Introduction

The English word ‘Culture’ is derived from the Latin term ‘cult or cultus’ meaning tilling, or cultivating
or refining and worship. In sum it means cultivating and refining a thing to such an extent that its end
product evokes our admiration and respect. This is practically the same as ‘Sanskriti’ of the Sanskrit
language. The term ‘Sanskriti’ has been derived from the root ‘Kri (to do) of Sanskrit language. Three
words came from this root ‘Kri; prakriti’ (basic matter or condition), ‘Sanskriti’ (refined matter or
condition) and ‘vikriti’ (modified or decayed matter or condition) when ‘prakriti’ or a raw material is
refined it becomes ‘Sanskriti’ and when broken or damaged it becomes ‘vikriti’.

Cultural and education cannot be divorced from each other. They are interdependent. The cultural
patterns of a society guide its educational patterns. As for example, if a society has a spiritual pattern of
culture, then its educational procedures will emphasize the achievement of moral and eternal values of
life. On the other hand if the culture of a society is materialistic, then its educational pattern will be
shaped for the attainment of material values which promotes pleasures of senses and material comforts. A
society devoid of any culture will have no definite educational organization. Hence, the culture of a
country has a very powerful impact on its educational patterns. Education as a part of culture has the twin
functions of conservation and modification or renewal of culture. It is the culture in which education
germinates and flourishes and exerts a nourishing influence. Human being receives from society the gifts
of family life, community life, education, vocation, legal rights, safety and protection in the same way
he/she inherits from the culture the gift of cultural heritage. The present chapter discusses the relationship
between culture and education.
Meaning of Culture:
In anthropological literature the term culture is used in many senses, but in general writing it is
used to indicate social charm and intellectual superiority. Culture is a collective term for socially
transmitted behaviour patterns. In ordinary language culture means good manners and good taste.
Taylor defines culture as "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law,
custom and any other capabilities and habits, acquired by man as a member of society."
Ellwood says that "culture includes man’s entire material civilization, tools, weapons, clothing, shelter,
machines and even system of industry.”
According to Brown, both material and non-material are dependent upon each other. But culture cannot
be defined. It is better to describe it. The culture of a people is the way of life of that people, the things its
people value, the things they don't value, their habits of life, their work of art, what they do and what they
like. By material elements is meant the whole of man's material civilization, tools, weapons, clothing,
machines and industry. By non-material elements is meant language, art religion, morality, law and
government."
According to Phatak, Bhagat, and Kashlak, “Culture is a concept that has been used in several social
science disciplines to explain variations in human thought processes in different parts of the world.”
According to J.P. Lederach, “Culture is the shared knowledge and schemes created by a set of people
for perceiving, interpreting, expressing, and responding to the social realities around them”.
According to R. Linton, “A culture is a configuration of learned behaviors and results of behavior
whose component elements are shared and transmitted by the members of a particular society”.
According to G. Hofstede, “Culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the
members of one category of people from another.”
According to H.T. Mazumdar, “Culture is the sum total of human achievements, material as well as
non-material, capable of transmission, sociologically, i.e., by tradition and communication, vertically as
well as horizontally”.
Actually, culture is defined as the shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs, and
effective understanding that are learned through a process of, socialization. These shared patterns identify
the members of a culture group while also distinguishing those of another group.

Kinds of culture:
According to the subjects there are different kinds of culture:
· Individual culture
· Communal culture
· National culture
· World culture
Each individual has some personal traits and qualities which guide the habits, thinking and
behaviour of the person. These personal likes, dislikes, interests, modes of thinking and patterns of social
behaviour constitute his personal culture. Similarly, different communities have their different customs,
traditions, beliefs and styles of living which is known as community culture. Likewise each nation has
some distinct patterns of ideals, values, modes of thoughts and behaviour. Such national traits are known
as national culture. Further with the rise in the means of transport and communication the whole world
has shrunk into a small unit. The whole world are now supposed to be having common values of life such
as cooperation, empathy, sympathy, social services, social awakening and social sensitiveness which is
termed as world culture.
According to contents there are two types of culture in every society:
· Material culture
· Non material culture
Material culture: It includes all those man made things and objects which human society has created for
its physical welfare. As for example clothes, utensils, TV, radio, various machines
Non material culture: It includes those ideals, attitudes and values which modify the behaviour of an
individual. Language, literature, art, music, religion, customs, traditions etc are some of the example of
non material culture.
