THE ROLE OF STATE IN EDUCATION

by Misbah Rehman

M.S. Department of Education, University of Karachi.

INTRODUCTION:

Education is an essential component of life. It is a self enlightening process that brings about an awareness of the world around us. It develops our perspective of gaining knowledge, which opens up limitless opportunities improving the aspects of life.

Government is such a social organization that not only keeps discipline in the society but also influence educational agencies and social organizations. It is an educational agency which indirectly provides education for people, and influences thoughts, character and theories of the people. That knowledge is no knowledge which does not represent its environment and situation. In other words, education is effected by surrounding happenings. Its syllabus is the reflection of the environment, whether it is political or social. Education furbishes in the environment .and it transfers the effects which it gets from the environment from generation to generation. The changing in the environment also effect education, whether they are political or social. That is why, education‘s connection with politics is unavoidable. Plato has linked the connection of government and education with their aims and goals in his book (state) riyasat. The aim of education is to make leaders. In other words, philosophers with high educational abilities will rule and govern, and the aim of the government is to provide education t6o people according to their abilities and skills, so that the society become the symbol of justice

DEFINITIONS OF EDUCATION:

1. Education, or being educated, involves all senses being exposed to a series of stimuli, which will enhance and grow the mental capacity of someone, to achieve a set of, or a specific objective.

 (http://www.helium.com/items/1730060-education-the-best-methods)

2. The act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life.

(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/education)

According to John Dewey

3. The process of living through continuous reconstruction of experiences. It is development of all those capacities in the individual which will enable him to control his environment and fulfils his possibilities.

DEFINITIONS OF THE STATE:             

1. State commonly refers to either the present condition of a system or entity, or to a governed entity (such as a country) or sub-entity (such as a province or region).

(http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/state.)

               

2. Groups of people which have acquired international recognition as a independent country and which have a population, a common language and a defined and distinct territory.

(http://www.duhamic.org/legaldictionary/s/state.)

3. The state is a form of a political association, and political association is itself only one form of human association.

EDUCATION AND STATE

When we discuss the relation between state and education, we have to first discuss the relation between state and individual. Rousseau in his social contract theory regards the state as a necessary evil. His opinion was that a state is an obstacle in the development of an individual. An individual he had the right to over throw state if it went against his interests. According to Rousseau, the powers of the state should be confined to minimum, e.g., checking external aggression, safeguarding internal peace and protecting the person and the property of the individual. Nobody could imagine that the state should be entrusted with the responsibility of education. It was the responsibility of the family and then of the class. Our present culture and civilization have become very complex and specialized .this has weakened the influence of the home in education of the child. Necessity, therefore, arose of establishing a social institution, the main purpose of which was to perpetuate and spread culture. All that society has achieved for itself is put through the agency of the school at the disposal of its future members. But the establishment of the school does not absolve the society or state fro its responsibility and it remains an important informal agency of education. Philosophers widely differ so far as the origin of society and its functions are concerned. But so far as education is concerned most of them agree on the broad principle that it is the duty of the state to raise its citizens to a higher plane of life through education and culture. It should remember that in a class society, education is an important ladder for social mobilization. If the class or family was unable to give education to its members, there was a danger that its membership might be scaled down in the ladder.

ROLE OF THE STATE IN EDUCATION

States have legal responsibility and authority to provide public education for their citizens. How mach state fulfill its responsibility varies. Whether state education agencies are supporting education reform efforts, providing technical assistance, defining and controlling educational content, or assessing the outcomes of education. It is generally agreed that state is there to assure that colleges and schools are providing quality opportunities to adults and children, and in a manner that meets the standards the state has set for achievement.

A variety of studies provide evidence that college educated persons have fundamental effects on state and local economies through its association with wages, economic growth, personal incomes, and tax revenues. As a result, policymakers in many countries try to increase the percentage of the state’s population (or workforce) that has a college degree through the use of various higher education policies that have the potential to influence the supply side of the labor market. Several types of related to the finance and production of graduate and undergraduate education within a state, including expansions in degree production and scholarships to encourage attendance at in-state colleges are discussed .more research is needed to identify the causal effects of the policies on the behavior of the students and to sort out the responses by students and institutions to make changes in state policies.

Following are the areas where the states play a vital role:

 SCHOOL OF DIFFERENT GRADES

        The population of the country can not only be educated by the government able or the people alone. They both have to work together to make the country and nation great. That’s why the government should establish educational institutes and also allow individuals to establish on the personal bases, especially on primary and secondary level in every small and big town or city. The state should open schools of different grades___ primary, secondary and technical etc, according to the needs of the locality.       

 MAKE EDUCATION UNIVERSAL AND COMPULSORY

        The state should make education universal and compulsory at least up to the primary stage. If we want illiteracy to end in our country the government should take steps in opening schools all over the country.

 EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL

        The state should provide equal opportunities for all so far as the field of education is concerned. There should be no differentiation between rich and the poor.

 EDUCATION EXPENSES

        The state should determine how the expenses of education shall be met , how much should be borne by the state and how much by the parents .some persons are of opinion that if education is cheapened, parental responsibility will be diminished . But if the equal opportunities are provided for all, it is best for the state to shoulder the entire responsibility.

·       SCHOLARSHIP AND YOUTH EXCHANGE PROGRAMS

Another important role of the state is to provide national and international scholarship for deserving students like in our country higher education commission (HEC) did in recent years. Moreover worldwide youth exchange programs are developed to broaden the vision of upcoming generation.

·       EDUCATIONAL EQUIPMENT BE GIVEN

 It is the duty of the government to aid educational organization. In the present era, latest technology and equipment are needed in science laboratories. The government should provide every thing to the institutes. Sports complexes should be built for the health and fitness of the students. The government should try its best to improve the physical environment of educational organizations. Our country’s education commission have also complained about the physical situation of schools and colleges, like no sports complex, lab and resources, old and damaged buildings etc. the sharer commission has urged the government to fulfill materialistic needs provide an excellent and suitable environment for education.

·       HEALTH CENTERS FOR THE STUDENTS

The government should establish special health centers for students. Small clinics and dispensaries are not enough on school and college levels. Because student’s problems and diseases can not be discharged and solved in small clinics. They need special attention and care in health-centers, which are made for this purpose.

SCHOOL CONTROL

        The state should take the general control of the school in its own hand. The whole community should select the course of studies. It is also the duty of the state to check the inefficient private school.

 WELL TRAINED TEACHERS

        The state should make arrangements for the supply of efficient and trained teachers. The pivot of the education system is the personality of the teacher. The teacher is the nation builder. Inefficient teachers will mar the nation .the state should open well-equipped and well-staff training colleges for producing well-trained teachers. Moreover, the state should see that the teachers are well paid and hold a good position in society.

·       ESTABLISHMENT OF TRAINING AND PROFESSIONAL INSTITUTES

Individuals co operates with the government for common educational development by establishing educational organizations. But usually the government has to establish training and professional institutes. Therefore, the government should establish these institutes in every city of the country, and control it by making policies of their own. Where educating people will be the responsibilities of the government, and people.          

 RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION

        The state should also promote educational research and experimentation .new methods should be devised and experimented.

COMMUNITY CO OPERATION

        The community should give its full co-operation to the other agencies of education.  It should give assistance to the school in discharging it’s properly with resources and active participation.

FINANCING

        The basic role of state is to finance the education set up, since countries spent a considerable amount of their GDP in education which ranges from 4% to 12%.

 PROVIDING POLICIES

        State provides the basic infrastructure and policies to be followed on, as the private sector also plays its part along with public sector. So in our country state provides the education policies. it is interested to note here that after independence state have given the  policies  showing different perspective ,and we have experience nationalization,islamization and privatization in a short period of time , and now we are experiencing public private partnership in education.

CURRICULUM PLANNING

        Curriculum planning is that pivot on which all the system of education reveals, it also affects the future of the nations; too hence the basic theme of primary and secondary education is conceived and produced by the state. As in our country federal bureau of curriculum Islamabad gives the guideline in the light of federal government policies while provincial bureaus of curriculum function under the directions of federal bureau of curriculum. In sindh province bureau of curriculum and extension wing jamshoro is responsible for the preparing the curriculum of primary and secondary classes while sindh text book board helps in providing text books.

PROFIT SHARE OF STATES INVESTMENT IN EDUCATION

        Plato was the first philosopher who declared education as a state matter; he said that providing free education is the state’s responsibility. Since then it is the responsibility of the states, but in return the state gets the following benefits:

·       Increase in per capita income

·       Increase in individual earnings

·       Increase in earning capacity

·       Highly skilled professionals and labor

·       More taxes

·       High efficiency

·       Economic growth

·       No un employment risk

·       Increase in human capital asset

·       Search for new resources

·       Better social system

·       More social returns

·       National prosperity

PAKISTAN’S INVESTMENT IN EDUCATION

        According to the World Bank statistics, Pakistan spends only 2.3%of its Gross National Income (GNI) on education and this figure is very low even among the poor countries. Even the average of south Asian countries is 3.6%.well one do not need to be an expert to understand that if a country does not invest on education then it is bound to have high rate of illiteracy and Pakistan has an illiteracy rate of 58.9%. It is surely among one of the highest rates in Asia and with such a high rate of illiteracy, no country can dream of improving its economy. Fortunately, Pakistani decision makers have understood the value of investment in education and it is expected that in the next annual budget, allocation for education will be substantially increased. The increase in investment should touch both primary education and higher education. On the one hand, there should be more teachers in the primary education in Pakistan while on the other hand, there should be more fund for carrying out research in the university level.

