Nature of Education:

Education is a process to develop the intellectual faculties of the man. It makes the civilized, refined, cultured and educated. For a civilized and socialized society, education is the only means. It makes a man perfect. It is systematic process through which a child or a man acquires knowledge, experience, skill and sound attitude. Every society gives importance to education because it is a panacea for all evils. It is the key to solve all problems of life. Derivative Meaning of Education: The word Education has been derived from different words. Latin word E and Duco means to draw out of the inner qualities of the child. Similarly, educare means to nurture and to bring up while educare means to draw out the qualities of a child to make a complete man. Various educationists have given their views on education. Some important definitions are: Gandhi By education I mean an all-round drawing out of the best in man body, mind and spirit. Tagore - Education makes ones life in harmony with all existence. Dr. Zakir Husain Education is the process of the individual mind, getting to its full possible development. Aristotle- Education is the creation of sound mind in a sound body. Rousseau- Education is the childs development from within. Spencer- Education is complete living. It can be estimated that education is a comprehensive term and it reflects ones day-to-day life and an essential aspect for perfect balanced personality development. On other hand, the meaning of education can be understood from the narrower and broader point of view. Narrower meaning implies education is limited in educational institutions and broader meaning refers to life-long comprehensive process of education. Nature of Education: As the meaning of education, so its nature which is very complex. The natures of education are: (a) Education is life-long process- Education is life long process because every stage of life of an individual is important from educational point. (b) Education is a systematic process- It refers to transact its activities through a systematic institution and regulation. (c) Education is development of individual and the society- It is called a force for social development, which brings improvement in every aspect in the society. (d) Education is modification of behavior- Human behavior is modified and improved through educational process.

(e) Education is a training- Human senses, mind, behavior, activities; skills are trained in a constructive and socially desirable way. (f) Education is instruction and direction- It directs and instructs an individual to fulfill his desires and needs for exaltation of his whole personality. (g) Education is life- Life without education is meaningless and like the life of a beast. Every aspect and incident needs education for its sound development. (h) Education is continuous reconstruction of our experiences- As per the definition of John Dewey education reconstructs and remodels our experiences towards socially desirable way. (i) Education is a power and treasure in human being through which he is entitled as the supreme master on the earth. Therefore, the role of education is countless for a perfect society and man. It is necessary for every society and nation to bring holistic happiness and prosperity to its individuals.

At the time 30 years ago it was a sentiment that needed a word of explanation; the Japanese meal respects aesthetics, the French cuisine respects subtlety, Italian food respects its ingredients. We now take what we eat much more seriously, and it is timely to ask: What does a school lunch of reheated burger and chips have to say about how we construe the world? For that matter, what does it say about how we construe the nature and purpose of education? Pausing to ponder the nature and consequences of a burger bar in the center of Rome was how a major eating revolution began. Carlo Petrini, a prominent Italian journalist, was walking past a newly opened McDonald's franchise when he stopped and said: If this is fast food, why not have Slow Food? In much the same way, I was thinking about the standards-based school curriculum, with its emphasis on regurgitated gobbets of knowledge, when I recognized the analogy with fast food. What we have created, with our tests and targets, is the fast school, driven by standardized products. So why not devise a Slow School, driven by an emphasis on how ideas are conceptualized, just as Slow Food is driven by how the innate qualities of ingredients can be realized? The concept of Slow, as it has emerged from the Slow Food movement, derives its power as a metaphor from its moral force. It is about what it is good to do; to enjoy "quiet material pleasure," as Carlo Petrini has put it, which entails making judgments about conduct, virtue, and balance. In the Slow City, for example, the virtue of courage emboldens citizens to restrict the growth of hypermarkets so that specialist providers are not put out of business. As a result, people can conduct themselves thoughtfully in a society that values personal experience. Since education is essentially about equipping our children with the ability to act responsibly in a complex society, the idea of a Slow School follows very readily from the metaphor of Slow. It brings to mind an institution where students have time to discuss, argue, and reflect upon knowledge and ideas, and so come to understand themselves and the culture they will inherit. It would be a school that esteems the professional judgment of teachers, that recognizes the differing interests and talents of its pupils, and works with its community to provide a rich variety of learning experiences. Unfortunately, schools in a number of countries are obliged, by political decisions, to conduct their affairs in a totally different manner. This is particularly the case in England and the United States, where public education has taken as its model not the moral character of Slow Food but the commercial character of fast food. What matters in fast food is not the process of preparing or educating, but the outcome. And the product itself is so worthless: a burger has little nutritional value, and schooling based on standardized tests and targets treats students as vessels to be filled rather than people who want to understand, to be inspired, to make something of themselves. These "fast schools" do little to prepare students for the world of tomorrow, based as they are on the idea of "standards," which in practice means comparing performance on content-based tests. If we want our students to look ahead rather

