Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow based on your under- standing of the passage.
It is time to look at what education actually does in our society, keeping in mind the distinction between the conscious aims of education and the unintended consequences of educational organisation.
We can begin by examining the significance of the values and skills that are imparted by education. There is a definite link between education, the economy and society, and that each influences the development of the other, but we need to understand more clearly what the nature of this relationship is.
Skills can be dealt with first. Education trains in skills that are required by the economy. The full significance of this is often forgotten: the relation between the economy and education can be an exact one. For example, the number and productive capacity of engineering firms are limited by the number of engineers produced by education. This applies to most fields of the economy. This exact relation between education and economy means that in a modern planned economy the output.
of skilled people must be consciously geared to the economic and social priorities of the society. The output of doctors, scientists, teachers and so forth must be and often, is planned years in advance to meet projected economic and social requirements.
The skills learnt in education have wider significance than the narrowly economic significance we have discussed so far. Consider a developing Country. One important goal in these countries is the fostering of participatory democracy. Participatory democracy in any large and complex society depends on literacy. Literary allows full participation in the mass media and effective voting. Literacy is a product of education. The state of an educational system thus has political as well as economic significance.
Education is also important for the values that it imparts. In most developing countries a large part of the school curriculum is organised around courses and contents designed to impart the values of national integration. The history and customs of the ethnic groups composing a national will, for example, receive close attention. In most nations which face problems of trying to weld together distinct groups of people or distinct geographical areas the educational system is under close state supervision and is required to deliberately communicate common national values. Education can thus be an integrative force in society by communicating values that unite different sections of that society.
46. The author basically aims to examine the.
(a) relationship between education and society.
(b) major functions of education.
(c) interface between education and economy.
(d) politics of education.