ASSIGNMENTS

MASTER OFARTS (EDUCATION)-1st YEAR

January 2019 & July 2019
MES-011: UNDERSTANDING EDUCATION

a) Differentiate between individual and social aims of education with examples. Discuss how
individual and social aims of education can be synthesized. (500 words)

b) Critically analyse the structure of education system in India with special reference to
different levels and types of education. (500 words)

c) Explain the differences among correspondence, coherence and pragmatic theories of truth.
Discuss criticisms of pragmatic theory of truth with suitable examples. (500 words)

Answers

a) Differentiate between individual and social aims of education with examples. Discuss how
individual and social aims of education can be synthesized.
Ans.: The individual aim is nothing good goes into the human world aside from in and
through the free exercises of individual men and women and that educational practice must
mold the person. Education should offer scope to build up the intrinsic possibilities through
most extreme flexibility, it is for the betterment of their own selves. In case of the social aim
of education, the supporters trust that society or state is preeminent or genuine. The
individual is just a method. The progresss of the general public is the point of education.
Education is a for the general public and is for the welfare of the state. The state will make
the person as it wants. It readies the person to assume distinctive parts in the public eye.
Uniqueness has no esteem, and identity is insignificant separated from society. 
Aims give direction to activities. Aims of education are formulated keeping in view the needs
of situation. Human nature is multisided with multiple needs, which are related to life.
Educational aims are correlated to ideals of life.
Ideals of life change from time to time. Ideals have impressed to teacher, philosophers and
society to formulate suitable aims of education. Aims have been desirably modified. Out of
several aims of education, individual and social aims are important.
Individual aims and social aims are the most important aims of education. They are opposed
to each other individual aims gives importance for the development of the individuality.
Social aim gives importance to the development of society through individual not fulfilling
his desire. But it will be seen that development of individuality assumes meaning only in a
social environment.
Individual Aims: Sir Percy Nunn observes, “Nothing goods enters into the human world
except in and through the free activities of individual men and women and that educational
practice must be shaped the individual. Education should give scope to develop the inborn
potentialities through maximum freedom.”
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Because:
(1) Biologists believe that every individual is different from others. Every child is a new
and unique product and a new experiment with life. Thompson says, “Education is for
the individual”. Individual should be the center of all educational efforts and
activities.
(2) Naturalists believe that central aim of education is the autonomous development of
the individual. Rousseau said, “Everything is good as it comes from the hands of the
Author of Nature, but everything degenerates in the hands of man.” God makes all
things good, man meddles with them and they become evil. God creates everything
good man makes it evil. So individual should be given maximum freedom for its own
development.
(3) Psychologists believe that education is an individual process because of individual
differences. No two individuals are alike. So education should be according to the
interest of the individual.
Individual aim is not desirable because man is a social animal. Society’s interest should be
protected.
(1) Individual aim makes individual selfish.
(2) Maximum freedom may go against the society.
(3) Individuality cannot develop from a vacuum; it develops in a social atmosphere.
(4) Unless society develops, individual cannot develop.
(5) Who will recognize society- where individual is selfish?
Social Aim: The supporters believe that society or state is supreme or real. The individual is
only a means. The progress of the society is the aim of education. Education is a for the
society and of the society. The function of education is for the welfare of the state. The state
will make the individual as it desires. It prepares the individual to play different roles in
society. Individuality has no value, and personality is meaningless apart from society. If
society will develop individual will develop automatically. Here society plays an important
role.
Criticism of Social Aim:
(1) It makes individual only a tool of government.
(2) It reduces individual to a mere non-entity.
(3) Society ignores the legitimate needs, desires and interests of the individual.
(4) It is against the development of individuality of the individual.
Synthesis between individual and social aims of education: Individual aim and social aim
of education go independently. Both are opposing to each other. It is not in reality. Neither
the individual nor the society can exist. The individual is the product of the society while
society finds its advancement in the development of its individual member.
Individual cannot develop in vacuum. According to John Adams, “Individuality requires a
social medium to grow.”