CONCLUSION

To summarize all this, the state is the best organization to fulfill the needs and aims of the country. It is the function of the state to ensure that its members are educated. The state have provide for certain homogeneity of mores, behaviors, activity and thought. For this, it should utilize all the resources which will take country towards betterment and peace. Especially in this, democratic period, it is the duty of the government to take all possible steps for the development of education. The state has increasingly taken measures to ensure that children receive socialization through schools.

MEDIA AWARENES

 Introduction:

            Communication is a key thread in fabric of life. It shapes us mentally, socially, emotionally and spiritually.

            Communication forms and sustains society and at the same time develops and maintains our individuality. It is the nervous system of the social and political body.

            As communication is central of any society, the tools of communication are essential to its educational and socioeconomic development.

Social Change by communication:

            Man is a social being and cannot live without communicating. He communicates to express his feeling, needs, ideas and opinions about himself, environment and other people around him. Various means are used by man to communicate.

            The history of man and the history of communication seem to be synonymous. One cannot be separated from the other. The history of man is thus an account of extension of his powers. Particularly, the invention of alphabets, printing from marble types, invention of radio and television are landmark not only in the history of mankind but also in the development in mass communication media.

Types of Media:

            Mass media of communication are the results of the modern age of science and technology. There are two types of media:

a)         Printing Media:

            Books, journals and newspapers constitute the whole gamut of printing materials. Printed material in fact became the most popular means of education. Textbooks, handbooks, guidebooks and journals are used as very useful teaching / learning materials. Inspite of electronic advancements, printed material are felt indispensable.

            Printed materials made education available to a vast population. In place of “class education” it became “mass education”.

b)         Electronic Media:

            Television is now the magic carpet being used as a means of exploring the mysteries of the universe and a magic box for providing education and entertainment simultaneously. It is now a window to the world and a very potential and pragmatic medium of education catching the attention of all high and low, rural and urban, students and teachers.

            Films are a very effective mass media of communication and provide education as well as entertainment. India entered into the era of film production in 1912 with “Pundalik” a silent film produced by R.G.Torney.

Educational films are a very interesting medium of education. On a wide canvas we can see the real world or imaginary world with keen interest and rapt attention. Educational films produced with specific academic theme and suitable method as well as techniques, are helpful in imparting instruction and happiness. They provide reality and imagination, variety and novelty, motion and animation by making instruction interesting. Students learn from educational films without tears, without boredom and without any strain. They enjoy and get themselves enlightened. Children are quite sensitive and creative. They are to be “warmed up” or motivated to get information, develop positive interest and attitudes so that their education becomes effective.

There are three types of skills use in learning process:-

1.         Reading Skills.

            Educational technologies that support the development of student’s reading skills includes audio books, electronic books and online texts, electronic talking books and programmed reading instructions.

            Audio books:

            Audio books, sometimes known as books on tape, are professionally recorded, unabridged versions of fiction or nonfiction books. They are available on regular audiocassettes or four-track cassettes that require a special cassette player. Audio books promote student’s interest in reading and improve their comprehension of texts, notes Beers. They also have been used successfully by students who cannot read traditional printed books because of visual or physical handicaps. When used with conjunction with written texts, audio books help improve children’s reading skills.

            E-books and online Texts:

            Electronics books, also known as e-books, are electronic texts that are presented visually. Weather available on CD-ROM, the Internet, or special disks, electronic books always provide the text in a visual component.

            Online texts are those that are available on the World Wide Web. With access to an internet-connected computer, students can find a wide variety of free online reading materials, including books, plays, short stories, magazines and reference materials.

           

Electronic Talking books:

            The term electronic talking books have been coined by some researchers to refer to electronic texts that also provide embedded speech.

            Electronic talking books increase motivation to read as well as promote basic word recognition. According to some research, the use of talking books has shown positive results as an aid to help children improve their comprehension of texts. In addition, children’s decoding skills have been shown to improve with the use of talking books. For slightly older readers, talking books feature glossary entries, explanatory notes and simplified rewordings that provide additional background information needed to understand new concepts in texts.

            Software Programmes:

            Various types of software programs, computer-assisted instruction, and integrated learning system offer programmed reading instruction for student. The computer program helped the children learn to discriminate and sequence the sound in words, which improved their word-reading ability.

2.         Writing Skills:

            Educational technologies that support the development of student’s writing skills include word processing, desktop publishing, multimedia composing, online publishing and internet communication.

            Word Processing:

            Word processing is the pioneer application of educational technology used in writing instruction. Although it requires the mastery of basic keyboarding skills, word processing allows many students to write and edit their work more easily. In addition, word processing tools such as spelling checkers are useful aids that improve the quality of student writing. Research indicates that students who are comfortable with word processing write longer papers, spend more time writing and revising, and show improved mechanics and word choice. Nevertheless, research also indicates that using a word processor does not by itself improve student writing. Rather, the teacher has a critical role in guiding the writing process, providing feedback and encouraging revision.

