Education Definition and Its Importance



Education is also known by many other names such as learning, teaching, and schooling. The term is derived from the Latin word 'educatio' ('a bringing', 'a rearing', 'a bringing up') which is related to other Latin words 'educo' ('I train', I educate'), the homonym 'educo' ('I raise up', 'I take out', 'I erect', 'I lead forth'), and 'duco' ('I lead, I conduct'). Generally, education is the act or experience which affects the formation of one's character, mind, and physical ability. Technically, the term refers to the process by which society intentionally transmits accumulated values, skills, as well as knowledge from the older generation to the younger. Essentially, education covers all instructions and discipline which are aimed at correcting the temper, enlightening the understanding, forming manners and habits, and giving useful skills for children in order to be used in their future.

The process of education includes three major aspects - instruction (learning facilitation delivered by a teacher or tutor), teaching (the action done by the teacher or tutor as an instructor to deliver the learning materials to the students), and learning (an action done by those who are taught to receive knowledge, abilities, or skills that may be useful in the future).

A school can be seen as a place where we learn about life before we jump into the real world. School prepares students to deal with various problems in life. However, nowadays you can still find education systems that put emphasis on the importance of memorizing facts and figures, as well as achieving good grades. Instead of eliciting the learner's appetite for knowledge, these things will only discourage them. Children who are stuffed with facts are figures have the tendency to become passive individuals who are less motivated to think, ask questions, and throw new ideas.

To encourage students to learn more and more new things, educators must provide them with new ideas and new ways of thinking. Besides the conventional textbooks, children should be introduced new education materials from their surroundings as well as from the internet. There are thousands of learning methods and materials available out there. If you are a parent, encourage your child to find the best way of learning, that way education will be a fun activity instead of a boring one. A good method should encourage children to think, not follow a lesson. The combination of learning and practice (or action) will encourage the children to make mistakes and learn from them. Nobody is perfect and it is not a crime to make a mistake. With the right approach, instead of being embarrassed of making some errors and mistakes, children will wisely learn from them and eventually become better individuals with better understanding about themselves and how things work.

Instead of bombarding children with repetitions of learning materials, education will be more effective if students are given the encouragement and chance to give their own opinions and arguments about even the simplest matter. While teaching materials are usually delivered orally, visual materials as well as observation are also very important.