Characteristics of culture:
Acquired traits: Culture is sum total of acquired traits. A new born baby acquires traits in the process of
growing up. As the baby grows older he/she acquires different ideals, attitudes and values by imitation
and social contacts. These experiences contribute to the formation of his personal culture.
Distinct entity: Different societies of the world have different cultural patterns establishing the different
identities of different nations.
Transmission: Cultural traits and patterns are transmitted from generation to generation. Each generation
is free to modify the cultural heritage and transmit it to the next generation. Cultural patterns are
powerfully conditioned and influenced by the trends which appear from time to time according to
different circumstances and conditions. The transmission is a continuous process.
Utility: A culture is good if it has utility to the individual and to the society. If it does not fulfill this
purpose then it decays and dies out in the long run. Cultural fanaticism promotes conflicts and chaos.
Therefore, one should see and adopt cultural beauties and excellencies of all the culture that exist in the
world. It will promote the world culture on the one hand where as on the other cultural integration will
take place.
Dynamism: Culture is not static but is dynamic. It changes and grows with the change of time. Due to
rapid rise in transport and means of communication one culture adopts another culture and become
composite culture. One can notice that our culture has traveled a long way and changed from its previous
times in numerous ways. Our thinking patterns, values, beliefs, behavior ideals etc all has changed. The
different cultures of the world are interacting among themselves and syntheses of culture are taking place.
Learned Behaviour:
Not all behaviour is learned, but most of it is learned; combing one’s hair, standing in line, telling jokes,
criticising the President and going to the movie, all constitute behaviours which had to be learned.
Sometimes the terms conscious learning and unconscious learning are used to distinguish the learning.
For example, the ways in which a small child learns to handle a tyrannical father or a rejecting mother
often affect the ways in which that child, ten or fifteen years later, handles his relationships with other
people.
Some behaviour is obvious. People can be seen going to football games, eating with forks, or driving
automobiles. Such behaviour is called “overt” behaviour. Other behaviour is less visible. Such activities
as planning tomorrow’s work (or) feeling hatred for an enemy, are behaviours too. This sort of behaviour,
which is not openly visible to other people, is called Covert behaviour. Both may be, of course, learned.
Culture is Abstract:
Culture exists in the minds or habits of the members of society. Culture is the shared ways of doing and
thinking. There are degrees of visibility of cultural behaviour, ranging from the regularised activities of
persons to their internal reasons for so doing. In other words, we cannot see culture as such we can only
see human behaviour. This behaviour occurs in regular, patterned fashion and it is called culture.
Culture is a Pattern of Learned Behaviour:
The definition of culture indicated that the learned behaviour of people is patterned. Each person’s
behaviour often depends upon some particular behaviour of someone else. The point is that, as a general
rule, behaviours are somewhat integrated or organized with related behaviours of other persons.
Culture is the Products of Behaviour:
Culture learnings are the products of behaviour. As the person behaves, there occur changes in him. He
acquires the ability to swim, to feel hatred toward someone, or to sympathize with someone. They have
grown out of his previous behaviours.
In both ways, then, human behaviour is the result of behaviour. The experience of other people are
impressed on one as he grows up, and also many of his traits and abilities have grown out of his own past
behaviours.
Culture includes Attitudes, Values Knowledge:
There is widespread error in the thinking of many people who tend to regard the ideas, attitudes, and
notions which they have as “their own”. It is easy to overestimate the uniqueness of one’s own attitudes
and ideas. When there is agreement with other people it is largely unnoticed, but when there is a
disagreement or difference one is usually conscious of it. Your differences however, may also be cultural.
For example, suppose you are a Catholic and the other person a Protestant.
Culture also includes Material Objects:
Man’s behaviour results in creating objects. Men were behaving when they made these things. To make
these objects required numerous and various skills which human beings gradually built up through the
ages. Man has invented something else and so on. Occasionally one encounters the view that man does
not really “make” steel or a battleship. All these things first existed in a “state nature”.
Man merely modified their form, changed them from a state in which they were to the state in which he
now uses them. The chair was first a tree which man surely did not make. But the chair is more than trees
and the jet airplane is more than iron ore and so forth.