            The arguments for promoting word processing in K-12 education are several. First, some educators acknowledge that because of the prevalence of word processing in the workplace, students should be taught at least the rudiments of word processing, much the same way that students have learned typing skills and their related content-based counterparts such as organizing a term paper, composing a letter, or drafting documents for research in various subject areas.

3.         Research and Collaboration Skills:

            Technologies that support student’s research and collaboration skills include Internet search engines, online tools for evaluating web-based information and Web sites that offer collaborative activities.

            Search Engines:

            The Internet has gained momentum as the infrastructure on which international knowledge is created and shared. Use of Internet search engines can promote students’ research and investigation skills and enable them to locate online information on any possible topic. Students can also access online journals, magazines, newspapers, encyclopedias and informative Web sites. Unfortunately, some information on the Web is neither accurate nor reputable. Students need to learn how to evaluate this information.

            Online Tools:

            The need to evaluate online information sources is gaining importance as a basic literacy skill. Online tools for evaluating online information provide strategies for determining the accuracy, quality, and timeliness of online information.

            Web Sites:

            Educational technology has expanded the instructional potential of collaboration. In the recent past, student collaboration in literacy activities might have meant one classroom joining with another classroom across the hall to engage in joint reading, writing, listening, speaking or research projects. Today, educators can access and share a global curriculum-development lab with other educators. They can engage their class with another in literacy-based projects without geographic boundaries.

The Concept of Multimedia:

            Multimedia combinations are generally referred to as multimedia system. Multimedia means ‘many media’. The term ‘multimedia instructional system’ refers to the uses of appropriate and carefully selected varieties of learning experiences which are presented to the learner through selected teaching strategies which reinforce and strengthen one another so that the learner will achieve pre-determined and desired behavioral objectives. Dipika.B.Shah (1988) defines multimedia as ‘more than one medium’ used in a single communication either sequentially or simultaneously. Experts are of the opinion that different media serve different educational functions, so that various media should not be used in isolation, instead they should be integrated.

Characteristics of Multimedia:

a)         Multimedia storage and retrieval systems contain more information than any human training agent can possibility embrace, and have many terminals through which students have access to the information.

b)         The development of multimedia instructional and support systems have provided the tools for creating learning center in which a very large number of models of learning can be actualized over a great range of content with considerable variation in complexity.

c)         By employing media technology as support systems, we can offer to the students a large number of ways to learn a large number of things.

d)         What multimedia systems promise is a form which permits the delivery of a range of instructional and informational supports?

e)         Multimedia systems are not restricted to a single type of learning or instructional mode; they represent a support for a range of them.

f)          The capability of multimedia systems is markedly greater than that of ordinary classroom practice, in creating a variety of learning models.

g)         This multimedia device is striking because it provides the opportunity to learn exceedingly complex skills which are related to sets of diverse and precise theoretical knowledge bases.

h)         The development of multimedia educational systems permit many models of education that otherwise are inconceivable as long as we think of the classroom and the teacher as the primary mediator of instruction.

Origin and development of Educational Sociology

Origin and development of Educational Sociology

The development of Educational sociology is divided into three significant stages.

1-     the first stage, that is actually on the work of John Dewey (1859-1952) and Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) 

2-     the second stage, that is after first world war

3-     the third stage, that is after second world war

First stage

This era is actually all about the work of Dewey and Durkheim. John Dewey was the first to appreciate the essential relationship between school and society. He had observed that the old simple life and the village community were inevitably breaking down and that social structure generally was changing. He felt that there were tensions developing between village and town life of which both pupils and adults were quite unconscious.

Therefore, a social spirit of co-operation and mutual aid should be elicited. In order to achieve this aim, Dewey described that school is community in miniature, a micro-society, which both reflected the larger society outside and also sought, in the long run,

Emile Durkheim saw the education as a social thing and argued:

“It is society as a whole and each particular social milieu that determine the ideal that education realizes. Societies can survive only if there exists among its members a sufficient degree of homogeneity; education perpetuates and reinforces this homogeneity by fixing in the child, from the beginning, the essential similarities that collective life demands. But on the other hand, without certain diversity all co-operation would be impossible; education assures the persistence of this necessary diversity by being itself diversified and specialized.”

He further argued that the profound transformation which contemporary societies were then undergoing necessitated corresponding changes in the national education. He concluded his lecture at Sorbonne with these words: ‘I don not believe that I am following a mere prejudice or yielding to an immoderate love for a science which I have cultivated all my life, in saying that never was a sociological approach more necessary for the educator.’

