SHEPHERDVILLE COLLEGE

(FORMERLY JESUS THE LOVING SHEPHERD CHRISTIAN COLLEGE)

Talojongon, Tigaon, Camarines Sur, Philippines
Tel. No. (054) 884-9536
“Excellence in truth in the service of God and Country”

Module

in

Teaching Social Studies in Elementary Grades

(Culture and Geography)
Final’s Module

2nd Semester A/Y: 2022-2023

Prepared by:
 JASON V. COMPETENTE
Instructor

COMPETENCY # 14: EDUCATION AND SOCIETY

❖ Objectives
At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:
● Explain the meaning, types, goals, functions, and nature of education as a social institution;

● Discuss the effects of schooling on individuals in society, socialization, and educational career; and

● Analyze education and its dynamics in the Philippines.

MOTIVATION

In your observation, how does the following notion manifest itself in the operation of the school
system: “The school is seemingly becoming the world of the ideal, while the family, the world of the real.”

How does education contribute to the social development of the learner?

INTRODUCTION

The changing society and the demands for more effective programs create serious implications to
education. In the words of Francis Brown, “The curriculum of the school will be markedly affected by the
results of a study of the community where the school operates.”

On the other hand, Kirk Folsom stressed the value of the school’s knowing community life and culture.
He said that events in education and in the community have brought leaders in these two fields into an
awareness of their relation to each other. Education has come into closer relations with life, in the homes and
family, with the results that a new movement, education for family living, is underway.

CONTEXT

Bridging the Gap between the Community and the School

A surer way to make the learning activities directed by the school vital and real is to draw on the
community and its activities, thereby bridging the gap between the school and the community.

Anthropologists in the country point to the existing incongruence between what is learned in school
and what is practiced in the family and the community. Seemingly, the school becomes the world of the ideal,
and the family, the world of the real.

It is the main concern of educational sociologists and anthropologists to narrow down the gap or
existing incongruence between the school and the local communities.

Meaning and Nature of Education

 Sociologists and anthropologists view education as the process of transmitting society’s knowledge,
skills, values, and behaviors in school or beyond. Every society seeks to educate its young members to prepare
them for adult roles.

Education is a deliberate, systematic, and sustained effort to transmit or acquire knowledge, skills,
attitudes, and values.

Education refers to the organized transmission of a culture’s knowledge, skills, and values from one
generation to another. On the other hand, the process of socialization is the broad, overall process by which
individuals acquire those modes of thinking, feeling, and acting necessary to participate actively in society.
Education is the more deliberate and structured training.

Learning is part of socialization, the process of integrating an individual into a full and responsible
member of society. Together with socialization is enculturation, a process that involves integrating an
individual into the culture in which he/she is born and raised. In this process, several aspects of culture are
transmitted from one generation to another. Education attempts to do both, socialization and enculturation,
which aims to alter the behaviour resulting directly from non-formal or formal education. A large part of
learning remains in the daily life of the community and society in which an individual lives. This forms a part of
informal learning or education.

According to this view, education may be seen in different perspectives: formal, informal, and non-
formal.

1. Formal education. This is symbolized by a diploma. It is the education system with its hierarchical
structures, chronologically graded learning experience with sequential grades from primary to
university, and requiring certification for the learner to progress from lower level to higher level, and is
organized and provided by the formal school system.

2. Informal education. This does not offer certification of knowledge and competencies transmitted and
acquired but are only seen in action in the life of the individual. It is a lifelong process of learning
whereby each individual acquires attitudes, skills, values, and knowledge through everyday experience
within society that includes general contact with the environment, the family, neighbourhood,
friendship, workplace, and leisure, the market, the Internet and through the mass media
communication.

3. Non-formal education. This is symbolized by certificate of attendance, completion, or participation. It

comprises all those educational activities that are organized outside the established formal system and
can range from an hour or whole-day training to even two years and may function separately or as an
important part of a broader activity with identifiable clientele and educational objectives. This form
can be a bridge for the out-of-school to gain learning that is found in the formal education, and a
bridge to help formally trained professionals in one specialization to switch professions without
repeating the entire formal schooling into a new field.

SAQ #1: In your observation, how does the following notion manifest itself in the operation of the school
system: “The school is seemingly becoming the world of the ideal, while the family, the world of the real.” (4
points)

Goals and Functions of Education

 Education has intended (manifest or pre-determined) functions and unintended (latent) functions.

Intended Functions of Education

1. Socialization. Formal education serves to prepare the newborn and newcomers to take their place in
the economy of society and to exercise their responsibility as full participants in society. In small tribal
societies, fathers teach their sons necessary skills, and the tribal communities have organized rites of
passage which are designed to transmit a package of skills to a group of young people such as how to
fish and hunt, farm, make pottery, or perform various household chores. The rites mark the
psychological transformation of person from being a child to becoming a responsible adult.

2. Cultural transmission. Education is responsible for passing on the social and cultural heritage of one
generation to the next. This includes the knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and norms that society
cherishes and are considered necessary for obtaining and performing adult occupational roles.