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b) Critically analyse the structure of education system in India with special reference to
different levels and types of education.
Ans.: The education system of India is one of the largest of its kind in the world. More than
102.8 million people come under this education system.Elementary education in India has
been emphasized to increase the literacy percentage of the country.India’s post-independence
period has seen the launch of various schemes by the Government to promote education
among the masses and to achieve universalization of elementary education in the country.
The elementary education in India starts from the early child hood days.The system includes
three stages: pre-primary, primary and middle level.The analytical report, given below, gives
an insight into the state of elementary education in different states in the country.
The pre-primary education begins at the age of five and it continues for one year.This is the
initial stage of a child in his/her educational career.When the child reaches an age of six, he
or she prepares to go for primary education.
The primary schooling system starts at the age of six.The Primary Stage consists of either
from Classes I-V or from I-IV depending upon the education system of the state.The five
years system i.e. Classes I-V is applicable in 20 States/UTs namely Andhra Pradesh,
Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh,
Manipur, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, West
Bengal, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Delhi and Karaikal and Yanam regions of
Pondicherry.The four year system consists of classes I-IV which is applicable in Assam, Goa,
Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Dadra & Nagar
Haveli, Daman & Diu, Lakshadweep and Mahe region of Pondicherry.
The middle stage of education consists of classes either from VI-VIII or from VI-VII
depending upon the states or union territories.The 18 states which come under the first
category are: Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir,
Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh,
West Bengal, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Delhi and Karaikal region of
Pondicherry.The second system (VI-VII) is effective in states like Assam, Goa, Gujarat,
Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman &
Diu, Lakshadweep and Mahe region of Pondicherry.
Special programmes under Elementary Education
Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA): “Sarva Siksha Abhiyan” or “Education for All Movement”
was started by the Government of India to make the universalisation of elementary education
in the country.The programme was mandated in the constitution making education free to
children of ages 6-14 and a fundamental right.The programme aims to achieve the goal by
2010.
Non-Formal Education: For making the universalisation of elementary education in the
country an important measure adopted was opening of non-formal education centres for
children in the age group 6-14.This system of education was adopted for those children who
were not covered under the formal education system.

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The children in the age group of 6-14 were out of the school either because they were not
admitted in the schools or were withdrawing from the schools before the completion of their
elementary education. Hence these children now get free education at their door step.Though
this programme was started in the late 1978, it has been accelerated in the recent days. These
non-formal centres are mainly located in the rural villages of the country.
Secondary education in India starts form class VIII or IX depending upon the states or union
territories. The Secondary Stage consists of Classes IX-X in 19 States/UTs. Viz., Arunachal
Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur,
Nagaland, Punjab, Rajasthan , Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal,
Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Delhi and Karaikal region of Pondicherry.
The other stage i.e. classes VIII to X is adopted in 13 States/UTs viz., Andhra Pradesh,
Assam, Goa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Orissa, Dadra
& Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu, Lakshadweep and Mahe & Yanam regions of Pondicherry.
The Higher Secondary / Senior Secondary stage of school (classes XI-XII) which comes
under the 10+2 pattern is available in all the States/UTs though in some States/UTs these
classes run in Junior colleges or are attached with universities.
The medium of instruction at primary level is the regional language of the respective
state.Teaching of Hindi and English is compulsory in most of the non-Hindi speaking
states.The states like Tamil Nadu, Tripura and Karaikal region of Pondicherry have not
accepted Hindi as a compulsory subject to be included in their syllabus.
The Higher Education sector of India is the third largest in the world in terms of number of
students.The higher education refers to the study in colleges, universities and research
centres.After the completion of class 12th or intermediate course a student generally goes for
higher study.The country has about 380 universities and deemed universities, over 17,500
colleges and hundreds of national and regional research institutes.The institutes for higher
learning in India follow specific rules as made by the state or the central government.There
are also some statutory and autonomous bodies running in the country to regulate the higher
education system in the country.
c) Explain the differences among correspondence, coherence and pragmatic theories of truth.
Discuss criticisms of pragmatic theory of truth with suitable examples.
Ans.: A coherence theory of truth states that the truth of any (true) proposition consists in its
coherence with some specified set of propositions. The coherence theory differs from its
principal competitor, the correspondence theory of truth, in two essential respects. The
competing theories give conflicting accounts of the relation that propositions bear to their
truth conditions. (In this article, ‘proposition’ is not used in any technical sense. It simply
refers to the bearers of truth values, whatever they may be.) According to one, the relation is
coherence, according to the other, it is correspondence. The two theories also give conflicting
accounts of truth conditions. According to the coherence theory, the truth conditions of
propositions consist in other propositions. The correspondence theory, in contrast, states that
the truth conditions of propositions are not (in general) propositions, but rather objective
features of the world. (Even the correspondence theorist holds that propositions about

