Impact of social ideals and social life

 a.     Social Life and the Aims of Education: In the history of human civilization, one can see significant progress in the shape and form of social life, as new attitudes and scientific and technological developments made their life easier and happier. Social life today is so different from primitive social life because of technology. The recent significant progress in science and technology has led to essential changes in human values. As a result, the objective of education is to deliver practical and specialized training. In addition to technological developments, economic changes have also influenced social life considerably. Industrialization and urbanization have influenced economic change. Population increases have only added to the complexity of economic problems. For this reason, education is faced with the problem of providing such training as will improve the practical and vocational skills of the individual. In addition, education helps to earn individuals' livelihoods and also make a contribution nationwide.

The democratic values of equality, liberty, and fraternity are the most important part of social life in every country of the world. The social instinct of most people declines to differentiate between one person to another on the bases of community, caste, class, sex, creed, etc. Everyone wants freedom and demands an equal share of opportunities in every sphere of life. It has been experienced everywhere that true liberty and quality are impossible without spreading the feeling of fraternity. Consequently, one of the chief responsibilities of modern education is to generate a character that will help the educand to become a useful member of a democratic society.

b. Relation between Social Ideals and the Aims of Education: In any country, the social standards are firmed by the form of government and the ideas of its pronounced persons. In modern days, social ideals have been formed by the ideas of such great individuals as Aurobindo, Vivekananda, Rabindranath, Mahatma Gandhi, Dayananda, and also different government committees. Much the same can be seen in the case of civilized countries such as England, America, Germany, France, etc. The purposes of education are expressed by the ideas of leading philosophers and the strategies of the government.

However, the influence of social ideals can also be seen in the form of the fundamental social philosophy. Thus, social philosophy is seen in the form of materialism, utilitarianism, communism, idealism, democracy, fascism, and other philosophical approaches. These approaches are realized not only in the thinking only of a few people but also as a powerful force when it influences the whole society. These social attitudes influence and change the ideals of education. This is as follows:

1.      Idealism: In idealistic societies, of which one example is the ancient Indian Vedic society, the greatest emphasis is laid upon the propagation of religious, moral, and spiritual ideals. In this case, the permanent objectives are measured as more important than the instant ones. Efforts are made to achieve a complete development of the human personality and also to create the best possible synthesis between the basic elements of the individual and society. Most of the objectives of this education tend to be worldwide.

2.   Realism: The philosophy of realism proposes that in decisive the objectives of education, the instant needs of society should be kept in view. This attitude inspires technological, economic, and scientific education which can help in the physical development of the nation.

3.  Materialis: A society that accepts the materialistic philosophy sets no store by moral religious or spiritual values. Consequently, education is shaped to achieve the physical and mental growth of the individual.

4.   Pragmatism: Pragmatic thinking inspires a pattern of education in which every single gets the opportunity to develop all his abilities and skills to their completest extent.

5.    Fascism: Fascism receives the whole authority of the state, and claims that the state is the end, and the individual only the means to that end. Consequently, education is designed to develop the individual's instinct to serve the state. In this case, he is trained to work for the welfare of the state and to be ready for the greatest expenses he is named to perform.

6.    Communism: Communist societies normally stress the value of the real aims of education. Communist thinking is primarily materialistic in its value orientation, with the result that unswerving objectives are measured as unimportant. Labor is accorded the greatest importance. The aim of education is concerned with labor from every aspect, the economic, political, social, and even aesthetic. Educational institutions are simple devices of national policy. The ideas of the state are propagated among the educands everywhere, and no one has the liberty to oppose or criticize them. Consequently, the objective of education is to advocate collectivist ideals to the educands.

7.      Democracy: One example of a democratic society is the modern American society. The two important principles of democracy are that the individual is an end in himself and that he should conduct himself in such a way that his behavior encourages the welfare of all. Fraternity, liberty, and equality are the principles of democracy. The aim of a democratic society is the maximum good of the number. Consequently, education has the following objectives in a democratic society:

Ø  Creating admiration for human behavior among the generation.

Ø  Helping students to gain the means of education is to gain control over the greatest possible extent of social heritage. Helping the students to pay attention to the general welfare and to learn the difficult art of self-development.

Ø  Developing in each individual the ability to think in terms of established categories of truth.

Ø  Assisting the students in understanding the nature of democracy and in aiming at the progress of society as the goal of life.

It is seen that educational purposes in a democratic society are surrounded by promotion in the spread of democratic ideals. India is a democratic republic. Here, also, education aims at instilling the ideals of democratic life in the educands at every stage of education.

From the changing forms of various social life and social ideals, and the objectives of education compatible with each one of them, it is evident that the aims of education are not enduring but unstable. Hence, it follows that if we want to create a particular pattern of social life and social ideals in a society, the educational pattern must conform to that kind of social life. Most educationists level criticize the existing pattern of education for this reason. As long as the ideals and objectives of education continue to stray away from social ideals, it is necessary to offer criticism to guide them back. This is necessary because, in the final analysis, the single aim of education is to try and make every individual the ideal member of an ideal society.

References: Sociology of Education by S.S. Chandra & R. K. Sharma