SAQ #2: In the Philippines, what aspects of the nation’s culture are best preserved by the school system?
What do you think is the reason behind this cultural preservation? (5 points)

3. Selection and allocation to adult positions. Education for complex societies provide a system for
assigning people to various positions without relying on a system of direct inheritance or family
background, race, religion, birth order, and sex. Schools provide a meritocratic means to individuals in
the running of specific life positions. Governments empower schools to deliver education and certify
the abilities gained in terms of certificates and diplomas that the wider society is mandated through
legislation to respect as mark of eligibility for certain jobs and occupations. In this way, the life chances
of individuals are affected by the certificates and degrees that schools award.

4. Knowledge generation. Educational institutions are also responsible for knowledge generation, which
they disseminate and impart and are highly valuable to all members of society. This is done through
research especially in institutions of higher learning.

5. Political and social integration. Through education, countries tend to lessen racial and political
discrimination. Conflicts are avoided. People are led to integrate themselves into the mainstream of
society.

6. Selecting talent. During the 20th century, average schooling levels have increased dramatically from
one generation to the next. However, despite the increasing availability of schooling to all persons, the
privileged classes have maintained their advantage over the poorer classes in completing more years of
school. Through education, talents are selected, classified, and further developed.

7. Teaching skills. Various skills and competencies are identified by the formal school system. The needs
of the individuals and the entire community or society become the basis of the teaching skills for
formal schooling.

8. Innovations. Educational institutions do not just transmit society’s knowledge but also innovate and re-
invent the same to come up with better quality and appropriate knowledge and skills demanded by
society. Hence, educational institutions tend to emphasize basic skills that an individual would need to
be an innovator such as how to think independently and creatively.

SAQ #3: How does education contribute to the social development of the learners? (3 points)
Unintended Functions of Education
In addition to the manifest and intended functions, education has come to perform a number of
functions that it was not originally designed to serve.

1. Child care. One function of the school now is to provide child care outside of the nuclear family. This
function is largely increasing as more women or mothers begin to work to support the income of the
family. In the Philippines, it is not only the public schools who have become interested in this function.
Even the social welfare department has started its own day care program among pre-schoolers.

2. Postponing job hunting. Seeking for a job is normally done only after finishing a certain level of
schooling, depending on the level of schooling of that society. However, initial skills acquired through
non-formal technical and vocational education have given rise to working or self-supporting students in
college.

3. Social control. In some countries, schools have been assigned the function of developing personal
control and social skills in children. Some social scientists argue that the most important lessons
learned in school are not those listed in the formal curriculum, but rather the social attitudes and
values that schools create in children explicitly or implicitly. This hidden curriculum is what prepares
children to accept the requirements of adult life and to fit into the social, political, and economic
statuses the society provides.

John Hoyt, an educator, listed seven lessons in discipline that never appear in a formal lesson plan.
Among these are the following:

a. Do what you are told without questioning or resisting, whenever one or any other authority
tells you to do something.
b. Go on doing what you are told for as long as you are told. Never mind how dull, disagreeable,
or pointless the task may seem. It is not for you to decide.
c. Do whatever we want you to do willingly. Do what you are expected to do.
d. If you don’t do these things, you will be punished and will deserve to be.

In order to succeed in school, any student has to learn both the official (academic) curriculum and the
hidden (social) curriculum. The hidden curriculum is often an outgrowth of the structure within which the
student is asked to learn.

The school is a miniature society and many individuals fail in school because they are either unable or
unwilling to learn or use the values, attitudes, and skills contained in the hidden curriculum. Schools do a great
disservice to students when they make them feel that they have failed in education when they have only failed
to conform to the school’s socialization standards.

4. Screening and allocation tracking. It is hardly surprising that society’s schools tend to mirror and
reproduce their system of social stratification.

For instance, in Europe, many school systems soon branch apart into parallel but unequal tracks –
academic and social levels – typically followed by the children in different social classes. In Switzerland, after
attending four grades of primarschule, children are separated into three groups based on academic
achievement. The lowest performers finish out their compulsory education in primarschule and then usually
take up apprenticeships for entry into the manual trades. The middle group advances into sekundarschule and
from there usually into private schools for advance training in business and management. The most
academically gifted students attend progymnasium for five years, then usually advance to gymnasium for four
more years. The very best of these students go to universities or technical institutes in preparation for careers
in academia, in the profession, or in the upper echelon of industry and government.

5. Stimulation of social change. Schools, particularly colleges, are often regarded by the society at
large as the pioneers or catalysts for innovation and change. Colleges and universities are sometimes endowed
by the government and various funding agencies with financial backing for innovative experimentation and
research.
The society expects education to answer technical questions to provide a panacea or cure-all for
society’s ills.

Meaning of Education in Society

Informal education in any society is carried on through the various social institutions.

A social institution may be defined as a standard solution to the problems of collective life, one of the
basic structures for daily living. Examples are the family, language, the economy, politics, education, and art
recreation. Every society relies upon a number of institutions for the performance of one or both of two basic
social functions:
1. To help perpetuate the society’s culture; and
2. To facilitate the process of social change.

