What Should be the Aims of Education?

What should be the aims of education is a crucial question that merits deep pondering. Some people think that being educated means getting through academic institutions or making one's brain a repository of some facts and information but this approach towards education is absolutely flawed.

 

Holding a degree or diploma or certificate for the purpose of earning merely a living cannot be called education. This is rather a narrow and myopic view. If storing data and facts were the gauge of being educated, then the most educated beings would be the supercomputers with capacities of trillions of bytes up in their memory units. And if such were the objectives of education, Islam would not make it incumbent on every Muslim – male or female – to learn, and receive education.

In a broader perspective, education is not only information-oriented but is also values-based factor. It emphasizes more on practice than theory. In real connotation of education, knowing is not enough, it must be accompanied by doing and practically implementing what has been learnt. The core purposes of education should be character-building, personality development, spiritual consciousness, to name a few.

Education should be so as to enhance the intellect and explore the hidden natural talents and potential of a person to bring out his best. Furthermore, education, on the basis of different ends it has to achieve, and functions it has to bring forth, can be made to function in numerous areas of activities, most fundamental of which are the moral, mental and spiritual development.

The first and foremost aim of education should be the mental nourishment of an individual. It should expedite the fullest development and use of his/her mental capabilities. In other words, it should be able to nurture his personality and make him able to exploit his real God-gifted talent. Education should produce a well-disciplined and cultured mind. Discipline is a matter of effective training and, more importantly, a man with a disciplined mind is equipped with propitious training to deal with problems that are bound to confront him in life. Such a person would be bold enough to utilize his innate abilities to analyze situations and respond properly to them. Education can make him communicative, farsighted, cultured and able to earn a living. In a nutshell, it prepares him for life. Following are some aims which the education must fulfil:

Firstly, having received proper education, one should earn his livelihood so as to avoid being a parasite or dependent on others. Self-esteem and confidence in one's abilities are the essential features of an educated being.

Secondly, an educated person must have effective tools of communication. He must have a gregarious attitude towards life, for one cannot live in isolation.

Fellowship feelings must be an integral part of his personality to preserve sympathy, consideration and social attachment.

Thirdly, education should make one capable to adopt him/her to new changes and ideas because change is the law of life and it is the only thing that is constantly occurring all around. Every age has experienced change but that of ours has it with more rapidity. “History”, one has said, “is ahead of schedule” and the current changes and challenges substantiate the statement quite aptly. So entertainment of new ideas is highly significant for us.



Fourthly, education should prepare one to get along with others. Living in constant touch with others is one of the most serious requirements of our age. The history of civilization in part is the history of man's learning to become involved in larger relationships. The progress of “we” from family to tribe, tribe to clan, clan to nation and nation to world order is a part of this development. We need to take interest in others to live peacefully. To be educated is to put the statement “we are members of one another” in practice.

Fifthly, to be educated is to be capable to entertain oneself, to create a rich and dialectical inner life and a wide range of appreciation and self-control. Educated is the person who has tolerance not to get frustrated though alone. Some people are so lackadaisical that they  break into tears if they have to spend one or two hours in solitude. The present excessive use of grudges, alcohol and barbiturates clearly manifests the seriousness of the issue and enlightens the need to learn self-control and have a better understanding of life.

Another objective of education should be the moral and spiritual development of man. Morality is what that draws the fundamental line of demarcation between human and animals. Broadly speaking, spirituality is the ultimate end of creation. Morality may differ from people to people but in the real sense it is found in the articulated saying of Socrates: “know thyself.”

This is the true essence of morality. Knowing your inner self is important at a time when there exists a huge difference between our remarkable understanding and control of our physical world along with the meagre understanding and control of ourselves.

Given the above-mentioned points, there should be practical steps taken to implement the policies which serve the purpose of fulfilling these purposes. Thus only the education will help improve the standard of life in our country.