What does education mean?

Silverbrook, I agree with Bertrand Russell that popular culture is in a sad state of disrepair. Although it's not as bad as he says. Attending a football match, pop festival, and pub gig is participatory. Within high culture theatre now involves audience participation , quite deliberately as a production technique.

Popular culture probably wont revert to some sort of retro Arts and Crafts movement but it's not dead . AI has possibilities as a tool for helping people to find ways to communicate ideas with others.

As Elegran says:
You wouldn't think that there is a career in walking miles in rough country, either, but there is.

There most definitely is. One of DD's friends from very many years ago became an expedition leader after university, working for Raleigh International and now teaches outdoor pursuits including mountaineering.

Some schools encourage participation in the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme (not just outdoor activities) and teachers take pupils on many outdoor pursuits, eg Ten Tors, sports trips, activity weeks.

Although some subjects have, sadly, been dropped eg music, it should not just be a question of the Three Rs in this day and age.

Yes, but he was writing in the 1930s when there wasn't the breadth of culture for the ordinary working person that there is now if only they had time to actively participate.

That said, some of those "old" pursuits are now beyond the reach of many people. Tickets for football matches and pop festivals can be prohibitively expensive.

But those are only participatory in the sense of cheering or singing along which has always been the case were one to go to a match or a pub performance then. I think describing it as active partipation from an educational standpoint is stretching it a bit.

There used to be the old Working Men's Institutes that offered adult education and recreational activities to working-class men.

What's on offer now to someone who had done an eight hour shift of hard unskilled labour?

Adult Community Learning has shifted it's focus and the number of courses offered is much reduced. There used to be a good range of vocational evening courses. Now all gone, certainly around here.

The Open University has now aligned its course costs to mainstream universities making it prohibitively expensive to the student who is looking for enrichment or a change of career unless they can get funding or sponsorship.

There are numerous free course available but they don't necessarily have the duration or structure some might prefer. Nor so they provide the cameraderie that institutional learning offers.

The trouble is that cash-strapped schools are cutting subjects such as music and drama, and universities get less funding for Arts subjects, so we are moving back to the days when only those who can afford it can participate in those things. Yes, anyone can listen to music or read a book, and TV is pretty much universally available in the UK. But the important thing is which voices are heard/read/watched? If only a particular set of people are able to produce TV programmes, publish poetry, write music (as opposed to picking up a few chords on a guitar*) get their plays performed and so on, it will be their world view that is passed on as 'culture'.

This is a shame, as we have been moving away from that for some time now. 'BBC accents' are seen as quaint, and people like Alan Bleasdale, Shaun Meadows and Phil Redmond have been very influential in getting regional dialects and working class life seen as mainstream. Do we really want to go back to Cambridge Footlights being one of the few ways for emerging talents to make careers?

Education should allow everyone to develop their talents to a point where they can make a career of them if they are capable, and to enjoy a range of pursuits in their leisure time if not.

* I know that many pop/rock guitarists don't read or write music and have made a fortune, but that's in a limited genre, and most don't.

Silverbrooks and Doodledog, I agree. Silverbrooks, I was indeed stretching "participatory" a bit too far.

PS ,yes anyone can read a book or listen to music, as Doodledog said. There are levels of skill for reading and listening and it's a rare person who does not benefit from a teacher who can teach the higher , fuller skills of reading and listening.

Popular culture is however more than books and music. It's also affordable holiday destinations like Blackpool was in its heyday. It's unselfconscious neighbourliness and moderating of unsocial behaviour from inside the group.

There isn't an old -style working class any more to make a natural camaraderie. Some who would benefit from a functioning popular culture are quite well off compared with the old days.

In the past, one way "ordinary people" participated in music was with brass bands. Many towns had them in addition to choirs.

Intthought popular culture was culture that was popular with lots of people, like pop music, going to night clubs, soap operas and social media.

This thread is an education in itself. I looked up popular culture on Wiki, which has an informative entry:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_culture

It’s an interesting subject especially when looking at different time periods.

Students of the humanities with the Open University might remember one of the foundation course textbooks, Arthur Marwick’s book The Sixties about main and countercultures of the “long sixties” from 1959 to 1974.

