How Education Mirrors and Shapes Society

Education immensely mirrors and shapes society. Although society comprises of additional aspects, the improvement and development of the future depends tremendously on education. Teachers are fundamental in equipping the future generations with enhanced knowledge and standards. For the pedagogical techniques to result in excellence, education provided by schools and university’s demands for qualified teachers to be dedicated and experienced in their workplace. Offered to construct the ambition of the double purpose of education. For education to improve, a change to the curriculum is required. Currently, education is reflecting on society negatively because it lacks the necessary skills and abilities to prepare students for the future. If the essential skills and aptitudes were taught in day to day education, students would be better prepared to challenge the development and progression of society. However, student’s progression and development are dependent on their motivation to learn and succeed.

Today’s teachers are crucial to develop and implement education to ensure it reflects our constantly changing society. Since children spend the majority of their time at school, teachers are influential to their development and knowledge. Society is dependent on teacher’s ability to educate students effectively, to create a society of respectful and conscious citizens, capable of successfully shaping the future. A good teacher is an educator who helps students to become great human beings, provides high quality professional role models and produces great leaders that play a big role on the social, economic and personal development (Kumar, 2016). For example, one of the most famous teachers in history, Anne Sullivan, devoted and dedicated her work as a teacher to help Helen Keller, a young, blind, deaf and mute girl to learn sign language and the use of other objects to allow Keller to communicate with the world (Salazar, 2018). Sullivan’s maturity, originality and advanced academic knowledge helped her acquire the motivation to tutor Keller. Within a months of Sullivan’s teaching, Keller had learnt “nearly 600 words, most of her multiplication tables and how to read braille” (Biography.Com, 2014), which is the “reading and writing system for the blind and visionally impaired individuals, consisting of risen dots read by their touch” (Better Health Channel, 2014). If Sullivan did not support and assist Kellen in communicating to the public, she would have never been the first blind and deaf student to graduate college, would not know a single word or mathematic symbols and could never expressed her thoughts or feelings to another person. This was accomplished entirely because Sullivan’s teaching quality and variety was optimistic, encouraging and effective, a truly extraordinary example of a teacher. The future generation is in the hand of educators and teachers, and it is their responsibility to develop education and produce a positive impression on students (Molla, 2018). Aristotle explains that if we “learn about the good, not simply to know what good is but to be good” (Stephen Kemmis, 2018), therefore teachers must desire to be good educators. A reduction in incompetent pedagogues will create reduced unethical education practices and social dissimilarities. In the future, the increase in noble and honourable teachers is needed to keep education and society from diminishing and to flourish our knowledge, information and data so our society progresses.

Influential factors that affect education include teacher quality, home situations and school circumstances. In many cases the educator or facility have little or no understanding of the issue’s students are facing and therefore are unable to assist and educate students effectively. An alternative way to make sure our teaching standards are meeting the highest quality, is to make sure all schools are maintaining theory of practice architectures. The theory of architectures aims to explain what makes a practice achievable, the understanding of the practice and what goes on in them that give us a critical grasp on the nature and consequences of the practice (Stephen Kemmis, 2018). In the learning equation, a teacher needs to know what they want to achieve, understand how they are going to complete the practice and what worked and what didn’t work so well. Another factor that can negatively affect a student’s learning is their home and school circumstances. For instance, Aristotle believed that the best influences for a student success depends on the kind of political community in which the student resides (Stephen Kemmis, 2018), these could include the “level of expectation, encouragement from society and the involvement of the caregivers and parent in schools” (Hattie, 2003). Also, the attributes that affect student motivation and results within schools include school size, class size, resource availability, financial situation and staff. This suggests that if the parents or schools do not care or provide attention to the outcome and results of student’s education neither will the student. The quality of education, home lifestyle and school will not always influence negatively on the student’s education, however schools are continually impacting the society further because of the impractical pedagogical techniques and methods they are currently teaching.

For the future, the department of education needs to pursue acceptable and appropriate methods to maintain and preserve the double purpose of education. Education’s double purpose aims to form and develop individuals with the knowledge, capabilities and character to partake in a good life and portray commitment to the good of humankind. It also aims to form and develop good societies, in which the good of humankind is the principal value (Stephen Kemmis, 2018). For this aim to be accurate students must be prepared to become educated for the workforce and have important abilities including cultural diversity, academic intelligence, social communication and intellectual development. The purpose is to help students gain the essential skills to live and grow into intelligent and responsible adults, however the methods of today’s teaching is only assisting them to become disheartened and depressed. For society to succeed in the future we need to improve certain skills and abilities, these include critical thinking, a creative imagination, the capability to learn from mistakes to absorb information and execute problem solving. In these methods of teaching, students are made to accept what they are being taught on belief without any questioning, which suppresses their intellect, emotional thoughts and creates a fear of failure. Schools are brainwashing students to avoid making mistakes at any cost and to consider failure as the end of the world, this issue eventually presents students in experiencing depression, anxiety, humiliation and lack of motivation. This limits the advancement of society and eventually shapes it to become stagnate in discoveries and inventions. 'Imagination is more important than knowledge, for knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress and giving birth to evolution' (Einstein, 2019). Therefore confronting mistakes and failure teaches an important lesson to demonstrate the truth from fiction and the right from wrong, which then develops better thinkers, creates problem solvers and grows wisdom (Archon, 2018). Reflecting on Einstein’s values on imagination, it should be a top priority in schools to incorporate further opportunity for universities and teachers to discover different and creative methods of teaching inside and outside the classroom.