In fact, social institutions serve one or more of the four functions:

1. They maintain existing social structures.
2. They integrate diverse social elements.
3. They adapt structural elements to change.
4. They attain the goals of society.

Through social instructions, any society is able to perform its functions to socialize and educate its
members.

Educational Institutions
Certain social institutions attempt to help preserve or modify the conditions of life by promoting
teaching and learning of one sort or another. These are called educational institutions.

The following figure illustrates how informal education takes place:

Social Service Agencies

The Family Mass Media

Special Interest
Religion (The The Child Groups
Church) (Learner)

The Workplace Social Class

 Figure 1. The Informal Education Process
Figure 1 shows that society is the direct teacher of informal education in society through the influence
of the following:

1. The family. The primary functions performed by the family are species preservation and
cultural adaptation. The parents serve as the first and foremost teachers, and the first and
foremost school. The family is therefore the primary informal educational institution.

2. The peer group. The peer group or barkada exerts great influence in the socialization of the
individual. For instance, many contemporary parents have neither the desire nor the
understanding and competence required to teach their adolescent sons the most current
courtship practices; they rely upon their son’s peers to do the job for them. This is true of other
situations.

3. The mass media. Radio, movies, newspapers, magazines, comics, television, video, social
networks, and others are sources of entertainment and information. They are extremely
influential agencies of informal and non-formal education.

4. The workplace. Emile Durkheim once prophesied that work in secondary industrial societies
would become the center of life of most people. Now, many modern adults are exposed to a
variety of educational influences in their occupational lives. Many people obtained their most
meaningful and practical education from their workplace.

5. The church. To the extent that people are involved with organized religion today, they receive
education from affiliation with a church through the sermons and from associating informally
with people in social events. The church may be considered the major source of doctrinal as
well as secular education for great numbers of people in many societies.

6. The street gang. The peer group with its subculture known as street gang has been the subject
of many recent sociological investigations. Street gang is a largely urban phenomenon, and in
the inner-city youth, a tremendously important agency of survival, identity, and income for
many lower-class boys and increasingly, girls. Street gangs offer the members a well-defined
territory and protection from other street gangs. In order to belong to a gang, one must
thoroughly learn its culture, especially its norms of sexual prowess and sex-role behaviour.
Urban street gang is an informal educational institution with amazing power over the
allegiances of large numbers of inner-city youth growing up in many countries.

7. Social interest groups. These groups arise to meet the needs of individuals possessing common
concerns such as hobbies, occupations, sports, politics, or even schooling. These groups base
their membership more on similarity of interest than on personality compatibility. In these
groups, teaching and learning occur in relation to developing skills or increasing knowledge in
specific areas.
 8. Social service agencies. Our society has a growing number of highly structured organizations
set up in part explicitly to educate people in a variety of ways. For instance, social welfare
agencies, while responsible primarily for helping clients in their socioeconomic needs, also offer
psychiatric, career, and family counselling services to their clients. Other examples of these are
the NGOs, drug rehabilitation centers, legal assistance services, veterans’ organization, and
others.

9. Social class. Social class or social stratum also serves as an informal educational system. To
belong to a class in our society, t requires the member or would-be member to learn the class
culture and the expected patterns of interpersonal behaviour within the class and toward
persons belonging to other social strata. One must also know how to act properly with the right
people and how to converse easily with college-educated people.

SAQ #4: What skills formed in the family are best reinforced in the school? Give at least 5 examples. (5
points)

Formal Education and Teaching

Formal education is performed by the formal school system as shown by the following organizational
structure of school:

Supervisor

Principal

Teacher Counselors

Students
Figure 6. Organizational Structure of School
Source: Palispis (2007)

In most simple, organized societies, education may be almost entirely by informal means. Group ways
are learned by imitating the behaviour of adults. In pre-literate societies, the major opportunities for the
younger members of society to change and given insights into the cultural tradition through relatively formal
means often occur during puberty, mating rites, death rituals, and other ceremonies. However, as society
becomes more complex and differentiated, informal educational institutions that once may have sufficed for
informing young people about the practices and cultural beliefs of the social system tend to become less
effective. They fail to transmit the new ways of life necessary for effective socialization and enculturation, and
for maintenance and adaptation of the society as a whole.

The times have changed the system. Some of the relatively easy-going practices of parents, elders, and
siblings have become obsolete. Formalization and specialization of educators increased. Eventually, some
adults with the necessary skills take on the specialized role of teaching the young members.
The Emerging Functions of the School
The contemporary society gives rise to major emerging functions of the school system in the following:

1. Personal and social problem solving. In a complex transitional society, individuals and organized
groups need to be able to think in ways that were not essential during similar periods in earlier times.
They must solve difficult problems related to their personal lives such as mating and family problems,
mental health, drugs, vocations and problems of the larger society such as control of crime and
delinquencies, effective government, the rights of the disadvantaged group, reduction of poverty,
eradication of war, and social planning.

John Dewey and George Counts, two of major educational thinkers, urged that the central function of
education should be to teach an individual social problem-solving skills.

