Education

GOAL:

For students to gain an understanding of education’s impact on the lives of Caribbean people.

PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES:

1. Explain what education is concerned about. 2. Examine the definitions of formal and informal education.

3. Describe the historical context of education in the Caribbean.

4. Examine the main idea and purpose of education.

5. Compare and contrast education from a functionalist and conflict perspective.

WHAT IS EDUCATION CONCERNED ABOUT?

Education, as a social institution, contains our deep beliefs and values about what the young should know and how learning should take place. Our national consensus, enshrined in law, sees school as the main place to become educated. Home schooling is a recent phenomenon, but the vast majority is of the view that schools should be the place to educate its people.

The institutional environment of education refers to the values that comprise the social institution of education and the practices that stem from such a value position. It may not be the usual way you think of education, but it helps in relating what you see around you. Education, therefore, is concerned with socialising members of a society into the norms, values, knowledge and skills that a society deems important.

FORMAL AND INFORMAL EDUCATION

Formal education is classroom-based, provided by trained teachers. Informal education happens outside the classroom, in after-school programmes, community-based organisations, museums, libraries or at home.

WHAT ARE THE MAIN DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TWO?

In general, classrooms have the same kids and the same teachers every day. After-school programmes are often drop-in, so attendance is inconsistent, as is leadership.

Classroom activities can last several days. After-school programmes need to complete an activity each day because a different group of kids could be in attendance tomorrow.

Classroom-based teachers have a certain level of training in educational philosophy, effective teaching strategies, classroom management and content. After-school providers, by contrast, vary in experience and knowledge of teaching techniques, content expertise, and group management. Typically, materials for after-school settings need to include a lot more structure.

Teachers need to meet educational standards and stick to a specified curriculum, which can make it difficult for them to incorporate non-traditional content. After-school programmes, on the other hand, can be more flexible with their content.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF EDUCATION IN THE CARIBBEAN

Education was only for the children of the Europeans.

What implication would education have on slaves?

Were they ever exposed to formal/informal education? If yes, how did this impact them?

The Emancipation Act of 1834 exposed exslaves to formal education through the Negro Education Grant. This grant facilitated the construction of elementary schools throughout the British Caribbean. It is imperative to note that ex-slaves were not educated beyond the elementary level. This was so because the elites felt that education would provide the avenue for ex-slaves to transition in a free society, hence, they were only introduced to the basics – reading, arithmetic, writing and a little geography. This move was good, but it was irrelevant to the Caribbean because the curriculum used was strictly English, professing English values, norms, beliefs, songs, poems, stories, customs, etc. As such, Caribbean pupils had no real concrete examples to hold on to (symbolism was not possible).

EDUCATION’S MAIN IDEA

Education was the means to social mobility – the Caribbean was highly stratified. The elite sought to block education from the ex-slaves, hence, a cost was attached to secondary education and elementary education was completely free. The elites thought that the exslaves could compromise the position of the stratified society if exposed to education beyond the elementary level, because they would have been exposed and poised to develop thinking skills with which they could establish themselves as successful individuals and create the avenue for decolonization to take place.

The secondary curriculum was steeped in European values and customs. African, Indian and American histories and cultures were not considered legitimate topics for Caribbean children. Therefore, there was a deep feeling that only the understanding of Western culture could help us to develop into a modern nation.

In keeping with maintaining a stratified society, only children who were ‘bright’ or showed the ability for academic work were to be educated at the secondary level and beyond. Therefore, assessment procedures were put in place to maintain the status quo in society; for example, qualifying exams for entry into secondary schools – such as GSAT (Jamaica), and CXC and CAPE for entry into tertiary-level education. As the years progressed, education became available to the masses, therefore, the focus shifted from securing a place in a secondary school to looking for a ‘good’ school. That’s why most persons, in their GSAT choices chose schools like Campion College, Immaculate Conception High, Kingston College, Ardenne High School, Holy Childood High School, Wolmer’s Girls and Wolmer’s Boys’ schools, etc, as opposed to Papine High, Dunoon Technical, Kingston Technical and Charlie Smith High, just to name a few.

The dominant ideas in education are translated into the social organisation that frame our education system – for example, schools, examinations, streaming. These customary practices are derived from the institutional ideas and beliefs about education.

PURPOSES OF EDUCATION

The purpose of education after slavery revolved around the principle of inculcating English values and customs which would facilitate an easier administration of the newly freed people. In the 20th century, the focus on education changed because all children were required to attend school. There was, however, biases in the system as students were sorted, allocated and selected based on their abilities; only the ‘bright’ ones followed a different path.

The social institution of education thus performs different function on children, categorising them according to academic ability and placing them in different types of schools. Education, then, organises the opportunities and life chances of the young people.

FUNCTIONALIST PERSPECTIVES ON EDUCATION

To a large extent, functionalism regards education as an agent of socialization. Schools are agents of secondary socialization, which never stops. Even adults continue to learn appropriate behaviours. Schools inculcate dispositions of obedience, regularity, punctuality and work ethics that are valued by employers. They socialise students into the need to get a ‘good job’. They sort, stream and allocate students through exams and curricula to different positions.

Additionally schools perform the following functions:

(a) Socialise students into patriotism through rituals and explicit curriculum goals.

(b) To respect the nation’s political institutions; to accept the status quo.

(c) Schools socialise children into the role they will play as adult voters.

(d) Denominational schools socialise students to accept religion and its values as important to education.

(e) High status and prestige are conferred on denominational schools by the values in the institution of education.

CONFLICT PERSPECTIVES ON EDUCATION

Conflict theorists focus their explanations of the social institution of education on its relationship with the social institution of the economy.