FOUNDATION OF EDUCATION :: RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CULTURE AND EDUCATION

Culture is a system of norms and standards that a society develops over a course of many generations and which profoundly influences the everyday behaviour of people in the society. Culture is as people do in simple. It is that complete whole that includes the customs, beliefs, laws, traditions, knowledge, morals etc acquired by man or a member of society. Ottaway Kleberg defines culture as a way of life.

Education plays a very important role in the transmission of culture from generation to generation. Whenever there is human group there is culture, a man made part of environment and learned patterns of behaviour. People follow established customs which limit and focus the range of their individual choice example dressing, eating, valuing, believing etc. Education and culture cannot be separated or divorced for each other as they are very much dependent on each other and one influence the other.

 These customs influence our behaviour in three ways:

• Valuation of matters with regard to their desirability.  
• The opportunity of obtaining what we desire.
• Customs determines by what means can legitimately be used to obtain what we desire.

These customs as a whole form the culture of the society. Culture is diffused and transmitted to succeeding generations by education. Since human beings live in groups, we can say that where ever they are culture will stay, and so education is both first and second meaning of the term. When it comes to schooling, it is narrow (third) sense, it is limited to literate culture. Schooling helps in and emphasizes on transmission of a part of culture; systematized knowledge. When it exists in the non-literate cultures, it play a much smaller part than in literate culture.

Culture is seldom, if ever transmitted in a uniform and unchanged way. Each individual living in the society has his own view depending upon the location of his existence. Individual view point differs even in the most homogeneous cultures. Teachers and students therefore have attitudes , ideas and viewpoints all are individual views. In the process of transmissions (education), are brought into contact with each other and this leads to a new, more or less successfully integrated synthesis. At the more elementary levels there will be a simple transmission of received notions. 

Education is a technique while culture is a value. Education will lead towards a more creative, enhanced, perpetuated values i.e. culture. We cannot consider vocation part of education to achieve culture. Vocation is the utilitarian pursuit of education. This is considered as a material culture. Culture is more concerned about the non-material part or aspects of the society, than the material aspects. Right education should maintain a balance between the material and non-material aspects of the society.

Characteristics of culture:

Acquired traits: Culture is sum total of acquired traits. A new born baby acquires traits in the process of growing up. As the baby grows older he/she acquires different ideals, attitudes and values by imitation and social contacts. These experiences contribute to the formation of his personal culture. Hence it is important job of parents to teach the best. Things he/she learns from home gets printed in his/her mind forever. Home is considered as the first school. It is definitely the responsibility which lies on the shoulders of the parents and the other members of the family.

Distinct entity: Different societies of the world have different cultural patterns establishing the different identities of different nations. India is known worldwide for its values and principles. India is the cradle of love and affection. India is considered as the paradise on earth. It has taught to the world values and togetherness.

Transmission: Cultural traits and patterns are transmitted from generation to generation. Each generation is free to modify the cultural heritage and transmit it to the next generation. Cultural patterns are powerfully conditioned and influenced by the trends which appear from time to time according to different circumstances and conditions. The transmission is a continuous process. This makes the process more important as it nurtures our future. So, its a reminder for also the present generation to preserve and pass on good things to future. Swami Vivekananda once said that the new culture prevailing is not bad always it is up to the individual to take the best out of it and rise up in his life. Every individual in our country and in the world as a whole are connected in some or the other way. It is the responsibility of everyone to honor the goodness and carry it forward to make it more worth for the world as full family. We in India believe always in 'Vasudeva Kutumbhakam'.

Utility: A culture is good if it has utility to the individual and to the society. If it does not fulfill this purpose then it decays and dies out in the long run. Cultural fanaticism promotes conflicts and chaos. Therefore, one should see and adopt cultural beauties and excellencies of all the culture that exist in the world. It will promote the world culture on the one hand where as on the other cultural integration will take place. Swami Vivekananda also pressurized on this fact that don't be upset with change , any change which is good for all is good. Taking up the good things and avoiding the bad things and working in a 'Trial and error' basis will help us indeed to establish a new culture. Culture is something which is related to the past, present and our actions of present will carry the same culture to the future.