Culture is shared by the Members of Society:
The patterns of learned behaviour and the results of behaviour are possessed not by one or a few person,
but usually by a large proportion. Thus, many millions of persons share such behaviour patterns as
Christianity, the use of automobiles, or the English language.
Persons may share some part of a culture unequally. For example, as Americans do the Christian religion.
To some persons Christianity is the all important, predominating idea in life. To others it is less
preoccupying/important, and to still others it is of marginal significance only.
Sometimes the people share different aspects of culture. For example, among the Christians, there are –
Catholic and Protestant, liberal or conservation, as clergymen or as laymen. The point to our discussion is
not that culture or any part of it is shred identically, but that it is shared by the members of society to a
sufficient extent.
Culture is Super-organic:
Culture is sometimes called super organic. It implies that “culture” is somehow superior to “nature”. The
word super-organic is useful when it implies that what may be quite a different phenomenon from a
cultural point of view.
For example, a tree means different things to the botanist who studies it, the old woman who uses it for
shade in the late summer afternoon, the farmer who picks its fruit, the motorist who collides with it and
the young lovers who carve their initials in its trunk. The same physical objects and physical
characteristics, in other words, may constitute a variety of quite different cultural objects and cultural
characteristics.
Culture is Pervasive:
Culture is pervasive it touches every aspect of life. The pervasiveness of culture is manifest in two ways.
First, culture provides an unquestioned context within which individual action and response take place.
Not only emotional action but relational actions are governed by cultural norms. Second, culture pervades
social activities and institutions.
According to Ruth Benedict, “A culture, like an individual is a more or less consistent pattern of thought
and action. With each culture there come into being characteristic purposes not necessarily shared by
other types of society. In obedience to these purposes, each person further consolidates its experience and
in proportion to the urgency of these drives the heterogeneous items of behaviour; take more and more
congruous shape”.
Culture is a way of Life:
Culture means simply the “way of life” of a people or their “design for living.” Kluckhohn and Kelly
define it in his sense, ” A culture is a historically derived system of explicit and implicit designs for
living, which tends to be shared by all or specially designed members of a group.”
Explicit culture refers to similarities in word and action which can be directly observed. For example, the
adolescent cultural behaviour can be generalized from regularities in dress, mannerism and conversation.
Implicit culture exists in abstract forms which are not quite obvious.
Culture is a human Product:
Culture is not a force, operating by itself and independent of the human actors. There is an unconscious
tendency to defy culture, to endow it with life and treat it as a thing. Culture is a creation of society in
interaction and depends for its existence upon the continuance of society.
In a strict sense, therefore, culture does not ‘do’ anything on its own. It does not cause the individual to
act in a particular way, nor does it ‘make’ the normal individual into a maladjusted one. Culture, in short,
is a human product; it is not independently endowed with life.
Culture is Idealistic:
Culture embodies the ideas and norms of a group. It is sum-total of the ideal patterns and norms of
behaviour of a group. Culture consists of the intellectual, artistic and social ideals and institutions which
the members of the society profess and to which they strive to confirm.
Culture is transmitted among members of Society:
The cultural ways are learned by persons from persons. Many of them are “handed down” by one’s
elders, by parents, teachers, and others [of a somewhat older generation]. Other cultural behaviours are
“handed up” to elders. Some of the transmission of culture is among contemporaries.
For example, the styles of dress, political views, and the use of recent labour saving devices. One does
not acquire a behaviour pattern spontaneously. He learns it. That means that someone teaches him and he
learns. Much of the learning process both for the teacher and the learner is quite unconscious,
unintentional, or accidental.
Culture is Variable:
Culture varies from society to society, group to group. Hence, we say culture of India or England. Further
culture varies from group to group within the same society. There are subcultures within a culture.
Cluster of patterns which are both related to general culture of the society and yet distinguishable from it
are called subcultures.
Culture is an integrated system:
Culture possesses an order and system. Its various parts are integrated with each other and any new
element which is introduced is also integrated.
Language is the Chief Vehicle of Culture:
Man lives not only in the present but also in the past and future. He is able to do this because he possesses
language which transmits to him what was learned in the past and enables him to transmit the
accumulated wisdom to the next generation. A specialised language pattern serves as a common bond to
the members of a particular group or subculture. Although culture is transmitted in a variety of ways,
language is one of the most important vehicles for perpetuating cultural patterns.
