Education

By Godesa Evanes B. Dagpin

“When a school introduces and
trains each child of society into
membership within such a little
community, saturating him with
the spirit of service, and
providing him with the
instruments of effective self-
direction, we shall have the
deepest and best guaranty of a
larger society which is worthy,
lovely and harmonious.”
 Education or school is an
institution created by society.
Education is a function of
society and as such arises from
the nature and character of
society itself. Society seeks to
preserve itself and to do this it
maintains its functions and
institutions, one of which is
education, to assure its survival,
Education in the Primitive Society
Brinkerhoff (1989) explains further:
In primitive societies, preliterate persons
faced the problem of survival in an environment
that pitted them against natural forces and wild
animals. To survive, human beings needed food,
shelter, warmth and clothing. To transform a
hostile environment into one that is life-
sustaining, humankind developed life skills that
eventually became cultural patterns.
Early human kind found security in group life
based on kinship and tribal patterns. Life in the
human group was educational as children
observed and learned from the elders. For
these cultural patterns to continue, the adults
had to teach these skills and values to their
children. This is socialization, a function of
education in society. Socialization is the
process by which individuals internalize the
norms and values of society and so social ad
cultural continuity are attained. This is also
informal education in action.
As abstract thinkers, human beings could
create, use and manipulate symbols. They
could communicate with one another
through gestures, sounds and words. These
symbols were expressed in signs, pictographs,
letters. The creation and introduction of oral
and written language made a great leap on
literacy which in turn had tremendous
educational consequences which citizens of a
civilized society like netizens of the 21st century
now enjoy.