Dynamism: Culture is not static but is dynamic. We live in a open system not in an isolated system An isolated system has no exchange. Any system with no exchange and change leads to its end. Culture changes and grows with the change of time. Due to rapid rise in transport and means of communication one culture adopts another culture and become composite culture. One can notice that our culture has traveled a long way and changed from its previous times in numerous ways. Our thinking patterns, values, beliefs, behavior ideals etc all has changed. The different cultures of the world are interacting among themselves and syntheses of culture are taking place. We cannot stop the changes happening but we can work for the betterment, which helps all.

Kinds of culture:

        According to the subjects there are different kinds of culture: Individual culture, Communal culture, National culture and World culture.

Each individual has some personal traits and qualities which guide the habits, thinking and behaviour of the person. These personal likes, dislikes, interests, modes of thinking and patterns of social behaviour constitute his personal culture. Similarly, different communities have their different customs, traditions, beliefs and styles of living which is known as community culture. Likewise each nation has some distinct patterns of ideals, values, modes of thoughts and behaviour. Such national traits are known as national culture. Further with the rise in the means of transport and communication the whole world has shrunk into a small unit. The whole world are now supposed to be having common values of life such as cooperation, empathy, sympathy, social services, social awakening and social sensitiveness which is termed as world culture. To remind one thing here, individuals make a country so if we talk about real change it should start from each individual. Any change at the level of each individual over a period of time leads to communal.... national and finally a world change; further cause change in culture at the level of world.

According to contents there are two types of culture in every society: Material culture and Non-Material culture.

Material culture: It includes all those man made things and objects which human society has created for its physical welfare. As for example clothes, utensils, TV, radio, various machines. Here on thing we need to understand and that is material things, inventions are for providing us with comfort but we need on depend on them so much that we become their slaves. We should not forget that our minds created them but they didn't create us. We should never be a slave of science. We are their creatures.

Non material culture: It includes those ideals, attitudes and values which modify the behaviour of an individual. Language, literature, art, music, religion, customs, traditions etc are some of the example of non material culture. Each individual is different from other based upon some innate qualities. There should not be a time when we keep our self away from understanding self. Giving proper medication to the thirst that we have distinguishes us from others so, our attitude, positive nature, hard work, our values, our ethics and principles make us a human. Non material culture play a very important role. It designs and gives a personality to a human. These makes us a real human and what ever change in culture is happening now in our country/world or will happen in the future, our connectivity with the earth in terms of humanity, values  and ethics should never change or vanish. The more we are connected with our earth or the down to earth behaviour determines our actual nature. Its not about what language we speak or what we wear or we eat, its about how you behave and carry yourself form an important part of culture.

Culture based on Material things are just dust, what matters is the purity of soul. The soul enriched with culture and humanity. We need to focus more on developing non-material culture, as it is for the lifetime. In order to enrich these qualities now a days life skills have become an important part of education and this also shows that culture and education are so connected.

Cultural Lag:

            We as a Nation are concerned not only preservation of society but with its improvement. The school is not an image of society where the virtues and vices of society are reflected. It indeed should serve as a laboratory for testing the traditions, values, beliefs, and attitudes, prevailing in a particular society and taking upon itself the task of making the society a better one. Here one important thing to understand is that, school is not the only place. Education should primarily start from home, as it's the first school of a child. School as a laboratory even brings us to the problems like the prevailing conditions of the society and steps towards removal of the social lags and planning of model society.

Cultural lag is defined as the degree to which certain aspects of culture lag the changes in its other related aspects. In other words, the vast difference between the material and non material culture is known as social or cultural lag. All the parts of our modern culture are not changing at the same rate and since there is correlation or inter-dependence of parts, a rapid change in one part requires re-adjustment through other changes in various correlated parts. A culture lag occurs "when the different aspects of the society fail to adjust themselves to changes effected in some of its parts." The changes in ideas, beliefs and value systems, for example, will be slower than the changes in material conditions. In our society, the economic system is changing fast, industrial economy is replacing the rural economy. A lot of work is being done by machines or we can say that human labour is being replaced by machines. But the religious and social structures are not keeping pace with the changes in the economic structure. Education is the only means to bridge the cultural lag.

