This article discusses the purpose and importance of education and emphasizes that education should be connected to life purpose, not just knowledge transfer. Based on Herbart’s educational theory, we argue that moral formation and social contribution should be the end goal of education, and that the current education system needs to be improved.
We learn for different purposes, such as contributing to society, self-development, self-discipline, self-satisfaction, and earning a living. To find out the purpose of education, a survey was conducted with the question, “What are the purposes for which we learn?” The most common answer among young people was “to get into a good university”, while the most common answer among working people was “for self-improvement”. This clearly shows that different socio-economic statuses have different goals for education. Just as the reasons for education vary among individuals, so do the reasons for education from an educator’s perspective.
For Pierre de la Ramêe, the purpose of education was usefulness. For Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, it was to acquire wisdom for living life, and for Jan Amos Komenský, it was to be educated through all the facts about the world.
While the purpose of education varies from thinker to thinker, there are two important things that should never be overlooked. The first is what is the end goal of education? This is because the end goal of education greatly determines the method and direction of education. The second is that education is directly related to life. This means that the purpose of education is connected to the purpose of life. Since education is so deeply rooted in our lives, it is very important to have the right perspective on education.
This connection between education and life can be seen in Herbart’s educational theory. As a philosopher of education, he believed that our minds are shaped externally by contact with the world of people and things. He also argued that education must involve multifaceted interests that are directly or indirectly connected to life. Herbart mentions five moral ideas that encompass both the personal and social aspects of morality. These are: 1. the idea of inner freedom, 2. the idea of wholeness or perfection, 3. the idea of good will, 4. the idea of rights, and 5. the idea of equity. Through these five moral ideas, Herbart clarified the purpose of education. Of these, the one of greatest concern to teachers is the idea of perfection or completeness. This means cultivating the body and mind as a prerequisite for virtue. Based on this idea, he argued that the teacher’s task is to teach in a way that contributes to the formation of morality, an education that has as its ultimate goal the formation of character. He also saw history as the core of the curriculum, but did not underestimate the importance of science. Herbart also advocated for the inclusion of practical activities in the curriculum to educate the whole person.
Looking at Herbart’s educational theory, I realized that I have similar views on education. Herbart considered education from both ethical and psychological perspectives and carefully considered the characteristics of immature children. However, my view of education differs from Herbart’s in several ways. First, Herbart saw the end goal of education as creating good human beings with morals. However, I go further and see the end of education as the application of the morality formed through education to life and contributing to society. I believe that the perfection of character is achieved not only when students become virtuous human beings through education, but also when they are able to apply their morality to their lives and contribute to society.
This leads to the second conflict with Herbart’s view, which is which of Herbart’s five moral ideas he emphasizes most. Herbart’s primary concern is “the idea of wholeness or perfection”. But I think the idea of inner freedom, the combination of knowledge of how to act and the willpower necessary to put it into practice, is more important. Of course, I agree with Herbart’s concern that it may be unreasonable to expect immature children to harmonize intellect and will in the comprehensive sense implied by the idea of inner freedom. However, there is a limit to attempting to teach students to achieve morality through a content-based, whole-person education if they have not learned to connect the content to their lives. Therefore, I believe that the purpose of education is better served by helping students train to put moral knowledge into practice. Furthermore, given that the target audience is immature children, we must teach them how to help others put their moral knowledge into practice. This requires a process of reformulating the meaning of morality at the child’s level.
In the process of presenting my critical view based on Herbart’s educational theory, I was able to further solidify the purpose of education. As I briefly mentioned earlier, it is important to remember that as an educator, you must clearly define your own purpose of education and then guide your students according to that purpose. However, given the current state of the education system in our society, there are real challenges in achieving the end goal of education.
What are the problems with our current education system? First, subjects that nurture students’ emotional areas, such as music, art, and physical education, are downplayed. On the other hand, only subjects that emphasize the intellectual domain of students, such as Korean, English, and math, are emphasized. In addition, education has become more entrance exam-oriented, which has diluted the essence of education by discouraging genuine academic exploration. The biggest problem is that these educational realities have led to the downplaying of moral education, which is directly related to students’ morality.
In order to fulfill the final purpose of education, which is “to enable students to apply the morality formed through education to their lives and contribute to society,” the problems in the current education system need to be improved quickly. The most urgent improvement is to expand the teaching of morality. Morality is directly related to our lives, and it is the best subject to help immature students form a proper sense of ethics and values.
From the past to the present, education has been gradually improved through the hands of many educational thinkers. If we continue to improve the current education system in our society one by one, we will be able to realize our educational goals.
