Education is one of the basic aspects of humanity. A perfect quote by Horace Mann taken out of chapter ten of Social Sciences: An introduction to the Study of Society states, “A human being is not, in any proper sense, a human being till he is educated. Throughout history it has been the goal of every man to question his or her surroundings and ask question. When new village, cities, or nations are formed one of the first things that are established is some form of education. It can be said that education is just as important as oxygen is to the lungs and blood is to the heart. Without education the human race would not be possible.
In ancient times education involved passing down culture and knowledge of the people. Today education is vastly more dynamic. Today there is far too much information for one person to learn or know so people have had to specialize in one area. This therefore creates a very dynamic education system to teach and train individuals in there specialty. The more and more people that require specialized education creates the need for a formal national education system to support. Thus we get the current United States education system that can provide more opportunities for more people than has ever been in history.
Another reason for education is to not only educate the citizens of a country but also make each person loyal to the state. It also helps each person to be effective citizens in society. Just imagine how your day would be if no one was educated, people were unable to properly communicate and to get along with each other. Your daily life would be chaos and unproductive. Through education people can work together and learn to government themselves which leads to creating a political system.
Now you can see just a small glimpse of how dynamic education can be in a modern society. Many problems we face in education today stem from system itself. It is everyone’s goal to provide an excellent, equal, and efficient system that benefits everyone. This will always be an issue as long as education requires money to function. The video above "US Education - The Perfect Storm" (2007) highlights just one small problem with the current United States education system. Although the video is from 2007 it is still a growing issue.
"The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living differ from the dead." - Aristotle
Image source: http://floristina.wordpress.com/2010/01/29/the-future-of-u-s-education/
Education Rankings - This site provide an in depth look at education reform and World Ranking in education.
Education Problems - This site provide and in depth look at the problem that the U.S. Education system is currently facing.
This chapter caught my eye because education is in the forefront of everyone’s mind if you have kids or planning to have kids. As a parent you want to provide the best education for your children so they will have a better life then you had. You want your children to be able to go to college so they can return to society can give back. This is why i choose this chapter, because if we do not correct the current education system we will continue to fall in the world rankings and jobs will go elsewhere.