Educatio and Society: What Type Of Relatioship?

This paper focuses on the relationship between education and society. It acknowledges a strong relationship between the two concepts. Education is sees as a means of cultural transmission from one generation to another in any given society. Society is defined as the whole range of social relationships of people living in a certain geographic territory and having a sense of belonging to the same group. The relationships between the two concepts are so strong that it is not possible to separate them because what happens to one affects the other.

Educational institutions are micro-societies, which reflect the entire society. The education system in any given society prepares the child for future life and instills in his those skills that will enable him to live a useful life and contribute to the development of the society. Education as a social phenomenon does not take place in a vacuum or isolation; it takes place in the society and this normally begins from the family, which is one of the social institutions responsible for the education of the child. Introduction

Many sociologists have observed that there is a strong relationship between education and society. This observation is borne out of the fact that it is not possible to separate or draw any line of demarcation between the two concepts. This is because of the fact that what happens to the educational system undoubtedly affects the society, and whatever occurs in the society influences or shapes the educational system in all its ramifications. previous discussion has extensively discussed the concept of education as well as the informal (traditional) and formal education. Here, the term society shall be briefly looked into and the relationship between education and society. The term society is coined from Latin, which is ‘socius’. Every individual is born into a particularly society which bring about familiarity and interaction of rational beings. Adedipe (1985) described society as a group of people consciously living together in their own characteristics way; that is a way of deliberate living peculiar or a particular group.

Ezewu, Fasokun, Akpe and Oluduro (1981) aptly described society as a whole range of relationships within the set-up. That is, society consists of human beings their activities, and relationship to one another and in relation to their natural and social environment. It can be deduced that education and society could be regarded as an act of imparting the societal norms, values, beliefs, and knowledge to an individual so as to enable him/her not only to function effectively well in the society but to contribute to its development. In other words, education is the totality of the process to make an individuals useful members of the society. Emile Durkheim (1939) a French sociologist maintains that the major functions of education is the transmission of societal norms and values. He argued that ‘society can survive only if their exists among its members a sufficient degree of homogeneity; education perpetuates and reinforces the homogeneity by fixing in the child from the beginning the essential similarities which collective life demands.”

To Durkheim, to become attached to society, the child must feel in it something that is real, alive and powerful, which dominates the person and to which he also owes the best part of himself (Haralambos and Herald 1980). However, it has become pertinent and imperative to educate every member in the society, irrespective of class, or position as well as the role one occupies in society. The problem in society today is glaring that everybody needs to be re-socialised and educated so as to have less conflict. In Nigeria, there are constant strikes among the civil servant. In Nigeria, there are constant strikes among the civil servant, political problems, mismanagement of public funds, child abused, truancy, indiscipline, cultism on the part of students, oppression, injustice, poverty, exploitation to one social group by another.

Workers salaries not regularly paid, and time is no longer the soul of business among civil servants. The ‘haves’ continue to be rich while ‘have not’ are becoming poor, egalitarianism is eroded, fixed deposit’ is the order of the day among the ruling elites, representatives of different wards are representing their pockets. Interestingly, democracy in some parts of the world has become the period of ‘Naira rain’ among the minority class. Even the electorate who were beaten and smitten by rain and sun could not get ‘furniture allowance nor car loan, some people gain at the expense of others whereas we all belong to the same society. To cap it all, there is need for equal treatment in the society. It is therefore necessary and from ‘up-to-down’ we need to be re-socialized in order to keep the society moving. Durkheim (1956) was one of the first sociologists to appreciate the relationship between equation and society. He saw education as a social phenomenon through which a society assumes its own continuity by socializing the young in its own image.

The components of the educational system that constitute perfectly defined facts and which have the same reality as another social fact are inter-related. They are inter-related internally, so that a given education system has unity and consistency, and also externally so that the education system reflects a society’s moral and intellectual values. Ottaway (1980) defined society as the whole range of social relationships of people living in a certain geographical territory and having a feeling of belonging to the same kind of group. In every society, whether developing or developed, complex or primitive, there is always an education system. Education systems are not the same, as no two societies are identical. Therefore, education systems differ from society to society and their aims, contents and techniques also differ from one society to another.

From the foregoing, one might postulate that education institutions are micro-societies, which mirror the entire society. This is one of the reasons why societies try to evolve education systems and policies that would meet the needs, beliefs, attitudes and the aspirations of their people. Havighurst (1968) observed that the way to understand a society’s education system is to understand how it is related to the other basic institutions of that society, in particular the family, the church, mosque, the state, the polity and the economy.

