Benguet State University Graduate School La Trinidad, Benguet COLLEGE OF TEACHER EDUCATION Education and its Legitimacy A Written

Report in Philo 310. Historical and Legal Basis of Education by Sheila G. Dolipas Ph.D. Educational Management Chapter 3 of the handbook Legal Basis of Education by Bauzon (2006) was used as the framework of this report. The legitimacy of education is put into question as the reporter concludes that education in general is in crisis. This conclusion is reached using the implications of the way education are seen as a necessity and as a religion. INTRODUCTION The Romans constructed the verb educare from the words ex and ducere which mean- to draw out of, lead out of, etc. The Romans considered educating to be synonymous with drawing knowledge out of somebody or leading them out of regular thinking. The word education was developed from the noun of the verb educare. (http://www.babeled.com/2008/11/27/word-power-education/downloaded April, 2009) In earlier societies (i.e. hunting and gathering societies, horticultural and pastoral societies) education was synonymous with acculturation, the transmission of culture from one generation to the next (Ember and Ember, 2002). There was no separate institution called education (Henslin, 1993). It was an integral part of what growing up where children learned what was necessary to get along in life. If cooking and hunting were the essential skills, the persons who already possessed those skills taught them. These societies eventually gave way to agricultural society by the invention of the plow. Sociologists refers to this social revolution as the the dawn of civilization where surpluses made it possible for some individuals ( e.g. Confucius, Plato, Socrates, etc) to specialize in teaching. Formal education however remained limited to those who had the leisure to pursue it (Schools comes from the greek word schole meaning leisure.) Mass schooling began with the rise of industrial societies (Abelos, 2006). Industrialization transformed education and learning- for the new machinery and new types of job brought a general need to be able to read, to write, to work accurately with figuresthe classic three Rs of the 19th century( reading, riting, and rithmitic) ( Henslin, 2003). Over time, the amount of education necessary continued to expand. Subsequently, there was a deliberate organization of educational experience (Abelos, 2006), made it compulsory for people of certain age groups, train specialists to act as educators, and provide locations and equipment for the teaching and learning process. For some societies who have moved on to what sociologists called post industrial society, education is viewed as a source of knowledge- a tool necessary for the modern age (Bell, 1973 as quoted in http://ssr1.uchicago.edu/NEWPRE/POLSOC98/Bell.html, downloaded April, 2009) How Education is seen The handbook defines education as the bureaucratically minted currency the institution grants its clients under the seal of a professional teacher (Bauzon, 2006). It is through education that knowledge and information is received and spread throughout the world( Peter, 2004). An uneducated person cannot read and write and hence he is closed to all the knowledge and wisdom he can gain through books and other mediums. In other words, he is shut off from the outside world. In contrast, an educated man lives in a room with all its windows open towards outside world. Education as a necessity and a commodity Education became the largest single industry in most society and in this manner, it is a commodity. Sociologist Randall Collins (1979) observed that we have become a credential society, one in which employers use diplomas and degrees to determine

who is eligible for a job. Abelos (2006) defiend it as a society in which overwhelming importance is attached to educational qualifications. This phenomenon as first observed by Collins in the 1960s is as prevalent as ever. According to the CliffsNotes.com., (Apr 2009) The demand for credentials has
become so great that it is changing the face of higher education. Many students who attend college for a year or, and then enter the workforce in an entry-level job, may find themselves needing a four-year degree. Oftentimes, regardless of their years of experience or competence on the job, employees who have the appropriate credentials receive advancement.

Hesnlin(1993) mentioned that in many cases, the diploma or a degree is quite irrelevant for a particular work that must be performed for the following reasons; a. b. some people are denied jobs they could do simply because they lack the credentials. Other people are spending unnecessary time and money and college-just to get credentials that are essentially irrelevant to the actual work that they will do for the most of their lives.

Two reasons why employers demand higher educational credentials from their workers. 1. Diplomas and degrees serve as automatic sorting devices. qualifications. 2. There is a belief among employers that better educated workers are more productive than those who are less educated. This implies that higher credentials means higher earnings, simply because of the value of the job market places on it. This made our aware that educational credentials are the key to social mobility. In an article written by Levy and Murname(2004) entitled EDUCATION and the CHANGING MARKET. Most firms nowadays demands two types of skills; - expert thinking and .complex communication. Expert thinking is the ability to solve new problems that cannot be solved by applying rules (i.e. fixing unexpected problems in a car manual ad blue collar jobs). Complex communication is the ability not only to elicit and transmit information but also convey a particular interpretation of information to others ( i.e. teaching, selling, managing, and negotiation- requires this skill. There seems to be a decline in routine manual work (manufacturing) and routine cognitive work (filing and bookkeeping) which can be computerized. Knowledge Capitalism Knowledge Capitalism is the term used by other sociologists and economist to describe the link between economy and educational . In knowledge capitalism, there is the existing economic importance of knowledge that redefines firmmarket boundaries, work arrangements and the links between education, work and learning (Burton-Jones, 2003). Firms with strong intellectual, as distinct from physical, assets nowadays dominate world stock markets. By the mid-1990s, the Microsoft Corporation, while possessing a mere 5% of the net tangible assets of General Motors, had a market capitalisation three times that of the industrial giant. As Peter Drucker (1993) summed it up, knowledge has become the only economic resource that matters. We are moving into an era of knowledge capitalism. The World Banks 1998 World Development Report states: For countries in the vanguard of the world economy, the balance between knowledge and resources has shifted so far towards the former that knowledge has become the most important factor determining the standard of living.. Todays most technological advanced economies are truly knowledge based (http://dti.gov.uk/comp/competetive, downloaded April, 2009)