2. Social competence in a secondary society. Human society has changed so much as society was
radically altered in the wake of the 20 th century. Depressions and recessions, world wars, the Vietnam
War, and recently the war with ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), and the interpersonal
competencies of many societies have become largely outmoded and obsolete.

3. Diffusion of new knowledge. One phenomenon happening today is what is known as knowledge
explosion. Some of this new knowledge must be acquired by youngsters if they are to cope successfully
with a society as different from that of their parents which was different from their frontier period.

4. Providing equality of opportunity for a social position. This key purpose of schooling is undergoing
critical assessment. However, it has been accepted that children must have equal access to educational
opportunities. Individuals must receive an equal chance to succeed as adults through the provision of
educational opportunities that allow the individual to compete in the economic marketplace which
may be considered the primary access to good life.

5. Sex and family life education. The family, the church, and the local neighbourhood may no longer
realistically hope to educate youngsters informally about relations with the opposite sex and raising of
children. The social functions of the family, church, and community have decreased markedly.
The incidence of sexually transmitted diseases and divorce has become very alarming.

6. Increased functional literacy. The same kind of argument against change is often applied to the
teaching of the newer forms of communication capabilities. Despite the growth and increasing impact
of mass media in the lives of people, many authorities still believe that the basics are the most
important skills for individual survival. However, the inculcation of skills, values, and knowledge
relating to the literate utilization of visual media affects almost everyone’s life intimately with its news,
entertainment, and educational potentialities; the mathematical computer eliminates much of the
necessity of memorizing multiplication tables and methods of borrowing.

7. Development of cosmopolitan attitudes. This function pertains to highly developed and urbanized
communities. The idea of cosmopolitan includes not only the minorities; it also extends to developing
an ability to intelligently critique the marketplace, the place of work in modern life, the role of
expertise, and the sanctity of authority figures such as public officials.
 8. Existential creativity. The sudden development of the open classroom in the late 60s and the free
school movement anticipated the idea that public schools should facilitate personal authenticity.
In the pursuit of loneliness, a vast number of people have lost their sense of community and
their sense of the interrelated self. At this point, children need to be educated for personal identity in
an anomie laden, confused, and changing social order. They need an arena for the expression of their
personal choice in their daily lives if they are to grow into self-actualizing people and not merely self-
adjusting cogs in the expanding social machinery.

SAQ #5: In your opinion, should corporal punishment be adopted in the school? Why? (3 points)
Effects of Schooling on Individuals
People hope for different gains from education. Some hope to develop their mind and to learn more
about the world, their culture, and themselves. The most common is sense of gaining upward social mobility,
landing an interesting and prestigious job, and earning a lot of money. These motives operate variedly in
different people.

The effects of schooling on individuals may be summed up in the following:

1 Knowledge and attitude. Education has always been seen to transform the general knowledge, skills,
and attitudes of those who obtain it. Education is the main means to prepare people for a lifelong
learning. Those who go higher in education are expected to have wider and deeper general knowledge
in comparison with those who have less or none in terms of formal education.

2 Getting a job. Education is a recognized meritocratic basis in the distribution of employment

opportunities in both public and private sectors. In almost all societies, credentials supporting a high
level of education have become a prerequisite to one’s entering the world of work. The better paying
jobs now require applicants to have attended higher education.

3 Job performance. While many social scientists agree that education is needed to help get a job, there
is less agreement on whether it helps a person do a job well. Most jobs require special training and
orientation. In general, schools as providers of academic credentials are increasingly becoming the gate
of adult positions. Degrees or certificates are generally used to determine a person’s eligibility and
ability for a position in addition to experience. This gives the school a much more powerful role in
society.

4 Education and income. There is always a wide range of income of people with various levels of
education. Those with high education are likely to earn more. While education is one factor that affects
income, several other factors have to be considered.

5 Education and mobility. The relationship between education and income and jobs varies by social
class. The upper social class does not need education to guarantee mobility or to achieve high
positions. For children of the business owners and those of prominent political families, social capital
or connections are what they need and rightly so more important than education for getting a high
position. Class plays a vital role in protecting the upper class from downward mobility and blocking the
lower class from upward mobility. For instance, the upper class often does this by sending their
children to elite, exclusive schools.
 Among the middle-class families, the education of their children is related to the social position
they can achieve. The more education they receive, the more likely they are to achieve higher status and
somewhat higher-paying jobs within the middle class.

For the lower class, education and outstanding education are the surest ways to achieve high
position. However, university degree is not necessary a guarantee for achieving a prestigious occupation or
high position. Many college graduates remain unemployed worldwide.

Three models of mobility are given by sociologists in explaining the relationship between education
and social mobility in industrial societies:

1 Sponsored mobility pattern. According to Turner (2006), this pattern occurs in Great Britain. Academic
and university education are catered for selected children at an early age, and only few manage to get
selected. Children are selected early for elite status or are fated for a life of a non-elite status.

2 Contest mobility. This is adopted in the United States where selection is delayed and students go to
school together for a long period of time. They are urged to compete with one another all along the
way in the hope that someday they may achieve high positions.