To conclude culture is everything which is socially learned and shared by the members of a society. It is
culture that, in the wide focus of the world, distinguishes individual from individual, group from group
and society

Cultural Lag:
We are concerned not only with the perpetuation of society but with its improvement. The school
is not an image of society where the virtues and vices of society are reflected It should serve as a
laboratory for testing the traditions, values, beliefs, and attitudes, prevailing in a particular society and
taking upon itself the task of making the society a better one, It brings us to the problem of
· Removal of social lags and
· Planning of model society.
The concept of cultural lag was first developed in 1922 by sociologist Williams F. Ogburn. Ogburn
noticed that material culture tends to develop and advance at a faster rate than non-material culture.
Material culture is the physical and tangible aspects of culture including technology, buildings, and
tools. Non-material culture is the aspect of culture that isn't physical, nor is it tangible. Non-material
culture includes cultural values, morals, and religion.
Cultural lag is defined as the degree to which certain aspects of culture lag behind the changes in
its other related aspects. In other words, the vast difference between the material and non material culture
is known as social or cultural lag. All the parts of our modern culture are not changing at the same rate
and since there is correlation or inter-dependence of parts, a rapid change in one part requires re-
adjustment through other changes in various correlated parts. A culture lag occurs "when the different
aspects of the society fail to adjust themselves to changes effected in some of its parts." The changes in
ideas, beliefs and value systems, for example, will be slower than the changes in material conditions. In
our society, the economic system is changing fast, industrial economy is replacing the rural economy. A
lot of work is being done by machines or we can say that human labour is being replaced by machines.
But the religious and social structures are not keeping pace with the changes in the economic structure.
Education is the only means to bridge the cultural lag.
Inculturation
Inculturation is a term used in Christianity, especially in the Roman Catholic Church, referring to the
adaptation of the way Church teachings are presented to non-Christian cultures, and to the influence of
those cultures on the evolution of these teachings.

Enculturation

Enculturation refers to the process through which we learn about the culture we live in. Through
enculturation, we learn what behaviors, values, language, and morals are acceptable in our society. We
learn by observing other members of our society, including our parents, friends, teachers, and mentors.
Enculturation provides a means for us to become functional members of our society.
Let's look at the example of Jill. She learned her values of being respectful, kind, and obedient from her
parents and her church. She learned how to dress from her friends. She also learned appropriate behaviors
from observing her family, friends, fellow church members, and other individuals in her society. Jill is
also doing well in school, her home life, and socially, which demonstrates that Jill is a successful member
of her society.
As nouns the difference between enculturation and inculturation is that enculturation is the process by
which an individual adopts the behaviour patterns of the culture in which he or she is immersed
while inculturation is the adaptation of christian teachings in a non-christian culture.
Acculturation
The process of sharing and learning the cultural traits or social patterns of another group: Acculturation
of immigrants has contributed to the rich cultural diversity of the city.
Acculturation is a process of cultural contact and exchange through which a person or group comes to
adopt certain values and practices of a culture that is not originally their own, to a greater or lesser extent.
The result is that the original culture of the person or group remains, but it is changed by this process.
Sanskritization
The concept ‘Sanskritization’ was first introduced by Prof. M.N. Srinivas the famous Indian sociologist.
He explained the concept of sanskritization in his book “Religion and society among the coorgs of South
India” to describe the cultural mobility in the traditional caste structure of Indian society. In his study of
the coorgs of Mysore, he came to know that the lower castes were trying to raise their status in their caste
hierarchy by adopting some cultural ideals of the Brahmins. As a result they left some of their ideals
which are considered to be impure by the Brahmins. To explain this process of mobility, Srinivas used
the term ‘Brahminization’. Later on he called it ‘Sanskritization’ in a broad sense.
Defining Sanskritization Srinivas writes, “Sanskritization is a process by which a lower caste or tribe or
any other group changes its customs, rituals, ideology and way of life in the direction of a higher or more
often twice-born caste.”
