Over the last few decades the society has played a great role in the advancement of the structures and practices of education. I believe that various cultures within the society have a major impact on its education system and its effectiveness.
Educational structures and practices are influenced greatly by various societal factors including norms, culture, development, traditions and beliefs. Education is not only the mode of learning facts and figures. Most of our learning actually happens when we observe and learn from those around us. In this aspect, the society and the people who belong to it play a major role. Society includes our family, friends, relatives and the people who live in our community, county or even our country.
I was lucky in this case because people around me knew and always valued the importance of knowledge and education. More over this my family provided all the necessary resources to get the education easily and freely from the university because we belonged to the middle class society who realized the need of education for future development. On the other hand people in impoverished societies lack resources which have great impact on education system. Often the children of such societies cannot afford costly books, computers, laboratories or practical work and may have to take out a living themselves. In such societies, bare literacy is sometimes all that the people can afford.
Societal values also greatly impact education. In many underdeveloped countries where female emancipation and freedom is lacking, almost half the population (females) has severely curbed or curtailed education. This is due to the ignorance and prevalence of age-old customs and traditions. On the other hand, in USA and many European countries, gender based differences in education are not present. This illustrates how the customs and traditions prevalent in some specific societies influence education.
Technology has played a major role in developing the societies. I still remember when I was in school, computer studies were offered from grade nine as it was not very common among the people. There was less usage of computers as people were not aware of what computers could do? But now when I see the same school having computer studies from grade one and onwards, it truly reflects how people’s awareness drastically increased and how society’s demand changes the structure of education and brought a good change in the system and procedures. This proves that the power of society changes the structure and procedures of education. There is a high impact of evolving commercial, political, and institutional interests of society on the development of technology. Educational technology in particular has been and is being shaped by these societal forces. Increased awareness of societal shaping should lead us to new research areas, and ultimately to more democratic, more fruitful, and more viable educational innovations like the development of advance and intelligent computer systems.
Society also controls technology through the choices it makes. These choices not only include consumer demands; they also include: the cultural beliefs regarding style, freedom of choice, consumerism, materialism, the economic values we place on the environment, individual wealth, government control, capitalism, etc.
As we all know, these little changes in mobile phones and internet access, are examples of technology based lifestyle. Society's need for being able to call on people and be available everywhere resulted in the research and development of mobile phones. They in turn influenced the way we live our lives. As the public relies more and more on mobile phones, additional features were requested. Now is the era of iPhone, iPad or Samsung Galaxy Tab, so in short societal preferences helped determined the course of events through predictable preferences.
In early days people were unable to continue education due to lack of infrastructure or resources available around them or in their country. But with the help of technology and distance learning options now people can continue their education anytime anywhere around the world. This new virtual learning method and societal encouragement has removed the boundaries and encourages people to learn new things to enhance their knowledge.
So, it goes without saying that the society has a tremendous impact on the structure and practices of education.
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