Education and culture:

             Education as a part of culture has the twin functions of conservation and modification or renewal of the culture. Education is conceived as a systematic effort to maintain a culture. "In its technical sense education is the process by which society, through schools, colleges, universities and other institutions, deliberately transmit its cultural heritage, its accumulated knowledge, values and skills from one generation to another." Education is an instrument of cultural change. Education can impart knowledge, training and skills as well as inculcate new ideas and attitudes among the young. It is culture in which education germinates and flowers. It is the culture also upon which education exerts, in turn, a nourishing influence. The intimate relationship between culture and education is evident from the fact the one of the major aim of education is to impart to the child cultural heritage and social heritage. Every individual is born into a particular culture which provides him with definite patterns of behaviour and values which guide his/her conduct in different walks of life. Thus, culture plays an important role in the life of a person. To understand the nature of its importance, it will be easy to understand how education of various elements of culture can help a person. It can be seen in the following manner:

Adaptation to the natural environment:  Everywhere man lives in a definite natural environment to which they adapt themselves. Without adaptation he/she can not survive. All the inventions and experiments that he/she make in the process of this adaptation form an important part of the culture. Differences in the natural environment of different communities pave the way for differences in their cultures. In all the tribes of India, the members of the community behave in a particular way which is adapted by the coming generations of the particular community or tribe. It is this mode of behaviour which makes up culture.

Adaptation to the social environment: Culture includes customs, traditions, beliefs etc. All of these help the individual to adapt to his social environment. It must be kept in mind that all these elements undergo gradual changes as the social environment changes. Culture determines the patterns of social control, through which the individual is subjected to remain attached to that group. Hence, the advantage in communicating the culture of the group to the child through education is that he/she is thereby acquainted with the traditions, customs, values and patterns of conduct prevailing in his group. This knowledge enables him to adapt to social environment and thus achieve his socialization.

Development of personality: The personality of the individual is manifested through his pattern of behaviour. The behaviour is always influenced by the culture of his/her group. Culture influences the physical, mental, moral, social, aesthetic and emotional aspects of individual. Thus, the behaviour of the individual is greatly influenced by the culture. 

Socialization, Society and Need for schooling: One must mix up with others to learn the habits etc, of the society to which he belongs. In other words to socialize oneself one must learn the culture of the society. Moral learning in school and college must be continuous with moral training outside through field trips, community activities and the like. Society needs its young generation not to be in ignorance. It want its learning to be transmitted to the next generation. Thus, society started schools to educate its members.

The purpose is two fold: To transmit the cultural heritage and to improve the society.

Transmission of culture heritage: To perpetuate present progress we should transmit the cultural heritage. Only physical reproduction is not sufficient; we should equip the new generation with our attainments in all fields of life. Here we should exploit the innate tendencies, needs and interests of the children for the purpose of education. Our education should also be in consonance with the mental 'make-up' of the students. Every child is different, no two individuals are same. Every individual has some potentiality and so here education should be structured in such a way that the need of the individual is fulfilled and the best in him/ her is brought out and extracted for a bigger cause.

Improvement of the Society: Without improvement the society will stagnate. Education is not only to reflect the social conditions but also to improve them. With the advancement of science and technology our ways of life are also undergoing tremendous change. If we would not cope with the present advancement there would be 'cultural lag'. We must adjust ourselves with the fast changing world. So education must adapt itself to the changing conditions. But as always happens some new things are not very desirable. So we shall have to guard ourselves against the tendency of the schools to import everything new in the society. If old and out-dated things are to be discarded we shall have to be vigilant against blind and slavish imitation of the new developments. It is through education that we can prepare students to evaluate the past and understand the present and to be prepared for future. In short the students should be taught to get inspiration from the inspiring past, to live in the dynamic present and to face the challenging future. The intention of education should not be to teach him/ her bigger things rather it should make him/her understand the best lesson called 'life', he/ she should finally help our country or the world or say our planet to prosper.

