To
me, I think education is for both, to maintain our good traditions, but to
eliminate the bad ones at the same time. Bhoje (2015) says: “Education is a stabilizer of social order, conservator of culture,
an instrument of change and social reconstruction.” In my opinion, education aims to educate people to the right way, and the
right way sometimes is to be like your culture, but sometimes not. In some cases,
the right way is to change even if all the people around you are against you.
Like the “Idol of the Tribe”, we should have the courage to stop doing things that
we do only because all the people do, but we are not convinced with. Education
should make us able to decide what is good and what is bad, what is pleasant
and what is evil, what is beneficial and what is harmful, and then go to the
best side that suits both, me and the people around me. So, according to the
situation, education should make us choose what is more suitable, Confucius’s or
Kierkegaard’s ideas? If I find, according to my education and thinking, that my
parents are right, I can obey them and be like them, as Confucius says. But if
I find that my parents are wrong, then I should follow what Kierkegaard says
and have my own life and decisions.
The
good traditions that I have mentioned meant the ones that keep us united
together, that strengthen our relationships and encourage the love and
cooperation between people without necessarily being benefited from. For
example, sharing both, joys and sorrows with people, helping others whenever
they need help, have a strong relationship with our neighbors, saluting…
While, by the bad traditions that should
be eliminated, I meant the traditions that don’t make sense. There are some
traditions that people still do nowadays without knowing the reason behind them
or the purpose of them. They just do them because they get used to them. And
sometimes when people are asked about the reason behind such traditions, they
answer “I don’t know, but my mother and grandmother used to do so” for example.
Throwing water after someone leaving to a far distance, putting the shoes of
someone died in front of the houses’ doors, throwing the tooth to the sun when
ripped, are some examples. Moreover, in my country, all the costs of a wedding
should be paid by the man only, including the wedding party, the house and its
furniture and so many other things. In my opinion, if the wife or her parents’
financial situation is good, they must help the groom by affording some costs. On
the other hand, some people borrow money to make a luxurious wedding. But what
is that for? So people wouldn’t criticize? One should be satisfied with what he
has and do what he is able to do.
Moreover,
I think education, in both East and West, had changed the social life through
technology. Education lead to technology, and technology reduced the social
interactions between people, even in families. Two years old children nowadays
are having electronic devices. Children are preferring to stay hours playing
games on their devices rather than going outside and playing with their
friends. This is making them less socialized. I have been tutoring a grade 7
girl for 3 years. Although she is very polite, she never salutes me or any of
my family members when she comes to my house to take a lesson. The other day,
when she came, she passed in front of my brother in law and did not salute, so
he said to her “good morning” in English and Arabic and Frances to make fun with
her and make her salutes, and I asked her to reply, but still she never replied
and she did not even look at him, she only smiled.
As a
conclusion, both, eastern and western cultures have their advantages and
disadvantages. We should try as much as possible to know which are the
advantages of both sides and benefit from them in our educational systems and
in our lives.
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