Publications by other scholars

• W.T. Harris, Educational review (1839)
• Lesterward, Dynamic sociology (1883)
• C.A. Scott, Social Education (1907)
• D. Shea, Social development and education (1909)
• Kings, social dimensions of education (1912)
• Bet, Social principles of education (1912)

Second stage

After the First World War, there were not only the economical problems was faced but also sociologically multidimensional problems was occurred. To eliminate the effects of war and enhance the collaboration among people, it was understood that to enhance the relationship of education with the society.

Number of publication was published to discuss the relationship of education and society. Some publications are mentioning below:

Publications by other scholars

• Kirk Patric, Basis of Sociology (1916)
• W.R. Smith, Introduction of Educational Sociology (1917)
• C.L. Robbins, School as a social institution (1918)
• W.E. Chancellor, Educational  Sociology (1919)
• F.R. Clow, Educational application of sociology (1920)
• Senedden, Educational  Sociology (1922)
• E.R. Groves, Social problems and education (1924)

In 1937, another sociologist affected the role of education in society that is Fred Clarke, the director of London University, institute of Education. He believed that there should be planning in education and in his book Education and Social change, which was published in 1940, Clarke stated that ‘we propose to accept unreservedly what may be called the sociological standpoint and to exhibit as well as we can its concrete application to the field of English education.’

Third stage

Third era started after Second World War to present. In 1940 Karl Mannheim, lecturer of sociology in London school of Economics, discuss the education as one of the dynamic elements in sociology; it was as social technique in itself and a means of social control. In Man and Society he stated:

“Sociologists do not regard education solely as a means of realizing abstract ideals of culture, such as humanism or technical specialization, but as part of the process of influencing men and women. Education can only be understood when we know for what society and for what social position the pupils are being educated.”

After the death of Mannheim, Clark worked further and published his freedom in the educative society, which is likened to the Platonic educative society.

In 1950 W.A. Stewart wrote an important article for the sociological Review. This article still has a lot to offer in a consideration of the content of and the difficulties involved in, a course of training teachers. Prof. Stewart spoke of the ‘traditionally cautious scrutiny’ which the study of sociology had received in Britain.

Social behaviour and interaction

Social Behavior
And Interaction

By R.J. Rummel

A behavior is always to be taken transactionally: ie., never as of the organism alone, any more than of the environment alone, but always as of the organic-environmental situation, with organisms and environmental objects taken as equally its aspect. ---- Dewey and Bentley, 1949

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9.1 SOCIAL BEHAVIOR

It is now time to define social interaction. As previously discussed, behavior comes in many forms--blinking, eating, reading, dancing, shooting, rioting, and warring. What then distinguishes social behavior? Behavior that is peculiarly social is oriented towards other selves. Such behavior apprehends another as a perceiving, thinking, Moral, intentional, and behaving person; considers the intentional or rational meaning of the other's field of expression; involves expectations about the other's acts and actions; and manifests an intention to invoke in another self certain experiences and intentions. What differentiates social from nonsocial behavior, then, is whether another self is taken into account in one's acts, actions, or practices. For example, dodging and weaving through a crowd is not social behavior, usually. Others are considered as mere physical objects, as human barriers with certain reflexes. Neither is keeping in step in a parade social behavior. Other marchers are physical objects with which to coordinate one's movements. Neither is a surgical operation social behavior. The patient is only a biophysical object with certain associated potentialities and dispositions. However, let the actor become involved with another's self, as a person pushing through a crowd recognizing a friend, a marcher believing another is trying to get him out of step, or a surgeon operating on his son, and the whole meaning of the situation changes.
With this understanding of social, let me now define social acts, actions, and practices. A social act is any intention, aim, plan, purpose, and so on which encompasses another self. These may be affecting another's emotions, intentions, or beliefs; or anticipating another's acts, actions, or practices.¹ Examples of social acts would be courtship, helping another run for a political office, teaching, buying a gift, or trying to embarrass an enemy.
Social actions then are directed towards accomplishing a social act. So long as their purpose is a social act, actions are social whether involving other selves or not, whether anticipating another's acts, actions, or practices. The actions of an adolescent running away from home and living in a commune for a year to prove his independence to his parents and those of a physicist working in an isolated laboratory for years on a secret weapon for U.S. defense are both social. And no less social are the actions of a girl combing her hair to look attractive for her date.
But there are nonsocial acts, such as aiming for a college degree, trying to enhance one's self-esteem, planning to go fishing, intending to do scientific research on the brain, and so on. No other self is involved in these acts, but may be involved in the associated actions. Are such actions social if the act is not? Of course. Regardless of the act, associated actions are still social if oriented to another's feelings, beliefs, or intentions, or if they anticipate another's acts, actions, or practices. For example, in trying to achieve a college degree, usually a nonsocial act, we may have to consider a professor's perspective in answering an exam, or an adviser's personality before selecting him.
Finally, there are social practices. These are rules, norms, custom, habits, and the like that encompass or anticipate another person's emotions, thoughts, or intentions. Shaking hands, refusing to lie to others, or passing another on the right are examples. Not all practice, however, is social. Drinking and smoking habits can be manifest while alone, and many norms can be practiced without thought to others, such as using the proper utensils when dining alone.