The report emphasizes the new growth theory which claims that education and technology as central to economic growth. The role of higher education is important in the creation of human capital and in the production of new knowledge. Education is important (a) for successful research activities which in turn is important for the productivity for growth and (b) for creating human capital which directly affects knowledge accumulation and therefore productivity growth. Education as a Religion and Ritual According to the handbook, faith in education animates a new form of world religion (Bauzon, 2006). Characteristics of this Religion 1. Too demanding a. Children are grouped by age b. Children must attend services called lecture classes c. Children are expected to perform tasks d. The ministers must be ordained and must board passer e. Children are expected to move from one grade level to the next 2. The servants are distinctly qualified than any other servants of other religion The religion of education and the rituals of schooling contains powerful hidden curriculum Hidden curriculum Hidden Curriculum describes the set of unwritten rules of behavior and attitudes such as obedience to authority and conformity to cultural norms that are taught in schools in addition to the formal curriculum.( Henslin, 1993). Content is the overt curriculum. Process is the 'hidden curriculum' a term invented by Philip Jackson (1986). The function of the hidden curriculum is to foster conformity to the cultural values. The hidden curriculum as obligatory instruction or 'education' becomes obligatory attendance of obligatory schooling. Obligatory schooling revolves around teacher authority and student passivity. Life as obligatory schooling is based on student classification according to age and performance on standardized tests. In the sorting process, students are expected to be obedient and passive, to work at meaningless tasks without complaint, to value competition and to respect their teachers as authority figures even though are forced to remain weak and demoralized. In this way, the schools can pursue their objectives in the successful reproduction of cultural values which form the basis for the hidden curriculum. Downside of Hidden Curriculum: Students lose their incentive to grow in independence, to recognize relatedness and connection, and they disconnect themselves from opportunities which life has to offer. Education in Crisis Bauzon( 2006) claims that education is experiencing a mild breakdown 1. Education it seems is not enhancing equality but rather perpetuating the societys prevailing inequalities. Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis ( 1976) used the term correspondence principle to refer to the way schools corresponds to or reflect the social structure of the society. 2. Forcing instruction to students deadens the will for independent learning. 3. When treated as a commodity will always be scarce. Crisis in Higher institution (taken from Michael Peters 2007. HIGHER EDUCATION, GLOBALISATION AND THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY)

Historically universities; 1. central knowledge institutions ( knowledge has been seen as an end and an element for scientific and material progress, and cultural preservation) 2. has served as critics and conscience of society and the critical function has been protected from political interference and the unpredictable change in the market through historical development through notions of institutional autonomy and academic freedom. 3. served the needs of the society thru the development of knowledge for scientific progress and emancipation. But these has undergone radical change; As knowledge has become important economically-external pressures and forces have seriously impinge upon its structural protections and traditional freedoms. The traditional liberal values associated with knowledge such as free inquiry, freedom of thought-as an element of academic freedom and liberation, emancipation, and democratic virtues often come in conflict and suffer decision trade-offs with economic values of UTILITY, TECHNICAL CONTROL, COMMERCIAL SECRECY, and WEATH CREATION. How Should Education Be Bauzon( 2006) suggested that there has to be; 1. a genuine effort to find more effective and universal ways of packaging learning for life and marketing through other systems 2. Education must be geared towards acquiring information about every aspect of the world before being allowed to face. This is knowing more and more about less and less These would eventually lead to a GLOBAL SCHOOL HOUSE run by a party of ALLKNOWING TEACHERS . The present set-up prevents teachers from doing this that is why the author suggested an INTERNAL REVOLUTION w/n the school. An article by Patrick Jenlink in Educational Technology entitled EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMIC CHANGE (2005), the tensions and contradictions is not an easy work- it requires systemic change that embraces values for discourses and democracy. Changing the system- implies changing ourselves: CHANGE BEGINS WITH THE HUMAN DIMENSIONS. We do not change education mandating reforms driven by political agendas or by using old models of change based on an outdated educational consciousness. The change in the individual is embracing the modes of consciousness that animate a generative surge of change. According to the article, local and global educators must interpret the following concepts into educational contexts a state of mind in which there is a greater need for educators, policy makers who understand that an educational system must necessarily be different in order to address societys problems