Education and culture:
Education as a part of culture has the twin functions of conservation and modification or renewal
of the culture. Education is conceived as a systematic effort to maintain a culture. "In its technical sense
education is the process by which society, through schools, colleges, universities and other institutions,
deliberately transmit its cultural heritage, its accumulated knowledge, values and skills from one
generation to another." Education is an instrument of cultural change. Education can impart knowledge,
training and skills as well as inculcate new ideas and attitudes among the young. It is culture in which
education germinates and flowers. It is the culture also upon which education exerts, in turn, a nourishing
influence. The intimate relationship between culture and education is evident from the fact the one of the
major aim of education is to impart to the child cultural heritage and social heritage. Every individual is
born into a particular culture which provides him with definite patterns of behaviour and values which
guide his/her conduct in different walks of life. Thus, culture plays an important role in the life of a
person. To understand the nature of its importance, it will be easy to understand how education of various
elements of culture can help a person. It can be seen in the following manner:
Adaptation to the natural environment: Everywhere man lives in a definite natural environment to
which they adapt themselves. Without adaptation he/she cannot survive. All the inventions and
experiments that he/she make in the process of this adaptation form an important part of the culture.
Differences in the natural environment of different communities pave the way for differences in their
cultures. In all the tribes of India, the members of the community behave in a particular way which is
adapted by the coming generations of the particular community or tribe. It is this mode of behaviour
which makes up culture.
Adaptation to the social environment: Culture includes customs, traditions, beliefs etc. All of these help
the individual to adapt to his social environment. It must be kept in mind that all these elements undergo
gradual changes as the social environment changes. Culture determines the patterns of social control,
through which the individual is subjected to remain attached to that group. Hence, the advantage in
communicating the culture of the group to the child through education is that he/she is thereby acquainted
with the traditions, customs, values and patterns of conduct prevailing in his group. This knowledge
enables him to adapt to social environment and thus achieve his socialization.
Development of personality: The personality of the individual is manifested through his pattern of
behaviour. The behaviour is always influenced by the culture of his/her group. Culture influences the
physical, mental, moral, social, aesthetic and emotional aspects of individual. Thus, the behaviour of the
individual is greatly influenced by the culture.
Socialization as a process of acculturation: Many cultural anthropologists regard socialization as a
process of acculturation or the culture of a group. In the words of Martin and Stendlar, "Culture refers to
the total way of life of a people that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law,
customs and any other capabilities and habits, acquired by man as a member of society." This means that
for the adoption of a culture one must participate in the activities of the society. One must mix up with
others to learn the habits etc, of the society to which he belongs. In other words to socialize oneself one
must learn the culture of the society.
J.S. Brubacher has observed, "We cannot teach the coming generation to be good simply by
teaching them to be wise. They must have plenty of opportunity to habituate themselves to moral ideals.
Instead of learning lessons in school apart from life, school must incorporate into itself a social context of
shops, laboratories, and play grounds. Moral learning in school and college must be continuous with
moral training outside through field trips, community activities and the like. If schools fulfil this larger
function, we may be assured that anything learned in an enterprise having an aim and in cooperation with
others will be inescapable moral."
Society and Need for Schooling: Society is very keen that its young members should not lapse into
barbarity and ignorance. Whatever, it has attained in social, cultural, religious and other fields it feels its
bounden duty to transmit it to the next generation. As the society has become more complex and
knowledge is piling up it feels the need for formal education and thus society starts schools to educate its
members. The purpose is two fold:
 To transmit cultural heritage.
 To improve the society.
Transmission of culture heritage: To perpetuate present progress we should transmit the cultural
heritage. Only physical reproduction is not sufficient; we should equip the new generation with our
attainments in all fields of life. Here we should exploit the innate tendencies, needs and interests of the
children for the purpose of education. Our education should also be in consonance with the mental 'make-
up' of the students.
Improvement of the Society: Without improvement the society will stagnate. Education is not only to
reflect the social conditions but also to improve them. With the advancement of science and technology
our ways of life are also undergoing tremendous change. If we would not cope with the present
advancement there would be 'cultural lag'. We must adjust ourselves with the fast changing world. So
education must adapt itself to the changing conditions. But as always happens some new things are not
very desirable. So we shall have to guard ourselves against the tendency of the schools to import
everything new in the society. If old and out-dated things are to be discarded we shall have to be vigilant
against blind and slavish imitation of the new developments. It is through education that we can prepare
students to evaluate the past and understand the present and to be prepared for future. In short the
students should be taught to get inspiration from the inspiring past, to live in the dynamic present and to
face the challenging future.
Education is obviously reflection of the social, cultural and political conditions prevailing outside.