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9.2 SOCIAL INTERACTION

We thus can discriminate social acts, actions, and practices. What then is social interaction? Social interactions are the acts, actions, or practices of two or more people mutually oriented towards each other's selves, that is, any behavior that tries to affect or take account of each other's subjective experiences or intentions. This means that the parties to the social interaction must be aware of each other--have each other's self in mind. This does not mean being in sight of or directly behaving towards each other. Friends writing letters are socially interacting, as are enemy generals preparing opposing war plans. Social interaction is not defined by type of physical relation or behavior, or by physical distance. It is a matter of a mutual subjective orientation towards each other. Thus even when no physical behavior is involved, as with two rivals deliberately ignoring each other's professional work, there is social interaction.
Moreover, social interaction requires a mutual orientation. The spying of one on another is not social interaction if the other is unaware. Nor do the behaviors of rapist and victim constitute social interaction if the victim is treated as a physical object; nor behavior between guard and prisoner, torturer and tortured, machine gunner and enemy soldier. Indeed, wherever people treat each other as object, things, or animals, or consider each other as reflex machines or only cause-effect phenomena, there is not social interaction. Such interaction may comprise a system; it may be organized, controlled, or regimented. It is not, however, social as I am using the term.
Note that my definition of social is close to that of Weber (1947). For him behavior was social be virtue of the meaning the actor attaches to it. It takes account of the behavior of others and is therefore oriented in its course. Thus, to use Weber's example, two cyclists bumping into each other is not social interaction; the resulting argument will be. However, what Weber meant by orientation and behavior is left ambiguous, as noted by Alfred Schutz (1967). I have tried to clarify this ambiguity here by considering the constituents of behavior (agents, vehicles, and meaning), kinds of behavior (reflex, action, act, and practice), and what is distinctively social about social behavior.

Social Interaction Threats

What are "Social" Threats?

Applied social research is a human activity. And, the results of such research are affected by the human interactions involved. The social threats to internal validity refer to the social pressures in the research context that can lead to posttest differences that are not directly caused by the treatment itself. Most of these threats occur because the various groups (e.g., program and comparison), or key people involved in carrying out the research (e.g., managers and administrators, teachers and principals) are aware of each others existence and of the role they play in the research project or are in contact with one another. Many of these threats can be minimized by isolating the two groups from each other, but this leads to other problems (e.g., it's hard to randomly assign and then isolate; this is likely to reduce generalizability or external validity). Here are the major social interaction threats to internal validity:

• Diffusion or Imitation of Treatment

This occurs when a comparison group learns about the program either directly or indirectly from program group participants. In a school context, children from different groups within the same school might share experiences during lunch hour. Or, comparison group students, seeing what the program group is getting, might set up their own experience to try to imitate that of the program group. In either case, if the diffusion of imitation affects the posttest performance of the comparison group, it can have an jeopardize your ability to assess whether your program is causing the outcome. Notice that this threat to validity tend to equalize the outcomes between groups, minimizing the chance of seeing a program effect even if there is one.

• Compensatory Rivalry

Here, the comparison group knows what the program group is getting and develops a competitive attitude with them. The students in the comparison group might see the special math tutoring program the program group is getting and feel jealous. This could lead them to deciding to compete with the program group "just to show them" how well they can do. Sometimes, in contexts like these, the participants are even encouraged by well-meaning teachers or administrators to compete with each other (while this might make educational sense as a motivation for the students in both groups to work harder, it works against our ability to see the effects of the program). If the rivalry between groups affects posttest performance, it could maker it more difficult to detect the effects of the program. As with diffusion and imitation, this threat generally works to in the direction of equalizing the posttest performance across groups, increasing the chance that you won't see a program effect, even if the program is effective.

• Resentful Demoralization

This is almost the opposite of compensatory rivalry. Here, students in the comparison group know what the program group is getting. But here, instead of developing a rivalry, they get discouraged or angry and they give up (sometimes referred to as the "screw you" effect!). Unlike the previous two threats, this one is likely to exaggerate posttest differences between groups, making your program look even more effective than it actually is.

• Compensatory Equalization of Treatment

This is the only threat of the four that primarily involves the people who help manage the research context rather than the participants themselves. When program and comparison group participants are aware of each other's conditions they may wish they were in the other group (depending on the perceived desirability of the program it could work either way). Often they or their parents or teachers will put pressure on the administrators to have them reassigned to the other group. The administrators may begin to feel that the allocation of goods to the groups is not "fair" and may be pressured to or independently undertake to compensate one group for the perceived advantage of the other. If the special math tutoring program was being done with state-of-the-art computers, you can bet that the parents of the children assigned to the traditional non-computerized comparison group will pressure the principal to "equalize" the situation. Perhaps the principal will give the comparison group some other good, or let them have access to the computers for other subjects. If these "compensating" programs equalize the groups on posttest performance, it will tend to work against your detecting an effective program even when it does work. For instance, a compensatory program might improve the self-esteem of the comparison group and eliminate your chance to discover whether the math program would cause changes in self-esteem relative to traditional math training.