            Education is obviously reflection of the social, cultural and political conditions prevailing outside. It reflects the society but it has within it the seeds of dynamics of change and thus can keep pace with the fast changing world. The schools thus are not blind followers of the dictates of the society but when it degenerates they can improve it and enthuse it with new idea of thought and new horizons of desirable ideals. Here lies a very important fact i.e. Parents to find school for their children. Parents need to find a school where life skills and morals are taught than academics.

Role of the School: The school has to give up its ivory tower isolation. It must be closely linked with the society. "The starting point of educational reform must be the re-linking of the school to life and restoring the intimate relationship between them which has broken down with the development of the formal tradition of education," recommends the Secondary Education Commission. The school should be a lab, where the systems are tested in real terms to make a good present and design a better future.

According to the Secondary Education Commission, "The Secondary School must make itself responsible for equipping its students adequately with civic as well as vocational efficiency and to lay their part worthily and competently in the improvement of national life. They should no longer emerge as helpless, shiftless individuals who do not know what to do with themselves."

School as a Community in Miniature: School is a place where different people come from different level of societies. School is a social institution which has been established by the society for the purpose of transmitting among its members, those ideas, beliefs, attitudes and dispositions that will make them worthy members of the society. Schools are to be the reflection of the larger society outside its will in which life can be learnt by living. The school is to be looked at not as a place where traditional knowledge is inculcated as authoritative but as a place where experiments in life are carried on and where other experiments in life be read about and told about because of their results by which alone they are to be judged and not by their prestige.

Impact of culture on educational institutions: 

The aims and ideals of the educational institutions are influenced by the values and patterns of the society. The curriculum, methods of teaching, let it be the reading material all depends upon the society and its needs. Few such needs are explained in brief:

Curriculum: The curriculum is prepared according to the culture of society. The system of education tries to realize the cultural needs of society through curriculum which conditions all educational activities and programs. There is a waste explosion of knowledge and so the curriculum is keep upgrading to cater the needs of the society.

Methods of teaching: Culture and methods of teaching are intimately connected. The changing cultural patterns of a society exert its influence upon the methods of teaching. Previously teaching was teacher centered where teacher used to give knowledge to the child. Now it has become student centered. The teacher considers the needs, interests, aptitude, attitude, inclinations, behaviour etc before teaching. In this way education is a method of preparing child for the future for effective living. In short we can say that cultural and social conditions generate the methods and techniques of teaching in a powerful manner. Different ways of teaching to make teaching more realistic is the new trend in the field of teaching.

Discipline: Cultural values influence the concept of discipline. The present cultural patterns of thinking and living are directly linked to our concept of discipline where the democratic values are accepted all over the world.  

Text Books: Curriculum is contained in the textbooks. Textbooks are written according to the formulated or determined curriculum. Only those textbooks are welcomed which foster and promote cultural values and ideals.

Teacher: Each individual teacher is imbibed with the cultural values and ideals of the society of which he/she happens to be an integral member. Only such teacher achieves his/her missions successfully. They infuse higher ideals and moral values in children.

School: A schools is a miniature of a society. The total activities and programs of a school are organized according to the cultural ideals and values of the society which establishes and organize the school. Hence, school is the center of promoting, molding, reforming, and developing the cultural pattern of the society.

Thus, education and culture are interdependent and complementary to each other. However the existing system of education in India has not evolved from its own culture. There is a need that education should be related to our own culture. It has been rightly said. "The existing system of education is largely based on the ideals of spreading western science and literature and way of life among a small minority of the population and of training persons for services under the government. It is still academic and book-centered and fails to promote social, cultural, economic or political development on proper lines." A foreign system of education was introduced in India without taking into account the cultural heritage of India. It is cut off from Indian cultural traditions and is alien to masses. People around the world are learning the hidden knowledge of our own country where as there is lag in our curriculum, there should be more of connectivity with our land. 