It reflects the society but it has within it the seeds of dynamics of change and thus can keep pace with the
fast changing world. The schools thus are not blind followers of the dictates of the society but when it
degenerates they can improve it and enthuse it with new idea of thought and new horizons of desirable
ideals.
Role of the School: The school has to give up its ivory tower isolation. It must be closely linked with the
society. "The starting point of educational reform must be the relinking of the school to life and restoring
the intimate relationship between them which has broken down with the development of the formal
tradition of education," recommends the Secondary Education Commission.
Mr. Branford writes "The school should be an idealized epitome or model of the world, not
merely the world of ordinary affairs, but the whole of humanity, body and soul, past present and future."
T.M. Greene states, "The good school programme stems from community needs as an integral
part of the life of the people. It is made by, for, and of those it would serve."
In the words Kandel "The schools exist to accelerate the impact of the essential aspects of culture
which prevails in the society."
Harold Rugg thinks of school as an "enterprise in living both social and personal."
According to the Secondary Education Commission, "The Secondary School must make itself
responsible for equipping its students adequately with civic as well as vocational efficiency and to lay
their part worthily and competently in the improvement of national life. They should no longer emerge as
helpless, shiftless individuals who do not know what to do with themselves."
According to J.S. Ross, 'Schools ought to stress the duties and responsibilities of individual
citizen, they ought to train their pupils in the spirit of cheerful, willing and effective service—they will
themselves be model communities."
School as a Community in Miniature: School is a social institution which has been established by the
society for the purpose of transmitting among its members, those ideas, beliefs, attitudes and dispositions
that will make them worthy members of the society. Schools are to be the reflection of the larger society
outside its will in which life can be learnt by living. The school is to be looked at not as a place where
traditional knowledge is inculcated as authoritative but as a place where experiments in life are carried on
and where other experiments in life be read about and told about because of their results by which alone
they are to be judged and not by their prestige.
Impact of culture on educational institutions:
The aims and ideals of the educational institutions are influenced by the values and patterns of the
society.
Curriculum: The curriculum is prepared according to the culture of society. The system of education
tries to realize the cultural needs of society through curriculum which conditions all educational activities
and programmes.
Methods of teaching: Culture and methods of teaching are intimately connected. The changing cultural
patterns of a society exert its influence upon the methods of teaching. Previously teaching was teacher
centered where teacher used to give knowledge to the child. Now it has become student centered. The
teacher considers the needs, interests, aptitude, attitude, inclinations, behaviour etc before teaching. In
this way education is a method of preparing child for the future for effective living. In short we can say
that cultural and social conditions generate the methods and techniques of teaching in a powerful
manner.
Discipline: Cultural values influence the concept of discipline. The present cultural patterns of thinking
and living are directly linked to our concept of discipline where the democratic values are accepted all
over the world.
Text Books: Curriculum is contained in the textbooks. Textbooks are written according to the formulated
or determined curriculum. Only those textbooks are welcomed which foster and promote cultural values
and ideals.
Teacher: Each individual teacher is imbibed with the cultural values and ideals of the society of which
he/she happens to be an integral member. Only such teacher achieves his/her missions successfully. They
infuse higher ideals and moral values in children.
School: A schools is a miniature of a society. The total activities and programmes of a school are
organized according to the cultural ideals and values of the society which establishes and organize the
school. Hence, school is the centre of promoting, moulding, reforming, and developing the cultural
pattern of the society.
Impact of education on culture:
Just as the culture influences education, in the same way education also influences culture of a
country. It can be seen in the following manner:
Preservation of culture: Every country has a distinct culture of its own. Hence, it tries to preserve its
culture and its distinctiveness in its original form. Education is the only means through which this task
can be accomplished. Thus, education preserves the culture of a society.
Transmission of culture: The process of preservation includes the process of transmission from one
generation to another. The famous sociologist Ottaway has rightly remarked ‘The function of education is
to transmit social values and ideals to the young and capable members of the society.’
Development of culture: The function of education is to bring the needed and desirable change in the
cultural ideals and values for the progress and continued development of the society without which social
progress can not take place. Education accultures an individual modifies cultural processes by research
and deeper investigations into all areas of human requirements.
Continuity of culture: Culture is a life breadth of a society. Without which a society is bound to decay.
Education upholds the continuity of culture through its diverse activities and programmes. A society
establishes schools to preserve and transmit its culture to the coming generations. Children should be
motivated to learn more and more from cultural interaction among various cultures. Thus cultural
integration and assimilation will enrich the composite culture of a society.