As long as we engage in applied social research we will have to deal with the realities of human interaction and its effect on the research process. The threats described here can often be minimized by constructing multiple groups that are not aware of each other (e.g., program group from one school, comparison group from another) or by training administrators in the importance of preserving group membership and not instituting equalizing programs. But we will never be able to entirely eliminate the possibility that human interactions are making it more difficult for us to assess cause-effect relationships.

The adolescent soiety

Education culture, economy, and society

1. Introduction: The Social Transformation of Education and Society.  

Part One: Education, Culture, and Society. 2. The Forms of Capital. 3. Class and Pedagogies: Visible and Invisible. 4. Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital. 5. The Post-Modern Condition. 6. Crossing the Boundaries of Educational Discourse: Modernism, Postmodernism, and Feminism. 7. Having an Postmodernist Turn or Postmodernist Angst: A Disorder Experienced by an Author Who is Not Yet Dead or Even Close to It. 8. Feminisms and Education Gaby Weiner.  

Part Two: Education, Global Economy, and Labour Market. 9. Why the Rich are Getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer. 10. Education, Globalization, and Economic Development. 11. The New Knowledge Work. 12. Education, Skill Formation, and Economic Development: The Singaporean Approach. 13. Human Capital Concepts. 14. The Gendering of Skill and Vocationalism in Twentieth-Century Australian Education. 15. Can Education Do It Alone?.  

Part Three: The State and the Restructuring of Teachers' Work. 16. Education and the Role of the State: Devolution and Control Post-Picot. 17. The Global Economy, the State, and the Politics of Education. 18. Educational Achievement in Centralized and Decentralized Systems. 19. On the Changing Relationships Between the State, Civil Society, and Changing Notions of Teacher Professionalism. 20. Changing Notions of Educational Management and Leadership. 21. Assessment, Accountability, and Standards Using Assessment to Control the Reform of Schooling. 22. Restructuring Schools for Student Success. 23. Restructuring Restructuring: Postmodernity and the Prospects for Educational Change. 

Part Four: Politics, Markets, and School Effectiveness. 24. Politics, Markets, and the Organization of Schools. 25. Education, Democracy, and the Economy. 26. The `Third Wave': Education and the Ideology of Parentocracy. 27. Circuits of Schooling: A Sociological Exploration of Parental Choice of School in Social Class Contexts. 28. African-American Students' View of School Choice. 29. Choice, Competition, and Segregation: An Empirical Analysis of A New Zealand Secondary School Market, 1990-93. 30. [Ap]parent Involvement: Reflections on Parents, Power, and Urban Public Schools. 31. Can Effective Schools Compensate for Society?.  

Part Five: Knowledge, Curriculum, and Cultural Politics. 32. Introduction: Our Virtue. 33. The New Cultural Politics of Difference. 34. On Race and Voice: Challenges for Liberal Education in the 1990s. 35. The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other People's Children. 36. What Postmodernists Forget: Cultural Capital and Official Knowledge. 37. The Big Picture: Masculinities in Recent World History. 38. Is the Future Female? Female Success, Male Disadvantage, and Changing Gender Patterns in Education.  

Part Six: Meritocracy and Social Exclusion. 39. Trends in Access and Equity in Higher Education: Britain in International Perspective. 40. Education and Occupational Attainments: The Impact of Ethnic Origins. 41. Problems of `Meritocracy'. 42. Equalization and Improvement: Some Effects of Comprehensive Reorganization in Scotland. 43. Social Class Differences in Family-School Relationships: The Importance of Cultural Capital. 44. The Politics of Culture: Understanding Local Political Resistance to Detracking in Racially Mixed Schools. 45. Cultural Capital and Social Exclusion: Some Observations on Recent Trends in Education, Employment, and the Labour Market. 46. Studying Inner-City Social Dislocations: The Challenge of Public Agenda Research. 47. Racial Stratification and Education in the United States: Why Inequality Persi

Higher Education

Education and Society

1. Aim of Education :

Education is a continuous and creative process.Its aim is to develop the capacities latent in human nature and to coordinate their expression for the enrichment and progress of society, by equipping children with spiritual, moral and material knowledge.

 

2. Education to Realize Truth :

Within this creative process, it is possible to achieve an essential harmony between faith and reason through an approach to education that encourages the free investigation of all reality and trains the mind to recognize truth, irrespective of its origin.

 

3. True Education :

True education releases capacities, develops analytical abilities, confidence in himself, will power and goal setting competencies, and instills the vision that will enable him to become self-motivating agent of social change, serving the best interests of the community.

