The Aims of Education

Aims of Education
The aims and purposes of education are defined by people with no
common perspectives; hence the various formulations of educational
aims:

 Education should aim at preparing the learner for “citizenship” regardless

of whether the state into which he or she is to be integrated or socialized
has a democratic or an authoritarian character.

 Education must aim at developing the individual as “man” or as a

human being, regardless of his membership .

 Education must aim at preparing the students for eternal life.

 Education must aim at a comprehensive preparation of the individual to

be a) a worker b) a citizen c) a person.
 Education would not have any
justification:

 If it fails to provide the learner with the

necessary skills and competencies for
gainful employment
 If it does not “enable the person” to
critically participate in political
decisions that affect his life
 If it does not allow the full flowering of
the human potentialities.
Education has thus a vocational,
political and personal dimension. With
this wholistic thrust, education, in the
mind of its formulators, will hopefully
enable the student to live “a good
and fulfilling life”.
 The Character of Education
Education has an ambivalent character. It
can be either a boon or bane to society,
education is not always an unmixed
blessing. Education can be an instrument for
promoting conformity and social ability. The
ambivalence of education lies in the fact
that education is not a mere abstraction
which exists on its own apart from a social
context, nor is it simply a process of
transmitting the cultural heritage from one
generation to another.
Education is a social activity the aims and
purpose of which are not fabricated in
heaven, but crafted by real people with
differing political interests.

Education is an instrument for preserving the

status quo. It is a vital weapon for social
emancipation.
Education appears to be a manipulable
tool which social groups would always
want to control in order to advance their
fundamental interests. There is no
consensus on what education should
ultimately aim at merely conforms the
proposition that when people have
differing material conditions in life, they
think of education as a means for ensuring
social stability or social change.