Development of personality: Education aims at developing the personality of a child. It employs diverse
cultural patterns of thinking, behaviour and cultural values so that children are physically, mentally,
morally, socially and intellectually develop with the development of society to the maximum extent.
Removal of cultural lag: While material cultural develop at a faster speed due to scientific and
technological inventions non material culture consisting of ideas, values and norms lags behind and
create a gulf between the two. Education is the only means by which these gaps can be bridged.
Thus, education and culture are interdependent and complementary to each other. However the
existing system of education in India has not evolved from its own culture. There is a need that education
should be related to our own culture. Education system not related to Cultural Heritage. It has been
rightly said. "The existing system of education is largely based on the ideals of spreading western science
and literature and way of life among a small minority of the population and of training persons for
services under the government. It is still academic and book-centered and fails to promote social, cultural,
economic or political development on proper lines." A foreign system of education was introduced in
India without taking into account the cultural heritage of India. It is cut off from Indian cultural traditions
and is alien to masses.
Reorganization of education has remained a challenging task right from the beginning after
independence. K.G. Saiyidain an eminent educationist observed, "We are to-day at one of the great cross
roads of our history when the pattern both of our culture and our social order is being refashioned. While
it is true that education should always be essentially a forward-looking activity, in normal times when
changes take place rather slowly and decorously, its function is mainly conservation— adjusting the child
to relatively stable environment. But in periods of crisis like the present, when the older is dying out and
the new one is not quite born, when the older forms of culture have lost their grip on the loyalty, at least,
of the young and the new "shape of things" is far from being clear, education has a special difficult and
critical role to play."
Modernization of education and cultural renaissance is needed to evolve education fro its own
culture. India is on the move again with the promise of a new renaissance in the making. The most
powerful tool in the process of this renaissance and modernization is education based on moral and
spiritual values on the one and on the other on science and technology. In this context we cannot do better
than to quote Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, "Can we combine the progress of science and technology with the
progress of the mind and spirit also?" We cannot be untrue to science because that represents the basic
fact of life today. Still less can we be untrue to those essential principles for which India has stood in the
past throughout the ages. Let us then pursue our path to industrial progress with all our strength and
vigour and at the same time, remember that material riches without toleration and compassion and
wisdom may well turn to dust and ashes.
Education should transmit the culture to the new generation and transform the outlook of the
young towards life in the light of the past; in the context of cross-cultural influences and in the light of
the future requirements of the individual and the society.
Influence of Media and Art forms on Child’s Education:
With the information explosion media has made tremendous impact on the mind of the pupil.
Today, social and technological changes are taking place with a rapid pace throughout the world. Both
qualitative and quantitative improvement of education is facilitated and accelerated with the help of
media. There is no denying the fact that modern education has changed the concept of teaching from
teachers’ centered to learners’ centered. Similarly, teacher centered lecture based instruction is changing
to students centered interactive learning. Teachers’, thus, has to perform the role of facilitator for the
active learning by the pupils. Learning happens and knowledge is generated in an environment where
interaction between teachers, students and the content takes place in interactive ways.
Knowledge is communicated to us through the communication. This message is great importance
for us because, when the information is communicated to us on a printed page or over the telephone, by
radio or television it appears different and has entirely a different effect on us. There is a famous proverb
that I hear...I forget; I see... I remember; I do... I understand. This means that if a teacher teaches without
the help of supportive aids there is much possibility that students will forget the things being taught to
them where as the active utilization of more than one sense increases the possibility of understanding
among the students and hence empowering them. Researches around the world also suggests that we
remember 20% what we hear, 30% what we see, 50% what we see and hear and 90% what we see, hear
and do. In the classroom teaching-learning context media improves the teaching-learning processes. Its
main purpose is to benefit more students with fewer teachers or to obtain quality education. Children are
the conscious being. They do not learn only from the books rather from the whole surroundings. Children
today are more exposed to media both print and non-print. They learn from media in more concrete way
than only through verbal communication in the class. Media and Art forms helps child in acquiring
knowledge in different manners. Its role in education is gaining importance every day due to the
following reasons:
· Media provides information to the mass within less time.
· Children get motivated while exposed to media since their more than one senses work.