FUNCTIONS OF EDUCATION IN THE SOCIETY
The sociological questions that bother an individual in the society is: What are the functions of education to any given society? Perhaps, if we answer this question, much attention and focus would be given to our educational system. Broom and Seiznick (1995) outlined some of the functions of education. These are: Cultural transmission

Social integration
Innovation
Selection and allocation
Personnel development
Cultural Transmission
The transmission of cultural beliefs and understanding as the function of formal and informal education also relied heavily on the society, that is culturally self-conscious. Education as social system creates awareness of a cultural heritage, traditional values as well as cultural transmission, which tends to lay emphasis on respect or tradition. Cultural transmission calls for humanist scholarship, teaching, preservation and examination of society, history, language, religion as well as philosophy in the society.

Social Integration
The basic and fundamental function of education is the formation of a common language and a sense of common identity. For example, in Europe, schools teach in an official language and this helps to standardized and foster unity. In the same vein, in Nigeria, the official language is English Language but in the primary and post primary schools, emphasis is typically laid on the language of the three ethnic groups. The essence of this is to foster social integration of common identify in the society. Innovation

Early man discovered how to make fire. Today’s education has performed miracle in the history of mankind. Every society is conscious of innovations that lead to growth and development. New ideas and approaches come up everyday in order to solve human problems. However, knowledge abounds everyday as a result of innovation especially in the field of technology. Innovation is a dominant factor and an instrument for development in the society. Selection and Allocation

In the early years, when few were educated, the school only played a smaller role than the family in determining allocation of job and status. With the increase in schools, the school system has taken over the job of screening and allocating. Therefore, individual performance in school and the course of study he/she chooses determined his future career. The school is therefore a mechanism for role allocation in the society. Education as an instrument creditably performs a unique function in human life. It is important to note that education gives skills and perspectives that formal cannot be achieved through other socializing agencies.

For example, habits are learned (such as punctuality that may be necessary in a time conscious society). However, it is a truism to emphasize that functional relationship between education and other social systems leads to development in the society. Education is a mechanical tool, a spinner that loosens every knot that refuses to loose. That is, education plays a prominent role in the life of an individual and the society at large, which must be given to every body in the society. Relationship between Education and Society

Complimentary functions
We have seen education in particular as a means of cultural transmission from one generation to another. The parents are the first teachers of the child and they still maintain an educative function throughout the early and formative years of the child. In most of the developing nations of the world, including Nigeria, parents are responsible for sending their children or wards to school. Since these nations are undergoing rapid socioeconomic and political changes, they witness special problems in evolving the appropriate education system, which will be able to produce the adequate manpower needs in all the segments of the society. Schools are established in many societies of the world so as to instill in the pupils those skill’s which will afford them the opportunity of taking their rightful positions in the society; but this function cannot be adequately accomplished without the assistance of the home because both the home and the school perform complimentary functions in the moral and intellectual development of the child. This means that the child cannot be educated in a vacuum or in isolation. Therefore, for a child to be educated there must be interaction between him and his physical and social environment. By this we mean that education is the development of personality. It is something which goes on
both inside and outside the home and in the school. In other words, education is an activity of the whole community. This means that education is used in the transmission of the cultural values. One important implication of looking at education as the transmitter of cultural values is the fact that education can be influenced by the culture of the society in which it takes place. For this reason, one may infer that for a child to be educated, he must be influenced by his environment and, in turn, be capable of influencing it. and it is only by the concept of the continuous interaction of the individual and his society that the development of personality can be properly understood. We have noted above that education is a means through which the cultural values of a particular society are transmitted from one generation to another. Through this process, the society is able to achieve basic social conformity and ensure that its traditional values, beliefs, attitudes and aspirations are maintained and preserved. Clark (1948) observed that a general knowledge and acceptance of the ideals and aims of our society is essential for all its citizens, and it must be achieved through education but in a form, which makes it compatible with freedom. So he reconciles the double purpose by saying that admittedly, the purpose of the educative society may be to make men conformable. But overmastering that must be the purpose to make men free. A society needs a stable and dynamic set of values and a unified purpose. It is when this is ascertained that meaningful economic, political and social programmes can be embarked upon for the overall benefits of the citizens. To be a fully developed person in such a society, implies full and creative membership of it with powers to change it. Ottaway (1980) contended that the transmission of culture still remains a vital function, and is not to be dismissed as merely conservative in the sense of being old-fashioned. He further observed that our children are potentially the society of the future, which still belongs to the non-social community, and education in this respect can be regarded as a socialization of the young. Education depends on the total way of life of a people in a society. This suggests that the type of education provided will differ from society to society. Besides, each society has her own norms, values and her own ideal persons who stand our clearly for the younger generations to emulate. Since all these societies are not the same, then it means that a man regarded as a
hero in one society because of his contributions to educational development of the society may not be regarded as such in another society where education is not given priority in the scheme of their daily activities. It, therefore, implies that children had different people to emulate in different societies. Agent of Change

