Transition from Informal to Formal Education and Society's Perception towards Education

Summary of the reading
The reading entails a discussion on education i.e. the transition through which education
shifted from informal to formal and how the society began attaching great value to education
as well as viewing it in terms of financial cost (burden).This presentation will also in a way
raise issues pertaining education and criticize different ideas about education that were
developed or suggested by different scholars.
Reflection on content and issues raised by the reading
This presentation focuses on different issues related to education as discussed below
Role of education
In both the past and the contemporary society, education is viewed as a tool that is used to
shape personalities and impart knowledge be it societal knowledge on values and norms of
the society by informal education or technical knowledge by the formal education. In the
contemporary world across the globe, the roles of the family in socialization has been taken
by learning institution whereby young generation is taught by schools about the societal
norms ,values and principles
Evolution of education
Education is part of humanity development and therefore as changes occur globally on the
human race, education also undergoes the same transition .In the past, before
industrialization, education was mainly informal whereby the main agents that transmitted it
was the family and the society(Sutanto, Minantiyo, Sukardi Kodrat & Novi Mustikarini,
2013) .Industrialization meant that people with technical skills were needed to handle

technical chores and therefore forcing knowledge to be offered in schools changing education
from informal to formal
Society’s perception towards education and its value
Attitude or perception of the society towards education varies depending on the value that
one places on education. Technological changes, industrialization and civilization led to shift
from informal education whose cost was less to the formal one that is expensive to acquire .A
person who values knowledge acquired through education views it as a valuable asset and is
ready to invest in acquisition of it while those who don’t value education will perceive it to
be financial burden that has no value.
This reading is in full agreement with what was taught in the unit .It is very true and clear that
as time goes by, education undergoes changes in terms of the knowledge offered, value
placed in it and also those institutions responsible in offering it .For instance, educated
changed from being offered by the family and the society at large to being offered by special
learning institutions such as schools (Bezawada, 2012)
Challenges faced by formal education
Not everyone embraces education as it is. There are some rigid laggards who wait to see
how others progress before they too embrace it. The old are not ready to embrace changes in
their social lives brought by education and therefore maintain a status quo.
Tutorial questions
1. What is the difference between formal and informal education?
2. Which type of education in development of a strong personality?