· It takes a wide coverage of information regarding what is happening in any corner of the world.
· It brings the entire world to the individual or to the classroom.
· Media helps in concept formation in more concrete manner.
· Media provides the basis for developmental learning and makes learning more permanent.
· Children spends hours together sitting in front of the television and can visualize, hear and acquire
knowledge about the world.
· Thinking is a continuous process media helps child to maintain thinking process with learning.
· Whatever is learnt through media and art form remain more permanent than verbal communication
in the class.
· It easily reaches groups, allows repeated use, gives more reality, influence attitudes, shows cause
and effect relationships and ultimately motivates the students towards learning.
· It sends information to remote places and helps in distant learning.
· It helps in modification of attitudes, inculcation of desirable values and acquaintance of cultural
heritage.
· It acts as an agency of social change.
· It is useful for reinforcing group dynamics and interpersonal communication.
· It is a means of communication make ideas clear to the children and help them to acquire
knowledge.
· It helps in simplifying and in giving elaboration in explanations.
· It helps in making and formation of right usages of things in the mind of the child. So, it helps in
comprehension and learning.
· It makes the instruction concrete.
· It provides direct experience to the learner.
· It stimulates interests and enhances curiosity.
· It helps in child’s attentiveness
The role of various agencies of education such as home, society, community etc. has increased.
Therefore, the role of media and art form like television, radio, cinema, newspaper has also increased.
Press, radio, television etc are some of the media in education. They directly or indirectly influence the
attitude and behaviour of the children. They cover entertainment, information propaganda, historical
records, education and improvement of moral judgement and moral tone of the children. Following are
the role of some of the media.
Radio: It is used mainly to broadcast events to far and wide places of the world. It acts as the medium of
mass communication. It is also an important source of entertainment. Students listen various talks,
discussions, and debates from radio which are extremely important and useful for them. Many
programmes are broadcasted over radio for the purpose of teaching. Thus radio act as a great recreational
and educational force. It helps in the following manner:
· It enhances listening participation in different disciplines and current events.
· It is an effective means of presenting music, drama, current events, discussions and talks etc.
· It provides opportunity for students’ participation in different programmes such as quiz
competition, travel talks, plays, stories, development of lessons, projects work in the form of team
teaching.
· Well planned radio broadcasts are presented to engage the active participation of the local teachers
and pupils.
· Educational radio can offer corrective programmes for self learning by the individual.
· Special events and occurrence can be brought immediately to the students.
· Different items of the school subjects can be presented in the form of dramatization, dialogue,
musical features and so on.
· Through broadcasts suggestions the students may be encouraged to carry follow up discussions or
creative activities.
· Breaking all the boundaries it can reach the students while at work, in the playground, at the
drawing room, at the recreational centers etc.
Television: It is an extremely popular source of entertainment among youngsters today. The whole
personality of the child gets involved while they watch television. Therefore television is the most
powerful means of communication. It stimulates more than one sense and hence the learning becomes
more permanent. Following are the advantages of educational television:
· It has the potential to make available many inaccessible learning experiences.
· It brings about continuing cooperative planning by teachers, supervisors, learning material exports
and skillful production team.
· Effective educational television broadcasts help in the growth of curriculum planning.
· A variety of audio visual aids such as film strips, slides, recordings, drawings, maps and other
projected items can be demonstrated through television.
· It brings us a new kind of vision.
· It acquaints the children with literature, history and social life etc.
· It motivates the children as well as teachers as it has both the qualities of education as well as
entertainment.
· National problems can be discussed on the television.
Motion pictures: It exercises a great influence on human mind. Many areas can be wisely dealt with the
help of films. It has the following advantages:
· They make concepts more clear.
· They arouse interests among the pupil and satisfy their emotions.
· They present abstract problems of life and nature in concrete reality, illuminate the hidden
meanings of events and mysteries of nature.
· They bring the past, the distant to the classroom.
· It can be great for teaching the backward children as they act on their imagination.
· It helps students to give meaning to their imagination.
Thus, in classifying concepts, stimulating group and individual activities, developing a collective
critical awareness, changing attitudes, imposing a new structure or organization on certain subjects and
encouraging originality and creativeness media and art proved to have greatly helped education. The
influence of media and art forms on child’s education is far great. However, its utilization in our schools
is rarely taken up which makes teaching and learning processes boring, outdated and monotonous.