What are the purposes of Education and to what extent are these reflected differently in the Education System of the UK and your country?

What are the purposes of Education and to what extent are these reflected differently in the Education System of the UK and your country?

There is some controversy over the extent to which dominant ideology is considered an important factor in educational purposes. It is generally believed that education refers a social work activity, which can be defined as the propagation and studies of various knowledge which are human civilization achievement, the skills and social experiences of life. In this essay, the purposes of education can be interpreted as the effect of politics, economics, and dominant ideology whereas dominant ideology can be defined as the most tightly held system of common values and beliefs that both bring forth and base on the social and economic organization at a specific period of time (Education lecture, Anderson, 2007). This essay will attempt to demonstrate that the purposes of education and dominant ideology are firmly linked, and how different ideologies affect the various purposes of education. In order to demonstrate this it will be shown that the different purposes of education are reflected the education systems of the UK and Taiwan and will also come to a comparison between both education systems.

The education purposes of the UK constitute social purposes and individual purposes that focus on the dominant ideology of individual and competitiveness. Firstly of all, social purposes are creating a cohesive society, suiting people for the workplace, and developing a sense of morality in the meantime (Education lecture, Anderson, 2007). That is to say, a national curriculum with multicultural elements prepares pupils for the workplace and also to compete with pupils, schools, and counties. Moreover, all schools are required to have everyday worship. Next, individual purposes are centred in individual growth and personal creativity, or more precisely, Flexible teaching methodologies are both teacher and pupil centred, which allows for much creativity (Education lecture, Anderson, 2007). In brief, education makes pupils more competitive in the society and encourages individual creativity.

The purposes of education reflect the concerns of the dominant ideology and the education implements accordingly in the UK. For the social purposes, the national curriculum consists of many multicultural subject and available for every citizen. Moreover, the national system of assessment is constituted to compete with pupils, schools, and counties. The vocational education is also founded for pupils who are not suited to academic education. Furthermore, all schools are required to have everyday worship for developing a sense of morality which is explored in personal and social education. On the other hand, the personal purposes focus on the individual growth and creativity. Although there is much emphasis on exam results, the varied teaching methods lead pupils for much creativity. Additionally, the specialist secondary schools are been encouraged, namely modern language and art. Finally, a limited choice of ‘optional subjects’ are available for the age of 14 whilst there are some ‘core subjects’ (Education lecture, Anderson, 2007).

The purposes of education differ slightly between the UK and Taiwan, especially in the personal creativity and individual choice. Significantly, educational develops national spirit, autonomy spirit, ethics and morals, sound in physique and mentality, and science and life intelligence in Taiwan. In detail, national spirit, ethics and morals, sound in physique and mentality are the key points to national independence to create a cohesive society. Similarly, the purpose of autonomy spirit is to ask the existence of the general and society of the civil rights and science and life intelligence is the gist of the development of the livelihood of citizens. There is little evidence that there are different purposes between the UK and Taiwan from the statement shows above. The fundamental of Ethics and morality, however, is apparent difference. In the UK, it seems the education effected by the religion in terms of tradition. In Taiwan, nevertheless, ethics and morals education bases on the principles of Confucius, Chinese thinker and social philosopher, ‘never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself’. Furthermore, personal creativity is been encouraged because of flexibility in the UK, yet the tradition of education in Taiwan emphasizes on sparing of words with slow-witted but sturdy mind. In short, the personal creativity and individual choice are less encouraged in Taiwan.

In fact, the education system still far affected by the dominant ideology of collective and cooperative, which based on Confucianism. For the social purposes, the national curriculum and system of assessment is constituted to compete with pupils, schools, and counties. The teaching methodologies are more likely teacher and examination centred. The first part secondary education, so-called junior high school in Taiwan, pays much attention to save of culture and transmission of knowledge. Moral education is also emphasized in the stage of primary schools for establishing a cohesive society. On the other hand, the personal purposes focus on the individual growth, i.e. developing latent energy and self-actualization. The pupils pay efforts to memorize the lectures of teachers to handle various examinations, namely quizzes, tests, and even national assessments for entering better senior high schools. Similarly, senior high students pay much effort to enter better universities by passing various examinations. Moreover, the vocational education, called senior vocational high schools, is founded for teenagers who are not suited to academic education.

Above all, it can generally be concluded that the dominant ideology of Taiwan is collective and cooperation while the dominant ideology of the UK focus on individual and competitiveness. Significantly, the biggest diversities between the UK and Taiwan are ethic and moral education and different teaching methodologies. It can also seemed that those diversities influence creativities and morality of pupils and therefore it is an encouraging sign that learning the mutual merits and draw lessons from with the shortcomings of the other side.