In this context would like to quote Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, "Can we combine the progress of science and technology with the progress of the mind and spirit also?" We cannot be untrue to science because that represents the basic fact of life today. Still less can we be untrue to those essential principles for which India has stood in the past throughout the ages. Let us then pursue our path to industrial progress with all our strength and vigour and at the same time, remember that material riches without toleration and compassion and wisdom may well turn to dust and ashes.

Education should transmit the culture to the new generation and transform the outlook of the young towards life in the light of the past; in the context of cross-cultural influences and in the light of the future requirements of the individual and the society.

Influence of Media and Art forms on Child’s Education:

With the information explosion media has made tremendous impact on the mind of the pupil. Today, social and technological changes are taking place with a rapid pace throughout the world. Both qualitative and quantitative improvement of education is facilitated and accelerated with the help of media. There is no denying the fact that modern education has changed the concept of teaching from teachers’ centered to learners’ centered. Similarly, teacher centered lecture based instruction is changing to students centered interactive learning. Teachers’, thus, has to perform the role of facilitator for the active learning by the pupils. Learning happens and knowledge is generated in an environment where interaction between teachers, students and the content takes place in interactive ways.

Knowledge is communicated to us through the communication. This message is great importance for us because, when the information is communicated to us on a printed page or over the telephone, by radio or television it appears different and has entirely a different effect on us. There is a famous proverb that I hear...I forget; I see... I remember; I do... I understand. This means that if a teacher teaches without the help of supportive aids there is much possibility that students will forget the things being taught to them where as the active utilization of more than one sense increases the possibility of understanding among the students and hence empowering them. In the classroom teaching-learning context media improves the teaching-learning processes. Its main purpose is to benefit more students with fewer teachers or to obtain quality education. Children are the conscious being. They do not learn only from the books rather from the whole surroundings. Children today are more exposed to media both print and non-print. They learn from media in more concrete way than only through verbal communication in the class. Media and Art forms helps child in acquiring knowledge in different manners. Media is available at finger tips. Children get motivated and learn faster when more than one sense work. Internet has made our planet a very small place. We can connect to any part of the world and exchange information. The entire world is at doorsteps with one click of button. Media concretes the concept that we are learning. Media continuously helps in keeping the thinking process.

Radio: It is used mainly to broadcast events to far and wide places of the world. It acts as the medium of mass communication. It is also an important source of entertainment. Students listen various talks, discussions, and debates from radio which are extremely important and useful for them. Many programs are broadcasted over radio for the purpose of teaching. Thus radio act as a great recreational and educational force. These days the use of radio has declined to a lot extend.

Television: It is an extremely popular source of entertainment among youngsters today. The whole personality of the child gets involved while they watch television. Therefore television is the most powerful means of communication. It stimulates more than one sense and hence the learning becomes more permanent.

Motion pictures:  It exercises a great influence on human mind. Many areas can be wisely dealt with the help of films.

Summary: The development in science and technology has brought wide aspects and the knowledge explosion has resulted in lot many changes. The need for changes in our system is because of the culture change. Culture and education goes parallel hand in hand with each other. The cultural change these days have resulted in devastating  and erosion of basic values. Our Education system and the running schools and colleges must work on bringing changes in our system by teaching the children the morals, values which makes our country India special!!

On the eve of New Year would like to share one of my favorite life changing poem by Benjamin Jonson called 'It is not growing like a tree'.

It is not growing like a tree
In bulk doth make Man better be;
Or standing long an oak, three hundred year,
To fall a log at last, dry, bald, and sere:
A lily of a day
Is fairer far in May,
Although it fall and die that night—
It was the plant and flower of light.
In small proportions we just beauties see;
And in short measures life may perfect be.  

...........................

"It's not about how rich you are or how much you are educated..... It's about how much humanity, values and morals you carry with you. Its about what you carry with your soul and how many have you helped. Its about having a qualitative life".