The Role of Education in National Development

Many researchers, when concerning the relationship between economy and education, note that the level of literacy in any society is related to the indicators of economic development and the well-being of the people. For example, in low- and middle-income countries, boys and girls receive only the practical knowledge needed to engage in agriculture.

Education, as a social institution, reproduces the economic principles of the functioning of society: competitiveness, social inequality, consumer standards. It is of great importance for the growth and development of production. According to American experts, this factor was the main condition for economic growth and an increase in labor productivity throughout the XX century, and it will determine the further economic prospects.

Functions of education

Knowledge is the first thing any person recalls when it comes to the education. Any training system is aimed not just at transferring "portion knowledge", increasing its volume and structuring over time. The thinkers of antiquity formulated the main goal differently: education is a torch that needs to be ignited, and it must burn throughout all further life.

Today, this formula sounds like this: a person needs to be taught to study independently, that is, he should master the technology of work with information sources, create a habit of acquisition of new knowledge, perceive studies as a personally oriented and constant activity.

Thus, the effect of complicating the training activities (from class to class at school, from course to course at a university) should give rise to a further expansion and creation of a certain system of cognition, for a development of intelligence.

Upbringing of high-level specialists

Since the middle of the twentieth century, the leading economic function of education was to train the workers needed for the dominant production system and the level of technology required by society. Different educational mechanisms performed a kind of sorting. Through the special forms of preparation, the system of exams they worked for the employment system, created the structure of jobs. The division into private, classical and technical schools contributed to the fulfillment of this function. Each type of educational institution trained workers for different levels of future employment.

This approach ensures the impact of education on the economic sphere. The feedback is very important for industrial and academic worlds interconnected by various ties. As an idea, it is accepted by both sides, but in practice, its form and consistency leave much to be desired. And the question concerns not only the qualitative and quantitative composition of the graduates, but also their correspondence to the requirements of specific jobs.

It is no accident that the government has already developed a special practice of creating the highly qualified professionals whose training consists of many stages: a university, mastering various levels of production at an enterprise, writing a thesis on a topic related to a specific production, subsequent internships at various workplaces.

Cognition process does not stop at the beginning of work. When training professional cadres, education not only transmits knowledge and skills, creates motivation for learning. To some extent, it also changes the qualities of a person, creates new landmarks (promoting in a career, self-development), sets other tasks (competence, responsibility).

Formation of professional thinking

It is worth mentioning the professional thinking as a special educational phenomenon. This effect is connected with the formation of a worker's production qualities. Here we are talking about involving individual characteristics in the sphere of education. For example, an accurate, grounded reflection of truth is important for a researcher. For a teacher and doctor, it is important to fulfill the principle "do no harm", etc.

Development of certain qualities is provided by any kind of training. Not always they are formed purposefully. More often this process takes place during the professional activity. For example, attention to a person, his inner world is formed by a sociologist during the interviews. The skill of analytical thinking develops when writing abstracts, diplomas or even applying for college homework help and reading the ready-made papers.

It is obvious that each profession requires a unique approach, a certain combination of qualities, the appearance of a peculiar style. The effect of professional thinking is most often expressed in the comprehension of what is happening in the working area, whether it is an everyday practice or innovative solutions. It is possible to talk about a kind of "prism effect" through which the professional perceives everything. So, for example, a psychologist sees a terrorist act through the suffering of people, the military sees a certain operation, the politician will consider the possibility of negotiations or the use of force.

The emergence of professional thinking speaks about the highest quality of the specialists, their advanced skills, which are an indispensable condition for national development.

Social norms and values

In the economic sphere, education has a serious impact on the consumption of both material and spiritual (culture, information) goods. At the initial stages of a person's life, the sphere of education, primarily through school, translates and fixes norms of consumer behavior.

There are social norms of a resource-saving type, those that are usually called ecological. At the household level, it is saving water and heat. On the national level, it is the conservation of natural resources and the introduction of resource-saving technologies.

Environmental education at schools makes an important contribution to the thinking of modern schoolchildren. The same applies to rational standards: national ecology, personal hygiene, healthy nutrition, human life safety and consumer rights. In this area, education is the strongest channel of influence, since consumer behavior can be seriously corrected only if a person has formed a stable attitude to these impact factors since childhood.

Thus, it can be concluded that education plays one of the decisive roles in national development.


This is a contribution from one of our contributing writers.

FOLLOW MY ADVENTURES ON YOUTUBE @PinoyAdventurista

Thank You For Sharing!