The Purpose of Education - by Uk Dararath

The Purpose of Education

There is no single agreed idea on the purpose of education. At different periods of time and by different scholars and institutions, education is viewed to serve different purposes. To understand the purpose of education, it is more important to see different perspectives from different units and we will finally conclude our point of view at the end of these literature reviews. 

The journal published ASCD highlights several great perspectives regarding the purpose of education. Various philosophies were raised at different periods of time starting from early 1930s to 1990s. It can be summarized that education serves to give people the necessities to grow as human beings and to be accepted in society, and make potential development (Dewey, 1934; Martin, 1948; The ASCD Committee, 1957; Ammons, 1964; Foshay, 1991; cited in ASCD, 2012). 

In more contemporary context, education is widely discussed by scholars around the globe and several important international institutions have also been working on it as well. World Bank (2017) suggests that education plays a crucial role as a driving force of development and “the strongest instruments for reducing poverty and improving health, gender equality, peace, and stability.” This similar meaning of the purpose of education is also shared by UNESCO (n.d.). On individual level, Brende (n.d.) mentions that education allows people to get job, get out of poverty, have enough capital to support family and develop their communities. 

Leaving the broader context to understand the purpose of education, we should now focus on narrow definitions of education’s purpose in Cambodian context. Fata (2012) highlights the change of purposes of education in Cambodian history.  During the colonial period, Fata notes, the education played a role in establishing well-educated elites to work for the protectorate. However, there was the shift of focus after the colonization. The independent Cambodia perceived education as a driving force for social-economic development of the country. In more narrow view,in the modern time, higher education in Cambodia provides students with knowledge and skills that help them contribute fully to national development and labor market needs; employment related-skills; and understanding of and positive attitude towards work and a capacity to manage and work effectively and harmoniously with others, according to Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport of Cambodia.

Different scholars and institutions at different times and contexts define the purpose of education differently; however, several similarities are also found in this diversity of definitions. Therefore, we can conclude that the purpose of education is to allow people to flourish fully as human being and socially, to live their lives in demanding society and to contribute to development of society. In the other words, education can bring about human being enhancement, innovations, responses to challenges and social development at large. 

Education serves as the greatest force to harmonize human being to coexist in the society. Education, therefore, allows people to develop themselves as social being through socialization. It serves as a platform where people learn to grow socially and culturally that it is to avoid social outrage. While education contributes to the instilling of culture and social norms, social-economic, critical and innovative skills are greatly focused in this contemporary era. It plays a part in producing human resources and capitals to respond to the demands from society ranging from labor needs to national and world challenges. In short, education is to transmit culture and to, more remarkably, produce resourceful people to meet the contemporary labor demands and challenges. 

References

ASCD (2012). What Is the Purpose of Education? http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/journals/ed_update/eu201207_infographic.pdf

Brende, B. (n.d). Why Education Is the Key to Development. Accessed on December 27. Retrieved from World Economic Forum at https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/07/why-education-is-the-key-to-development/ 

Fata, N. (2012). School Dropout at Basic Education Level in Rural Cambodia: A Longitudinal Study. https://ir.lib.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/files/public/3/34054/20141016200657185358/diss_ko5967.pdf 

UNESCO (n.d.). Education for the 21st Century.  Accessed on December 27. https://en.unesco.org/themes/education-21st-century

World Bank. (2017). Education. Accessed on December 26, http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/education/overview

Cambodia between China and the United States

“Cambodia between China and the United States”

The thesis on “Cambodia between China and the United States” hypothesizes the motive which Cambodia is more supportive to China than the U.S. This motive is based on two main facets: first, the Uighurs incident and the ASEAN’s failure to issue the joint communique; and second, Hun Sen’s expressions toward China and the U.S. Therefore, the thesis aims to explore the factors that push Cambodia to be closer to China than to the U.S.

The author employs case-study and retrospective approaches to insightfully discover the motivations pushing a closer Cambodia’s foreign policy toward China rather than toward the U.S. To answer this, several determinants are studied. The assessment is categorized into two, which are the individual level of analysis and state level of analysis. The individual level includes the prime minister’s reactions towards China and the U.S and his personality, background and perception toward each of the countries. At the state level, state-internal factors are taken into consideration. These include substate-actors, contexts and Cambodia’s relations with China and US. The author studies the bureaucratic system in making foreign policy and the lobby groups. More importantly, the contexts of the given period are also discovered to solve the research problem. Last but not least, at this same level of analysis, extends of interactions of Cambodia’s relations with China and the U.S., economic and political linkages, are also investigated. 

These approaches show their significances for this case exceptionally. The author mentions that previous studies focus mainly on the economic aspect to study the relations of Cambodia between China and the U.S. This study particularly looks up to different aspects as mentioned above since those factors contribute greatly to the path of Cambodia’s foreign policy. While Cambodian prime minister personally and/or politically plays an essential part for shaping the policy, the bureaucratic processes and actual situational contexts of Cambodia to China and to the U.S, in addition to the economic relations, also take part in Cambodia’s foreign policy contribution.

As found, Prime Minister Hun Sen’s personality is defined as “irascibly intractable and active-aggressive manner” which he doesn’t want to stay under someone’s control yet actively works and is willing to stay in power for long time. That is why Hun Sen moves closer to China than to the U.S. since the U.S tends to advise and control or influence Cambodian politics. The political natures of China and the U.S also shape Cambodia’s foreign policy. For instance, China recognized Hun Sen’s government after the 1997 incident and gave aids to Cambodia while the U.S toughly reacted. To gain his government legitimacy, Hun Sen has chosen China over the U.S. Besides, bureaucracy in which Hour Namhong plays an utmost role also contributes so much to foreign policy direction since Hour Namhong tends to accept, and be accepted by, China more while holding antipathy, historically, to the U.S. The Elites who also work closely with Hun Sen can influent Cambodia’s foreign policy, given that those tycoons have tight relations with China, economically. More Chinese companies and more interactions in a form of state exchange visits between Cambodia and China also motivate Cambodia to stay closer with China than with the U.S. 

Reference: 

Oudom, T. (2014). Cambodia between China and the United States. http://www.academia.edu/10739334/Cambodia_between_China_and_the_United_States