motivator, education does not only have to compete for students, institutions have to also compete as based on their interpretations of the needs of the modern society. In the end, although the society initially shows the responsibility to educate, which is then passed on to the institutions and then to the students, it is the educated minds which will eventually determine the future development and evolution of education.

Cited Works

Rothstein, Stanley William. Identity and Ideology: Sociocultural Theories of Schooling. New York: Greenwood Press, 1991.

“A recent survey…”

“College Week”