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propositions have propositions as their truth conditions.) Although the coherence and
correspondence theories are fundamentally opposed in this way, they both present (in contrast
to deflationary theories of truth) a substantive conception of truth. That is, unlike deflationary
theories, the coherence and correspondence theories both hold that truth is a property of
propositions that can be analysed in terms of the sorts of truth-conditions propositions have,
and the relations propositions stand in to these conditions.
The correspondence theory states that "a proposition must correspond with a fact or event" in
order to be acknowledged as truth. For example, the statement "Hard work pays off" is an
abstract assertion that would be true in the event a student performs well on a test after
studying with focus and intensity. The statement, however, does not take into account other
factors, such as influential teachers, clearly structured textbooks, or a manageable schedule.
Nevertheless, the fact that the student performed well after applying hard work in an efficient
manner is evidence that the statement must be true. Philosophy discusses the relationship
between a proposition and fact: Either the proposition is true and is therefore supported by an
existing fact in the world, or it is false and thus the fact used as a reference does not exist in
the world. Essentially, an example would be when a student cites sources as a reference in an
essay that do not really exist or when a person fills in information on a registration card in the
name of a person who does not really exist. The text suggests two opposing viewpoints: the
realist/representationalist view and the antirepresentationalist view. The former is noted as
the belief that virtual reality exists and that one is able to verify the accuracy of the reality,
while the latter states that people will always be blind-sided by subjective dispositions and
thus cannot attain a complete rational point of view. Philosopher Quine's theory that only
sense data denotes reality, while the remainder is what people make up given their need to
make sense of the world.
William James in his book Pragmatism states: ‘Truth is a property of certain of our ideas. It
means their agreement, as falsity means their disagreement with reality.’ By the agreement of
ideas he does not mean that our ideas copy reality. It also does not mean that there is a fixed
relation of correspondence between ideas and objects. Therefore, it cannot be said that ideas
are true because they copy or correspond to reality. That is why it is clear that pragmatic
theory goes against the correspondence theory of truth.
The truth of ideas depends on verifiability. “True ideas are those that we can assimilate,
validate, corroborate and verify. False ideas are those that we cannot.” Ideas and judgments
are not true until they are verified by their fruitful consequences. When they lead to
successful activities they are true. An idea is not true by itself. This means that the truth of an
idea is constituted by verifiability. William James in his book Essays in Pragmatism says:
‘True ideas are that we assimilate, validate, corroborate, and verify. False ideas are those that
we cannot.’
Schiller points out that the question of truth is primarily a practical one. Our success in
practical life depends on our ability to predict and control the course of events in the world.
We want to discover truth. The test of truth depends on our ability to predict and control the
course of events in the world. Predictions which are formally valid, but practically
inapplicable are only truth-claims. Truth claims are not considered as truths. So, predictions

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become true only when it turns to success. Here we find a distinction between positive value
of successful prediction and negative value of unsuccessful prediction.
According to Dewey, truth or knowledge is the outcome of adequate enquiry. ‘Knowledge is
related to enquiry as a product of the operations by which it is produced.’ Enquiry is a
process of investigation which is evoked by a doubtful situation. It begins in doubt and
proceeds to remove doubt through proper investigation. A proposition is true means it is
warranted by competent and controlled enquiry. Dewey prefers to use the words ‘warranted
assertability’ for knowledge or truth.
The pragmatic theory has been criticized by critics. According to them, pragmatic theory
reduces the true to be useful and obliterates the distinction between truth and error. It is a
matter of common experience that what is not useful and what is false may sometimes be
useful for certain purposes.
Again the pragmatic theory makes truth appear as subjective. If the test of truth is utility or
usefulness then the truth will depend on people’s interest. That is why, it is clear that
pragmatic theory cannot provide us objective test of truth. So, it can be said that pragmatic
theory is not satisfactory.
First, due originally to Bertrand Russell (1907) in a discussion of James's theory[citation
needed], is that pragmatism mixes up the notion of truth with epistemology. Pragmatism
describes an indicator or a sign of truth. It really cannot be regarded as a theory of the
meaning of the word "true". There's a difference between stating an indicator and giving the
meaning. For example, when the streetlights turn on at the end of a day, that's an indicator, a
sign, that evening is coming on. It would be an obvious mistake to say that the word
"evening" just means "the time that the streetlights turn on". In the same way, while it might
be an indicator of truth, that a proposition is part of that perfect science at the ideal limit of
inquiry, that just isn't what "true" means.
Russell's objection is that pragmatism mixes up an indicator of truth with the meaning of the
predicate 'true'. There is a difference between the two and pragmatism confuses them. In this
pragmatism is akin to Berkeley's view that to be is to be perceived, which similarly confuses
an indication or proof of that something exists with the meaning of the word 'exists', or with
what it is for something to exist.