Education is Enculturation by Joseph

Education is Enculturation by Joseph - April 2015 Scholarship Essay

When we say the word “education”, we immediately think of certain academic institutions, such as high schools or universities, because these are the areas where we learn most of the knowledge we need to succeed as adults. Citizens spend around eight hours a day in these buildings, either studying or attending classes, in order to better prepare themselves for the future. Due to this fact, most of us have come to associate education with only learning practical knowledge, and little else. What I have observed, and continue to believe, is that education is used to teach people not only knowledge from textbooks, but norms regarding our own culture as well.

Education is the agent of both learning and enculturation; not only does it teach us the skills we need to know to further our career, it also teaches us the social norms and expectations of our society. The main purpose of any educative entity is to teach others the skills that they must know in order to be successful in the world. We learn how to write essays and how to apply calculus in school, but our educators also tell us of what we will be expected of, both in school and the real world. School Code of Conducts teach us to behave in school and respect authority, but they also subconsciously teach us to do the very same when we are not attending school. These areas also provide us with social awareness, encouraging us to interact and form friendships with fellow students. Due to our constant interaction with our peers, school also teaches what is popular, such as what clothes or slang terms are in style, and what terms or personal preferences are deemed abnormal. Without school, many of us would have less friends and acquaintances, because we would not constantly be attending the same educational building, and would therefore lose many potential social connections and understandings.

While the conscious goal of any educational institution is to instill knowledge, they also subconsciously teach us about what viewpoints are acceptable in our society. Most schools in modern times ban any form of discrimination based on race, gender, or religious preference. This is to reinforce what society has already deemed morally right, and continues to teach it to all students. Students don’t only just learn about history or math in school; they learn about all fields of knowledge, particularly knowledge that we need every day in order to have successful careers, including what is acceptable and preferred by our culture.