EDUC-1012A The Meaning of Education
We are born into a family, and soon after that, we are sent to places where we are expected to be educated. Kindergartens, schools, institutes of technology or universities, they all form a part of an enormous infrastructure that has been considered essential to human beings. The United Nations, for instance, has included certain elements of access to education in its indices that determine people’s quality of life. But why education? What do we expect from it? What role does it play in society? What is the meaning of it all? The answer to this question is social, ethical, political and fundamentally cultural. Different cultures have placed part of their hopes on education, but in totally different ways that reflect world views, ways of understanding and dealing with reality, that define them at a given time or period. This course explores the ways in which different periods and cultures have defined the meaning of education, with the ultimate purpose of being able to have a more in-depth, critical understanding of the meanings of education today, and the way we act in this regard. In order to carry out this study, we will focus on certain changes in periods in Eastern history, as the different educational proposals that reflect part of said change are clearer.
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