It is logical to expect that the type of education given in each society will change from time to time as the society changes. Many writers have argued that education is one of the causes of social change in the society, but another school of thought is of the opinion, that educational change tends to follow other social changes, rather than initiate them. Ottaway (1980) observed that ideas of change originate in the minds of men; often in the mind of a single man. Exceptional individuals invent new techniques and propound new values for their society. These ideas arise from the impact of men on his culture, but do not change the culture until they are shared and transmitted by a social group. In his own submission, Boocock (1972) noted that societies undergoing rapid social change or modernization have special problems in adapting the educational system to the manpower needs of the world. They often suffer shortages of persons with special kinds of learning in engineering and other technical fields and may have difficulty in keeping persons with valuable skills once they have completed their education. Hierarchical Order

Another area of the relationship between education and society is through the arrangement of the entire society into a hierarchical order that is, through the social structure in which education plays a prominent and significant role in fixing educated individuals into social classes. Ottaway (1980) observed that education is the process of preparing people to fit into this complex social structure and to play particular social roles as members of more than one institutional group. Individuals have to learn to be fathers or mothers, school teachers or civil servants, shopkeepers or priests. They have to learn to keep the law, to understand how they are governed and to be prepared to try and change the social moves when they see that they can be improved. Preparation for future

Education as a social phenomenon is also concerned with the preparation of the child for his future occupation in life. This is one of the main economic functions of education and this is in the interest of both the nation and the individual. Through education an individual knows the structure of the society and the different types of relationships that exit among those structures in the society. The child is taught how to perform different roles within the social structure in the society. These roles are inter-related. For example, the role of a father is a relational role; a father could be a son to another person. So, education allows the child to perform his role adequately within the social structure in the society. The child is taught how to perform different roles within the social structure in the society. These roles are inter-related. For example, the role of a father is a relational role; a father could be a son to another person. So education allows the child to perform his role adequately within the social structure in the society. In addition, the child is able to understand the network of inter-relationships among the different social institutions that make up the society. Also of importance are the different functions that are performed by each social institution in the society. Like an individual, each institution has definite functions to perform in the society and the functions of each institution differ from one to another even though they are complimentary. Social Interaction

Another aspect of the relationship between education and society is in the area of social interaction. Social interaction may be defined as any relation between people and groups, which changes the behaviour of the people in the group. There is a need for social interaction by the child before he could acquire the culture of his society. This interaction in the society is therefore part of the child’s education, provided that, that type of interaction brings about positive changes in the child’s behaviour in a right direction as required by the educational system. One important point here is that the child has been taking part in group interaction long before he starts to attend school and the most common among these group interactions are within the family and the peer-group. These groups in which the child interacts give him the opportunity to learn from the wider circles in the society. From his social contacts, he learns his roles in
different groups and this influences his personality development. Sociological Theories

This section provides an introduction to the theoretical threads that weave through the field of the sociology of education today- structural functionalist, conflict and interaction theories. Structural functionalist theory originated with the contributions of Emile Durkheim, who emphasized the need for individuals to share similar values to maintain cohesive society. Conflict theory, which grew out of the work of Karl Marx and Max Weber focuses on the struggle of social classes to maintain dominance and power in social systems. The interaction theory attempts to understand the deeper meanings individuals give to their participation in and relationships with schools. The interactionist theory has its origin in the work of George Mead and Charles Cooley. One of the most influential interactionist theorists was sociologist Erving Goffman. There are also several recent theories that, although grounded in these earlier frameworks, provide important explanations that bridge the gap between macro- and micro level theories; Berstein’ code theory, Bourdieu’s description of cultural capital and Collin’s work on status competition. Education is a social institution that sociologists are very interested in studying. This includes teaching formal knowledge such as reading, writing, and arithmetic, as well as teaching other things such as morals, values, and ethics. Education prepares young people for entry into society and is thus a form of socialization. Sociologists want to know how this form of socialization affects and is affected by other social structures, experiences, and outcomes. Sociology of education is a field that focuses on two separate levels of analysis. At a macro-level, sociologists work to identify how various social forces, such as politics, economics, culture, etc., creates variation in schools. In other words, what effects do other social institutions have on the educational system? At a micro-level, sociologists look to identify how variation in school practices lead to differences in individual-level student outcomes. That is, when schools have different teaching methods or have different practices, how does that affect the individual students and what are the individual outcomes?

