Читать книгу Educational Explanations - Christopher Winch - Страница 10

All human societies need to renew themselves. Bringing up the young and preparing them for adult life is a fundamental practice everywhere, however it is done. In this book, this practice is what will be called ‘education’ in its broadest sense. There is not much else that one can say about education in this categorial sense, but it is important.⁴ Education is concerned with learning: both knowledge of the propositional and acquaintance kinds and various kinds of know-how. It also aims to prepare young people for something worthwhile, either from the point of view of themselves, their parents or their community.⁵ We should merely note at this point that what a community sees as worthwhile for that community may not be seen as worthwhile from the point of view of the parents or young people. We could also add that what is seen as worthwhile by the state (if one exists within such a society) is not necessarily seen as such by the community, the parents or young people. We will often return to this point.