3 Tournament selection. This process was identified by James Rosenbaum as operating in American high
schools. Competition may be compared with the players in a game. Only one or two players may make
it. Behind the scenes is the team, who do not compete among themselves. Educational credentials
tend to be only for a few, more for the middle-class members, and lesser among the lower class.

It is therefore possible for some individuals to experience occupational mobility through education
although the individual does not move upward in class.

Socialization and Educational Career

The socialization of adults into professional roles is a three-stage process. During the first stage, people
shift their attention from the broad goals that led them to choose the profession to the specific goal of
learning the profession. In the second stage, they develop a loyalty toward their co-workers in the profession
from whom they seek knowledge and approval. During the third stage, they take on the values and behaviors
of the profession. The process tends to redefine their identities in terms of their new profession.

The following is an illustration of the three stages in the nursing profession.

1 Stage one. Learning the profession. The student nurses may say that they are taking up nursing to help
suffering people. However, the first semester is a disappointment because it is spent in the classroom.
When at last they do start in the hospital, they want to form close relationships with the patients. They
soon see, however, that the purpose of this part of their training is to learn certain skills and routines
and not to treat patients.

Making a bed is one of the skills the students have to learn. This skill calls for mastering 21 specific
steps. When they are graded on making a bed, the nurses find that emphasis is put on their mastering the skill,
not on their being concerned with the patients in the beds.

The demands and emphasis of the training led to a shift in their goals. This shift became obvious in the
student’s conversations. At first, they talked about their patients as people – how well or poorly they were
doing. Later on, they were more apt to talk about their illnesses – how interesting or severe they were. The
entering freshmen had wanted first to serve others. That was their stated reason for choosing nursing. But the
student nurses who had been in training for a year and a half had shifted their goals.

2 Stage two. Identifying with professional co-workers. At the start of training, student nurses identified
closely with their patients. As their interest shifted to learning the proper skills, however, they began to
think like the other people in the hospital. They shared their co-workers’ concern for correctly
performing the skills of patient service and began to identify with them. They developed a loyalty to
their co-workers in the hospital and no longer identified with the patients.

3 Stage three. Taking on the values of profession. This stage occurred when the nurses were actually on
the job after their training had been completed. Personal characteristics and values were of little
concern. They began to judge co-workers in terms of professional ability. Furthermore, outsiders were
not allowed to judge them on their work because they did not have the proper training from which to
judge. With stage three, the process of socialization into the profession was complete.

Education in the Philippines

In any country, the educational system reflects the economic, political, social, and religious values of
the society. Philippine education has been influenced greatly by the Spanish and American systems. However,
early historians and anthropologists maintained that even before the coming of the Spaniards, Filipinos
already knew how to read and write, though scholars do not agree on the characteristics of the syllabic
writing.

The Spanish conquistadores brought educational practices that reflected the ideologies of these
colonizers and the ideals inculcated represented their cultures.

Under Spain, the objective of education was to teach moral and religious subjects using Spanish as the
medium of instruction. Schools were put up to spread Christianity. Higher education placed great emphasis on
rearing the youth. The early schools included: The Royal College of San Jose (1905), University of Santo Tomas
(1605-1610), which converted into a university in 1645. Higher education primarily served the upper class. The
Educational Decree of 1863 provided for the establishment of a complete system of education.

With the coming of the Americans in 1898, the emphasis on the spread of Christianity and the
transmission of the Spanish culture were replaced by the development of new patterns that would prepare
the nation to be a self-governing democratic country. The policy was to extend the system of primary
education to all – training the students for the duties of citizenship and ordinary association in a civilized
community.

The Education Act of 1901 organized the general system of public instruction and also authorized the
establishment of private schools. The curriculum in the primary level consisted of the English language,
arithmetic, geography, singing, drawing, physical education, and character training.

The Education Act of 1971 placed significance on development goals such as the following: (1) the
achievement, maintenance, and acceleration of the rate of economic development and social progress; (2)
maximum participation of all people in the attainment and enjoyment of such growth; (3) the strengthening of
the national consciousness; and (4) the promotion of the desirable cultural values in a changing world.

Philosophy and Objectives of the Philippine Education

 The Philippine Constitution of 1987 provides the following:

“All educational institutions shall inculcate patriotism and nationalism, foster love of humanity, respect
for human rights, appreciation of the role of national heroes on the historical development of the country,
teach the rights and duties of citizenship, strengthen ethical and spiritual values, develop moral character and
personal discipline, encourage critical thinking, broaden scientific and technological knowledge, and promote
vocational efficiency (Art, XIV, Sec. 3).”

Sec. 1 of Art. XIV of the Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines provides for the following: “The
State shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels and shall take
appropriate steps to make such education accessible to all.”

The next section gives the following provisions:

1 Establish, maintain, and support a complete, adequate, and integrated system of education relevant to
the needs of the people and society;
2 Establish and maintain a system of free public education in the elementary and high school levels.
Without limiting the natural right of parents to rear their children, elementary education is compulsory
for all children of school age;
3 Establish and maintain a system of scholarship grants, student loan programs, subsidies, and other
incentives which shall be available to deserving students in both public and private schools, especially
to the underprivileged;
4 Encourage non-formal, informal, and indigenous learning systems, as well as self-learning,
independent, and out-of-school study programs particularly those that respond to community needs;
and
5 Provide adult citizens, the disabled, the out-of-school youth with training in civics, vocational efficiency,
and other skills.