 

4. Expanded Definition of Education :

Today, education needs an expanded definition that frees it from today's largely economic context and acknowledges its role in transforming both individual lives and entire society.

 

5. Objectives of Education :

Education in terms of the knowledge, qualities, skills, attitudes, and capacities that enable individuals to become conscious subjects of their growth and active responsible participants in a systematic process of building a new world order.

 

6. Education as an Instrument of Change :

Educated persons should understand their positions as members of both a local community and the world community and they must believe that their lives can make a difference.

 

7. Education for Individual & Community Growth :

Education makes the child a collaborator both in his own growth and in the development of his community.

A well-educated community member is a determined yet humble participant, who helps overcome conflict and division thereby contributing to a spirit of unity and collaboration.

 

8. Education not only for Economic Growth :

Although economic considerations are recognized as necessary in educational planning, resistance is growing against the conventional view that education is chiefly a means for only improving the individual's own economic situation.

 

9. More than Words Alone :

An educational approach directed towards personal growth and social transformation, and based on the belief that human beings are essentially spiritual, however, must go well beyond a mere statement of purpose.

 

10. Tapping Inner Forces :

But moral values are not the only constructive elements of social processes, rather, they are expressions of the inner forces that operate in the spiritual reality of every human being, and education must concern itself with these forces, if it is to tap the roots of motivation and produce meaningful and lasting change.

 

11. The purpose of Education

The purpose of education for individuals both male and female --- is to develop the powers and capacities latent within them, so that they may contribute their share to an ever advancing civilization.

 

12. The Relevance of Education :

Universal education must be relevant to the true needs of a community and contribute to the unification of mankind. It must enable people both to move in the direction of their own choosing and help them appreciate those universal qualities that distinguish the entire human race.

 

13. Women & Education :

Women must be educated not only for the service they render to humanity as the first educators of children, but ultimately, for the special contribution women must make to the creation of a just world order, an order characterized by such compassion, vigour and scope which has never been seen in human history.

 

14. Education should help self discovery :

Education should lead to the discovery and perfection of one's capabilities and instill a commitment to serve the best interests of the community and the world as a whole.

 

15. Moral Education Community Responsibility :

The dual responsibility of developing the child’s character and stimulating his intellect, belongs also to the community as a whole, including the father, grandparents, and neighbours. Indeed the extended family and a close community may provide the best environment for nurturing children.

 

16. Spiritual Approach to Moral Education :

Awareness of the necessity to free people from religious bigotry and fanaticism gives rise to a non-sectarian yet spiritual approach to moral education.

 

17. Words and deeds supported by Moral Force :

When words and actions are not directed by a moral force, scientific knowledge and technological know how lead us readily to misery as they do to prosperity and happiness.

 

18. Education for Social Change:

At certain moments in history, education must also act as a powerful instrument for profound social transformation.

 

19. Education for Individual & Social Growth :

Increasingly, it is becoming evident that education should be examined in the light of its contribution to individual growth and to bring about fundamental structural changes in society, changes which are necessary for the creation of a just, peaceful, and harmonious environment.

 

20. Concern for Social Progress:

Education should lead to an adequate understanding of some of the concerns of programmes of social progress, such as health and sanitation, agriculture, crafts and industry, at least in the local context.

 

21. Service Unlocks Capacity :

The realization that it is chiefly service to humanity and dedication to the unification of mankind that unlock individual capacity and release creative powers latent in human nature.

 

22. Balance between Culture and Values :

Commitment to the unity of mankind implies a balance between the study of one’s own cultural heritage and an exploration of those universal qualities that distinguish the entire human race.

 

23. Cultivate Virtues and Skills:

Human beings are inherently noble, and the purpose of education is to cultivate such attributes, skills, virtues and qualities as will enable them to contribute their share to the building of an ever advancing civilization.

 

24. A Positive Attitude Towards Learning :

Indeed, the cultivation of positive attitudes towards learning is now coming to be perceived as a precondition for the achievement of most social and economic goals and objectives.

 

25. Excellence in Productive Skill :

A reasonable degree of excellence in at least one productive skill through which individuals can experience the truth that work is worship, when performed in a spirit of service, and can secure the means of existence with dignity and honour.

 

26. An Aid for Intellectual Investigation :

Some development of the individual’s capacity for intellectual investigation as a distinguishing power of the human mind and as an indispensable instrument for successful community action.

 

27. Dignity and Decision Making:

Individuals should be skilled in the art of consultative decision making and empowered with the sense of their own dignity and worth.

 

28. Recognize Nobility and Capacities :

This notion of the student as inherently noble, yet in need of patient cultivation, implies that the teacher must be a model of nobility, self-actualization and discipline. Sound character is ultimately more important than intellectual brilliance. The teacher must also see the nobility and capacity in each student recognizing that a lack of opportunity is different from lack of capacity.