than in the rearview mirror, the metaphor of the standards-based school has to be replaced by the metaphor of the Slow School. The metaphor of standards conjures up a folk memory of fighting battles and winning wars, of steadfast purpose and reliable automobiles. It's a powerful image, but it's completely wrong-headed. The underlying assumption is that if we can make car engines to a high standard, why not turn out students to a high standard? The answer is simple: manufacturing crankshafts is a technical problem, while educating pupils is a moral problem. As Aristotle recognized, different kinds of problems need different methods of solution. In the case of the Slow School, we have to solve complex, practical problems of a moral nature. So at the heart of the Slow School is the idea of bringing together, when new proposals are to be discussed, the responses of its students, parents, teachers, and other stakeholders. In this way the school renders a continuous account of what it is doing to those with a real interest in its work. Accountability is built into the process of curriculum it's part of a continuing narrative that has real meaning for pupils and parents. This is much better than the summative form of accountability generated by standards-led schooling. Parents are confronted with tables of comparative performance on tests which baffle rather than illuminate. Numbers alone tell us very little. Who benefits from this emphasis on standards? Certainly not students, who find such a curriculum boring; nor parents, who are totally excluded from real judgments about their children's school. As for teachers, the effect is to lower their morale and undermine their professionalism. Only the politicians benefit; when the numbers go up, they take the credit, and when they go down they blame the schools. Support is growing for the Slow School movement. Some schools, already on the right track, are beginning to discover that they are really Slow Schools! And an inspired way to get the Slow metaphor into schools is to confront the burgerbased lunch and show students how to devise their own, home-grown, slow lunch. At a stroke, they have to challenge received opinion, think about fundamentals, and devise alternative strategies. It's a good recipe for learning how to build a Slow School curriculum.

The Nature of Education Since centuries back, education has been considered to be as the third eye of a person. It means that education illuminates the human mind and rolls ignorance away. It is the cultivation of human intellect. In plain word, it provides a sense of awareness to a person to think wisely and act justly. Jean Jacques Rousseau put it eloquently this way, plants are developed by cultivation and men by education. There is also a famous old saying that a king is honored in his own kingdom whereas a learned person is worshiped everywhere. Furthermore, Aristotle, the first scientist, stated that education is the creation of sound mind in the sound body. The term education was derived from a Sanskrit root vid which means that knowledge. It is a process through which knowledge is learned and gained. There are also various Latin words which are believed to be a root for education, such as educare, educere, educatum, educo and pedagogy. Educare means to bring up, to nurture, educere means to bring forth, educatum means the act of training, educo means I lead out and pedagogy means principles of teaching. Hence, all the above terms implies the details and actions of education. Education is the acquiring of knowledge, wisdom, information and skills during the course of life. It is also divided into three broad hemispheres such as Formal, Non-formal and Informal Education. Formal Education takes place in schools, colleges and universities. It is also called direct, traditional or conservative education. It is full of formalities, such as classroom, rules, regulations, curriculum, examinations, schedules, students attendance, age, so on and so forth. Non-formal Education is not face to face education like Formal Education. The rules and regulations are not as strict as Formal Education, but there are also curricula, syllabus, exam, centers. Nowadays, Non-formal Education becomes an important and popular aspect. It is a kind of education through distance learning. In Non-formal Education, the Formal Education changes its nature and becomes distance learning. The third type of education is Informal Education. Informal Education is the experience and knowledge that we get from the daily life. Informal Education happens through parents,

relatives, talking with elders, friends, neighborhood, church, seminars, workshops, swimming, play games, Internet, library, TV, Radio, museums, and many others. In nutshell, Formal Education is a school taught knowledge; Non-formal Education is distance learned knowledge and Informal Education is a self-taught knowledge. Therefore, Education is all the learned knowledge, skills and experiences through Formal, Non-formal and Informal types of education that happens in the course of life. It is life-long learning process. Speaking in a broader manner, everything that we experience whether it is good or bad is education. Education is inevitable, unavoidable and ceaseless. Wherever we are and whatever we do is education; but we are unconscious while it happens. Apart from this, Education should be clearly distinguished from other related terms, such as Instruction, Teaching, Learning and Training. -Education is the total learned knowledge and skilled. -Instruction is simply means that the atmosphere of teaching-learning process. -Teaching is a teachers deliberate action that designed to impart knowledge to students. -Learning is a students action to acquire new knowledge, skills and behavior. -Training is to prepare students for a specific technical skills and abilities. In the modern world, Education is a basic human right, and because of this there is an International mission dubbed Education For All. This is an attempt to educate every citizen of the world irrespective of race, nationality, ideology, region and religion through the collaboration of Societies, National Governments, Private Organizations and International DevelopmentAgencies, such as UNESCO, World Bank, NGOs and many others. Education eradicates backwardness, poverty, diseases, injustice, and inequality, and ensures democracy, modernization, quality life, wealth, and yet remarkable guarantees an optimistic future and peaceful planet.