Characteristics of Philippine Education

The following characteristics describe the system of education in the country.

1 The child is viewed as the center of the educative process and not the subject matter. The child is
perceived to have interests and needs, purposes and wants, capacities and abilities.
2 The theory of self-activity is considered the basis of all learning. It is believed that children will learn
best by actually doing, experiencing, and experimenting. The school is viewed as a living creative
influence producing self-directing citizens.
3 The development of personality is the main objective of education. The primary aim of education is the
development of a well-balanced, well-integrated, and socially adjusted personality.
4 School activities must be correlated with the actual life of the learner. The idea of relevance is stressed
in the sense that educational programs and activities must respond to the needs, problems, and
aspirations of the people.

Main Thrusts of Education

Education has been recognized as the most important instrument for national development. As such,
the main thrust of education centers on the following:
 1 Equity. This also refers to the thrust in democratizing access to educational opportunities. As
mandated by the 1987 Constitution, quality education must be accessible to as many as possible in the
society. This thrust has been realized through the following:

a. Opening of barangay high schools and state colleges and universities; the nationalization of barangay
teachers’ salaries;
b. Increase of scholarship grants and loans; Republic Act 6728 provides for government subsidies to
private education;
c. Provisions of assistance to lagging regions and the DDU (depressed, disadvantaged, and underserved
communities and schools) through the PRODED (Program for Decentralized Education Development);
d. The implementation of the equivalency program of the DECS through which the balik-paaralan
movement is encouraged;
e. The extension of educational opportunities to cultural communities; and
f. The implementation of free public secondary education.

2 Quality. This is referred to as the thrust on excellence in education. It refers to high performance of
individuals and educational institutions. Qualitative improvements in education and training were
undertaken by providing better school inputs at the elementary level, such as the New Elementary
School Curriculum (NESC); placing emphasis on the 3 Rs and values education; upgrading of
instructional materials; retraining of teachers, administrators, and supervisors; and improving school
facilities and equipment.

Secondary education is being improved through the Secondary Education Development Program
(SEDP).

In private education, a system of accreditation has been developed by the existing accreditation
agencies such as the PAASCU (Philippine Accreditation Agency of Schools, Colleges, and Universities),
PACUCOA (Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities Commission on Accreditation), and the ACSCAAI
(Association of Christian Schools and Colleges Accrediting Agency, Inc.). Recently, an accrediting agency was
formed by state colleges and universities, the AACUP (Accrediting Association of Colleges and Universities in
the Philippines). All these accreditation agencies operate under the umbrella of FAAP (Federation of
Accrediting Agencies in the Philippines). There are also technical panels for the different collegiate courses.

The CHED has adopted a policy of identifying a number of excellent schools which are treated as
autonomous or deregulated colleges and universities. These are schools which have distinguished themselves
in terms of high quality programs. Centers of Excellence in various fields are being identified.

3 Relevance. This is sometimes referred to as the thrust on efficiency. This is an answer to the prevailing
mismatch between what the school system is producing in terms of graduates and what the industry is
actually demanding. This simply means that the products of the educational system must respond
directly to the manpower needs of the country.

The promotion of science and technology has been identified as the leading thrust to improve the
socioeconomic condition of the country to help realize the dream of the Filipinos of making the Philippines as
one of the NICs (newly industrialized countries) of the world.

The main thrust of the Philippine program of education is summarized in the following:
1. improvement of the quality and relevance of education and training with respect to Philippine conditions
and needs;
2. development of a more efficient system of selection and retention;
3. equitable access to education;
4. intensification of the values education program;
5. increased emphasis on science education, indigenous research, and experimentation;
6. full mobilization and utilization of education personnel with an increasingly commensurate system of
compensation and incentives;
7. equitable allocation, efficient management, and efficient utilization of financial resources;
8. institutionalization of functional linkages and collaboration between formal and non-formal educational and
training institutions; and
9. strengthening the system of educational planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation.

The Community School Movement

One of the major recommendations of the Educational Commission (EDCOM) of the Congress of the
Philippines (1991-1992) is to revive the community school movement, adopting the main thrust on education
for better living.

The philosophical aims of the community school movement are as follows:

1. to meet the needs and provide for the interests of the people of the community; to develop the child both
as an individual and as a useful member of society;
2. to utilize the community resources and attitudes in its educational programs;
3. to promote democracy in all the activities of the school and the community;
4. to organize the school curriculum around the major processes and problems of community living.
5. to stimulate children and adults toward cooperative projects of common interests and mutual concern; and
6. to broaden and deepen experiences, to liberate intelligence, and to increase appreciation of social values.

Under the concept of the community school, the school is viewed as a center of community
improvement. It is also thought of as an active agent of change in the community.