Example of Sociological Studies on Education
A classic study by sociologist James Coleman done in 1966, known as the “Coleman Report” looked at the performance of over 150,000 students and found that student background and socioeconomic status were much more important in determining educational outcomes than were differences in school resources, such as per pupil spending. He also found that socially disadvantaged black students benefited and did better in school when they were in racially mixed classrooms rather than black only classrooms. This ignited controversy that still continues today. Major Sociological Theories of Education

Like any other topic in sociology, the three major theoretical perspectives (functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interaction theory) each have different views on education. The functionalist perspective argues that education serves many important functions in society. First, it socializes children and prepares them for life in society. This is not only done by teaching “book knowledge,” but also teaching the society’s culture, including moral values, ethics, politics, religious beliefs, habits, and norms. Second, education provides occupational training, especially in industrialized societies such as the United States. Unlike in less complex societies or in the United States prior to 1900 when most jobs and training were passed on from father to son, most jobs in the United States today require at least a high school education, and many professions require a college or post-graduate degree. The third function that education serves, according to functionalist theorists, is social control, or the regulation of deviant behavior. By requiring young people to attend school, this keeps them off the streets and out of trouble. The symbolic interaction view of education focuses on interactions during the schooling process and the outcomes of those interactions. For instance, interactions between students and teachers can create expectations on both parts. The teacher begins to expect certain behaviors from students, which in turn can actually create that very behavior. This is called the “teacher expectancy effect.” For example, if a White teacher expects a black student to perform below average on a math test when compared to White students, over time the teacher may act in ways that encourage the black students to get below average math
scores. Conflict theory looks at the disintegrative and disruptive aspects of education. These theorists argue that education is unequally distributed through society and is used to separate groups (based on class, gender, or race). Educational level is therefore a mechanism for producing and reproducing inequality in our society. Educational level, according to conflict theorists, can also be used as a tool for discrimination, such as when potential employers require certain educational credentials that may or may not be important for the job. It discriminates against minorities, working-class people, and women – those who are often less educated and least likely to have credentials because of discriminatory practices within the educational system.

Conclusion
Many sociologists have appreciated the relationship between education and society and have concluded that the two are so interrelated. That one cannot draw any line of demarcation between them. It has been observed that the educational system of any nation must be based on the needs and demands of the society, and that any educational system that fails to meet the needs, aspirations and ambitions of the society is not relevant and is bound to fail. The educational system of any nation is concerned with, the transmitting of the cultural values of today to those who will live in the world of tomorrow, and contents of education must somehow strike a balance. Dubey et. al. (1984) observed that a good educational system, in all its full substance and ramifications, is related to the level of culture, industrial development, rate of urbanization, political organization, religious climate, family structure, stratification and other institutions of the total social system. Finally, education has to fulfill both the individual’s needs and those of the society and must keep pace with other sub-systems in the society, as both variables are inter-related. REFERENCES

Blakemore, K. and Cooksey, B. (1981). A Sociology of Education for Africa. London: George Allen & Unwin. Boocock, S. (1972). An Introduction to the Sociology of Learning. New York: Houghton Mifflin. Clarke, F. (1948). Freedom in the Educative Society. London: University Press. Dubey, D.L. et. al. (1984). An Introduction to the Sociology of Nigerian Education.
London: Macmillan. Durkheim, E. (1961). Moral Education, English Translation. London: Free Press. Havighurst, R.J. (1960). Education, Social Mobility and Social Change in four Societies. Homewood, III: Dorsey Press. Haralambos, M. and Heald, Sociology:Themes and Perspective. London: Bell and Hyman. Omokhroodion, J.O. and Pemede O. (2002). Education and Society (A Functional Approach), Olu-A in Publishers, Ibadan. Ottaway, A.K.C. (1980), Education and Society An Introduction to the Sociology of Education. New York: The Humanities Press. Uche, U. (1980). A Sociology of Education of NCE Students. London: George & Unwin.