NAME : NUR AMIRAH BINTI CHE HASHIM

STUDENT ID : 2017165213
GROUP : ED241/2B

Education is defined as the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction,

especially at a school or university. In the subject of Sociology of Education, I had learnt a lot
of topics regarding school and one of them is functions of Education. There are five functions
of education which are for socialization, transmission of culture, social control and personal
development, selection and allocation and change and innovation. Throughout my whole life,
I have been blessed with chances to attend good educational platform, staring from
kindergarten until higher institution that I managed to utilised all the function of education.

First and foremost, the function of education is a platform for socialization. When I
was 6 years old, my family and I moved from our hometown in Kelantan to Miri, Sarawak. I
lived there for about three and a half years. I did not attend kindergarten at that time as my
mother is a housewife. We lived in a housing area where most of the tenant were Chinese and
there were no kids which is in my age. Therefore, I did not have any friend to play with
except for my siblings. However, as I reached seven years old, I started to attend a public
school named Sekolah Kebangsaan Riam Batu Dua. I was so happy because I was able to
meet with many kids with the same age. I started to make friends with people from different
ethnicities such as Iban and Chinese. Other than being able to interact with my peers, I also
able to interact with adults other than my parents such as teachers, school’s janitor and also
canteen workers. I had a good relationship with one of the aunties that work in the school
canteen. At that time, she adores me so much that she always gave me leftover kuih before I
went home after the school sessions ended. Overall, my primary school does play a role as a
place for socialization as I was able to interact with my peers and adults other than my
parents.

Second, education plays a role as the transmission of culture. If my parents taught me

how to eat be a good daughter, teachers taught me how to be a good people that to live with
the society. Functionalist theory states that school is a place of transmitting the culture
necessary to perform successfully in adult worlds. In school, I learnt about culture both
through formal and informal education. As for formal education, I learnt about the
similarities and differences of culture that exists in our country through the lessons taught by
my teachers, both directly and indirectly. In the subject of History, I learnt to appreciate the
sacrifices of our ancestors and be a good citizen to our country. In the subject of Religion, I
learnt about the differences in people beliefs in religion. As for informal education, I learnt
about the differences of culture by mingling with people from different background. As I
attended a multiracial primary school, I was able to learn and observe the differences in
culture of every ethnicity through my friends. I tried to eat the food, wear their traditional
clothes and even learn their language. Even though we came from different background, we
learnt to respect each other differences and value the similarities.

Third, education is a platform for social control and personal development. In school,
teachers are person in charge of building students’ personalities, ways of thinking and
deciding the limitations in behaviours. In order to control the students, rules and regulations
were set by the school administration. When I was attending schools, both primary and
secondary school, I made sure to follow all the rules and regulation of the schools. I followed
the code attires set by the school administration and did not bring any disallowed items to
school such as smartphones and novels. This is because if I bring any illegal items as set by
the school regulations, it will be confiscated by the teachers and it will be recorded in my
disciplines record. It will give disadvantages for the me as the record is important for the
higher institution evaluation. The rules and regulation does make me exhausted, but it is
important to set some restriction in order for me to be a better person.

Forth, the function of education is to do selections and allocations of people before

entering the society. As I managed to get good results for Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah
(UPSR), I was able to attend a high prestige school in Kelantan, Sekolah Menengah
Kebangsaan Agama (SMKA) Naim Lilbanat, after went through few interviews and tests.
Even after attending the school, I still had to take few examinations set by schools in order to
set my position in the school. The allocation of students into classroom were based on IQ
level, so we had to sit for evaluation exam every year end. As for higher-secondary level, my
friends and I were able to select our course based on the Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR)
examination result. Students with good grades can make decision whether to take pure
science subjects or Accounting streams, but people with bad grades will automatically be put
into the accounting stream and some of them would be removed from schools and transfer
into another school. It was a fierce competition between students. The best students will be
selected as head of students. Students who graduated with good results will be able to further
their studies in a prestige higher institution.
 Lastly, education is a place for change and innovation. Nowadays, the rapid
development of technology has given a lot of advantages to the society. In order to advance
in the society, it is important for students to have knowledge and possessed technological
skills. For example, when I was in high school, we were taught how to use a computer and its
basic software and also how to set up an email for educational purposes. As for the higher
institution, I was able to set a place in the Faculty of Education in University Technology of
Mara (UiTM), aiming for being a First-Class graduate of Bachelor in Teaching English as
Second Language (TESL). One of the subject offered by the courses is Educational
Technology. In this subject, I was taught on how to use selected software that are useful when
I become a teacher. I learnt how to create teaching materials by using both online and offline
software. I also managed to learn how to engage in an online discussion through online
educational platform. All and all, education exposed me on the advancement of technology
and how to used it and also the innovation that I can create from it.

As the conclusion, education is not only functioning as knowledge provider, but also a
platform for socializing, transmission of culture, social control and development, selection
and allocation and also change and innovation. Education does play a big role in a person life.
Therefore, it should not be taken lightly and the opportunities to gain it must be equally
distributed to people regardless of differences in religion, cultures and economic purposes.

(1184 words)