Experimentations regarding the school community movement led to the following conclusions:

1. the schools can help solve community problems by relating skills to real-life problems;
2. the school program can be effectively related to social and economic conditions;
3. the children are interested in reading about an urgent economic problem if the materials are written at
their level; and
4. under the direction of an institution of higher learning and with the use of local resources and abilities,
instructional materials can be produced to meet local needs and the abilities of schoolchildren.

SAQ #6: List down some examples of innovations which the school system must pioneer. Then, analyze and
evaluate Philippine education at its present condition. How should education take place in the country? List
down some of your recommendations for the success of the educational system in the country. (5 points)

Education and Employment

Work experience while in school plays a vital role in making education more meaningful to the learner.
 John Eggleston in his book, Work Experience in Secondary Schools (1982), suggested that work
experience may be provided in a number of ways:

1. through its infusion into the whole curriculum, whereby subjects are taught giving explicit attention to their
relevance to industry, commerce, and the professions;
2. through work experience courses that involve placements with local employers;
3. through work creation schemes, whereby schools organize to provide services for themselves and the local
community; and
4. through work simulation schemes whereby a school-based enterprise is established to give individuals the
range of experiences associated with the activities required to produce and sell goods.

Schemes such as these bring us back to the question of the relationship between education and the
economic structure, and school and work. Furthermore, these schemes also pose problems about the meaning
of the needs of industry and the content of work experiences.

At present, one major concern in the Philippine school system is how to establish functional linkages
between the school system and the world of work.

SUMMARY

● Education refers to the organized transmission of a culture’s knowledge, skills, and values from one
generation to another. On the other hand, the process of socialization is the broad, overall process by
which individuals acquire those modes of thinking, feeling, and acting necessary to participate actively
in society. Education is the more deliberate and structured training.
● Learning is part of socialization, the process of integrating an individual into a full and responsible
member of society. Together with socialization is enculturation, a process that involves integrating an
individual into the culture in which he/she is born and raised. In this process, several aspects of culture
are transmitted from one generation to another. Education attempts to do both, socialization and
enculturation, which aims to alter the behaviour resulting directly from non-formal or formal
education.
● Formal education. This is symbolized by a diploma. It is the education system with its hierarchical
structures, chronologically graded learning experience with sequential grades from primary to
university, and requiring certification for the learner to progress from lower level to higher level, and is
organized and provided by the formal school system.

● Informal education. This does not offer certification of knowledge and competencies transmitted and
acquired but are only seen in action in the life of the individual. It is a lifelong process of learning
whereby each individual acquires attitudes, skills, values, and knowledge through everyday experience
within society that includes general contact with the environment, the family, neighbourhood,
friendship, workplace, and leisure, the market, the Internet and through the mass media
communication.
 ● Non-formal education. This is symbolized by certificate of attendance, completion, or participation. It
comprises all those educational activities that are organized outside the established formal system and
can range from an hour or whole-day training to even two years and may function separately or as an
important part of a broader activity with identifiable clientele and educational objectives. This form
can be a bridge for the out-of-school to gain learning that is found in the formal education, and a
bridge to help formally trained professionals in one specialization to switch professions without
repeating the entire formal schooling into a new field.
● Equity. This also refers to the thrust in democratizing access to educational opportunities. As mandated
by the 1987 Constitution, quality education must be accessible to as many as possible in the society.
● Quality. This is referred to as the thrust on excellence in education. It refers to high performance of
individuals and educational institutions. Qualitative improvements in education and training were
undertaken by providing better school inputs at the elementary level, such as the New Elementary
School Curriculum (NESC); placing emphasis on the 3 Rs and values education; upgrading of
instructional materials; retraining of teachers, administrators, and supervisors; and improving school
facilities and equipment.
● Relevance. This is sometimes referred to as the thrust on efficiency. This is an answer to the prevailing
mismatch between what the school system is producing in terms of graduates and what the industry is
actually demanding. This simply means that the products of the educational system must respond
directly to the manpower needs of the country.

REFERENCE:

● Palispis, Epitacio S. and Sampa, Elias M. (2015). Introduction to Sociology and Anthropology

EVALUATION

MULTIPLE CHOICE: Read and understand each item. Choose only the best answer by encircling the
correct answer.

1. Schools are social institutions because they

a. Preserve and instill in future generations the knowledge, ideas, and customs of our culture.
b. Suggest ways and means of social progress.
c. Suggest solutions to social problems.
d. Are established by the society.

2. Which of the following is not correct about schools?

a. They are necessarily affected by the social and economic situations and changes in our civilization.
b. They are powerful instruments of social change.
c. They are potential agents of conflicts and disintegration.
d. They are social agencies of cultural transmission.
3. Which of the following does not influence the process of education?
a. The culture of the society and its social institutions
b. Social class structures
c. The upper middle class of the society
d. Political organization of the society.

4. What type of education the family imparts to the child?

a. Formal b. Informal c. Deliberate d. Regular

5. Education provided to the child by the schools is

a. Formal b. Informal c. Highly standardized d. Traditional

6. Value conflicts in the minds of school children are often created by

a. Maladjusted teachers.
b. Unruly students.
c. Conflicting value systems of the home and the school.
d. Conflicting laws of the country.