Today’s curriculum reflects poorly on society, it is not beneficial or practical for the future leaders and does not give the necessary skills and ability to prepare students for the outside world. Today’s curriculum has not changed since the 19th century which has decreased our rate of acceleration proven by the Pisa results expressed by The Guardian (Karp, 2016). For society to accelerate in the future, an increase in knowledge, technology and human evolution is required, as the production of adaptation, creativity, autonomy, different perspectives and continued questioning of authority is essential. According to The Guardian, between 2000 to 2015, the average scores have significantly declined overtime proving that the education system is not succeeding or developing our society. The naplan test is an example of a useless resource introduce by the government to analyse and examines current students result around Australia. This test involves years 3,5,7 and 9 students to undertake a reading, writing and numeracy test at their school, where the results are published on the students report card and on the NAP website (ACARA, 2016). This cost taxpayers an estimate of $100 million and has not improved the teaching standards, discovery of greater insights for schools performance, increased student interest in learning or provided better resources for schools (Coulson, 2015). This $100 million could have been spent on heightening and improving resources, enhancing facilities or receiving new or different technology which could have resulted in improved education and reflected positively on society. This money could have been spread universally to advance and improve the curriculum to actually mirror societies essential abilities required for basic life skills.

What the world teaches in day to day education could change the outcomes and accomplishments of society enormously if essential skills and aptitudes were taught. At all school’s mathematics, english and science are compulsory but when will the use of tools such as long division or Shakespeare be relevant in this era. The curriculum illustrates long division is “meant for those occasions when we need to divide large numbers and we don't have a calculator at hand” (Bucholz, 2014). Now days the only people that use long division are the teachers that teach it, we now have a number of different technologies with enough efficiency of calculating it quicker and easier. Instead of teaching students answers to a test which has no relevance to their future career, educators should be shaping students with the basics needed to navigate today’s society and decide which career path they would like to take. By incorporating education that benefits students, such as learning concepts that have moral purpose or real-world experience, society would benefit by having more effective and better contributing citizens. For instance, incorporating agility, adaptability, effective oral and written communication, assessing information, curiosity and imagination into the curriculum to increase the essential abilities required for basic life skills. These could involve learning how to organise personal finance, to manage a loan or money, maintaining a car or home insurance, developing basic survival and emergency preparation and increase socialising or networking capabilities (Staff, 2012). Currently at Emmanuel college in Carrara the school has introduced a subject called sport and recreation, this enables students to learn physical education but without the unnecessary workload and stress. Daniel McLeod, teacher of sport and recreations at Emmanuel explains that ‘this class enables students to cultivate more of the business and fitness experience and allows them to complete their certificate II and III in Fitness and certificate II and III in sport and recreation’. No matter what school you attend, or the different subjects offered, it is not possible without the efforts, willingness and eagerness of educators to create and deliver a curriculum that mirrors society, to successfully shape students.

Whilst a respectable teacher can produce worthy education and positive results, the most influential factor that affects a student’s learning is a student’s motivation. As a student, “you have the ability to influence your education” (Studera, 2019), for example having the motivation and passion to engage and achieve their best and the desire to learn and study to advance in higher education. To improve the student’s motivation and desire teachers should set short-term and long-term goals which will enable students to realise what they wish to achieve and then accomplish them. A teacher from La Colombiere school, Isaac Ddumba declares that, “encouraging students to set goals, academic and non-academic, is what is missing in the system. Learners should be shown the possibilities ahead, while teaching them to be self-driven and motivated” (Atieno, 2018). Setting short-term and long-term goals should be included in the curriculum so that students can be motivated and self-driven individuals to accomplish their own goals and beliefs throughout society.

There is, without a question, that education mirrors and shapes society. Without the maturity, originality and advanced academical knowledge of teachers our society will never educate student effectively, to create a society of respectful and conscious citizens, capable of successfully shaping the future. To shape the future generation the responsibility of teachers, parents and society involves lowering the levels of expectation, increase encouragement from the society and involve parents and caregivers throughout student’s school life. Key methods to increase parent’s involvement, include being a role model to not only their child but all students, that confronting mistakes and failure is a good thing and to include it within the curriculum. For a beneficial and practical curriculum, the department of education needs to invest their money and invest in increasing the knowledge of teachers and students, advance in technology to further increase the rate of human evolution. The daily curriculum needs to incorporate moral and experienced skills that provide basic life skills, setting short-term and long-term goals can assist to have the best opportunity for individual accomplishment in society. In conclusion, education is vital to society because it mirrors today’s society to students, so they can learn, evolve and shape tomorrows society.