7. As a social institution, the essential function of the family is

a. Producing children.
b. Rearing of children during their immaturity.
c. Imparting formal education at the initial stages of life.
d. Increasing community’s population.

8. Religion has an indispensable place in the good life and the good society.” This is not supported by the
argument that religion
a. Can teach values to the community which are essential for good life and good society.
b. Can provide for common worship and religious orientation to the universe as a whole bringing unity and
peace.
c. Alone can make people more spiritual, more devoted, more loving and more perfect.
d. Alone can prevent wars in the world and bring peace as a consequence.

9. Which is incorrect about the school as a social institution?

a. It has to teach about the social order and its institutions in its instructional activities.
b. As it stands for the good life in general, it is the critic of society and all its institutions.
c. It stands for the professional ideals of the community rather than the ideals it practices and tolerates.
d. It stands for the satisfaction of the needs of the pupils who come for schooling.

10. This is an answer to the prevailing mismatch between what the school system is producing in terms of
graduates and what the industry is actually demanding. This simply means that the products of the
educational system must respond directly to the manpower needs of the country. It is sometimes referred to
as the thrust on efficiency.
a. relevance b. equality c. equity d. quality
ASSIGNMENT
Undertake a simple investigation about the formal structure of your school. Focus on the following:
● organizational chart of the school

● relationships among various offices

● functions of the different units

● the effect of each unit on the learning process

SHEPHERDVILLE COLLEGE
(FORMERLY JESUS THE LOVING SHEPHERD CHRISTIAN COLLEGE)
Talojongon, Tigaon, Camarines Sur, Philippines
Tel. No. (054) 884-9536
“Excellence in truth in the service of God and Country”

Name: ____________________________________________Course/Year/Sec: ________________ Date: ____________

Competency # 11 Answer Sheet

Education and Society

SAQ #1: In your observation, how does the following notion manifest itself in the operation of the school
system: “The school is seemingly becoming the world of the ideal, while the family, the world of the real.”
(4 points)

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________.
SAQ #2: In the Philippines, what aspects of the nation’s culture are best preserved by the school system?
What do you think is the reason behind this cultural preservation? (5 points)
____________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________.

SAQ #3: How does education contribute to the social development of the learners? (3 points)
____________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________.

SAQ #4: What skills formed in the family are best reinforced in the school? Give at least 5 examples. (5
points)
____________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________.

SAQ #5: In your opinion, should corporal punishment be adopted in the school? Why? (3 points)
____________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________.
SAQ #6: List down some examples of innovations which the school system must pioneer. Then, analyze and
evaluate Philippine education at its present condition. How should education take place in the country? List
down some of your recommendations for the success of the educational system in the country. (5 points)
____________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________.

EVALUATION

MULTIPLE CHOICE: Read and understand each item. Choose only the best answer by encircling the correct
answer.

1. Schools are social institutions because they

a. Preserve and instill in future generations the knowledge, ideas, and customs of our culture.
b. Suggest ways and means of social progress.
c. Suggest solutions to social problems.
d. Are established by the society.

2. Which of the following is not correct about schools?

a. They are necessarily affected by the social and economic situations and changes in our civilization.
b. They are powerful instruments of social change.
c. They are potential agents of conflicts and disintegration.
d. They are social agencies of cultural transmission.

3. Which of the following does not influence the process of education?

a. The culture of the society and its social institutions
b. Social class structures
c. The upper middle class of the society
d. Political organization of the society.

4. What type of education the family imparts to the child?

a. Formal b. Informal c. Deliberate d. Regular

5. Education provided to the child by the schools is

a. Formal b. Informal c. Highly standardized d. Traditional

6. Value conflicts in the minds of school children are often created by

a. Maladjusted teachers.
b. Unruly students.
c. Conflicting value systems of the home and the school.
d. Conflicting laws of the country.

7. As a social institution, the essential function of the family is

a. Producing children.
b. Rearing of children during their immaturity.
c. Imparting formal education at the initial stages of life.
d. Increasing community’s population.

8. Religion has an indispensable place in the good life and the good society.” This is not supported by the
argument that religion
a. Can teach values to the community which are essential for good life and good society.
b. Can provide for common worship and religious orientation to the universe as a whole bringing unity and
peace.
c. Alone can make people more spiritual, more devoted, more loving and more perfect.
d. Alone can prevent wars in the world and bring peace as a consequence.

9. Which is incorrect about the school as a social institution?

a. It has to teach about the social order and its institutions in its instructional activities.
b. As it stands for the good life in general, it is the critic of society and all its institutions.
c. It stands for the professional ideals of the community rather than the ideals it practices and tolerates.
d. It stands for the satisfaction of the needs of the pupils who come for schooling.

10. This is an answer to the prevailing mismatch between what the school system is producing in terms of
graduates and what the industry is actually demanding. This simply means that the products of the
educational system must respond directly to the manpower needs of the country. It is sometimes referred to
as the thrust on efficiency.
a. relevance b. equality c. equity d. quality

ASSIGNMENT
Undertake a simple investigation about the formal structure of your school. Focus on the following:
● organizational chart of the school

● relationships among various offices

● functions of the different units

● the effect of each unit on the learning process