One could argue that much of popular culture is a form of counterculture as each new generation seeks to exert it influence and clashes with older generations.

Counterculture is very much represented by popular music. Rap anybody?

One might also argue that marginalised communities aka subcultures such as LBGTQ are counter cultures. When oppositional forces reach critical mass, countercultures can trigger dramatic cultural changes.

Something very much in the news at the moment: Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (or DEI) wouldn’t necessarily be viewed as a counterculture but it is a form of resistance that has challenged the status quo of many organisations and workplaces - and is making certain people in politics who really don’t like change very uncomfortable.

And brass bands. We still have a brass band celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. The band practices at the local Methodist church not far from where I live. On warm evenings I can hear them playing. When it was founded in 1950, the local council paid for the instruments (second hand) and the uniforms. The band is now self-supporting.

Education opens doors to a world of possibilities. It empowers us to think critically, solve problems, and chase our dreams. Think of learning like mastering Drift Boss; each new skill is a challenging level. With dedication, you navigate complex curves and ultimately reach your goals. Education is the ultimate high score in the game of life, leading to personal and professional fulfillment.
driftboss.lol

Silverbrooks, you wrote "marginalised communities", a rich heuristic IMO.

It set me thinking that popular culture is genuine, not ersatz, only if and when a community is marginalised by poverty, overwork, hunger, oppression, racism, sexism, and so forth.

Caleo

Popular culture is however more than books and music. It's also affordable holiday destinations like Blackpool was in its heyday. It's unselfconscious neighbourliness and moderating of unsocial behaviour from inside the group.

There isn't an old -style working class any more to make a natural camaraderie. Some who would benefit from a functioning popular culture are quite well off compared with the old days.

My post mentioned pop music, but I didn't mean to suggest that education should be so that people learn to perpetuate or appreciate popular culture to fill their time after work. Far from it.

I enjoy popular culture, and firmly believe it has its place as entertainment and as a means to 'switch off' from more intellectually challenging areas of life. All the same, I think that people should all be able to enjoy 'high culture' (if that's the right term), and crucially that people of all backgrounds should be able to contribute to that, by having their work read/viewed/heard (as opposed to their simply being capable of enjoying or consuming it) so that all sorts of voices are heard.

The last thing I want is to have class-based access to any form of culture, and I very much fear that cuts to Arts courses and the mentality that education is about preparation for work will take us there.

Doodledog, I think we must be realistic and admit that high culture costs a lot of money to consume. Football matches and Glastonbury are also too expensive for many people.

Social class is defined mostly by income . Some people who went to Eton are educated to be leaders but I guess are also cultural ignoramuses as far as high culture is concerned.

Popular culture is mostly commercialised and aims to be merely sensational entertainment , so there is no truth in it.

Education therefore should be for all ,lifelong ,especially the SureStart type initiatives. And by education I mean learning what is worth consuming and what is nothing but entertainment, and commercialised entertainment at that.

Oh yes, and if I ruled the world I'd get rid of all fee paying so-called 'public schools' . We don't need a class of people who are indoctrinated and trained to be politicians.

Morris dancing is having a revival. When DS took up Morris dancing in his late 30s, he was the nly memberunder 50. Now he is in his 50s, the side is full of younger men and women.

Now Morris dancing, now is folk culture, but it started as popular culture.

Caleo

Oh yes, and if I ruled the world I'd get rid of all fee paying so-called 'public schools' . We don't need a class of people who are indoctrinated and trained to be politicians.

Just to correct this perception of all independent schools. They don't ALL indoctrinate pupils and train them to be politicians.
The type of education offered varies from school to school because they are independent and can choose to do things pretty much their own way.

Caleo

Doodledog, I think we must be realistic and admit that high culture costs a lot of money to consume. Football matches and Glastonbury are also too expensive for many people.

Social class is defined mostly by income . Some people who went to Eton are educated to be leaders but I guess are also cultural ignoramuses as far as high culture is concerned.

Popular culture is mostly commercialised and aims to be merely sensational entertainment , so there is no truth in it.

Education therefore should be for all ,lifelong ,especially the SureStart type initiatives. And by education I mean learning what is worth consuming and what is nothing but entertainment, and commercialised entertainment at that.

That's not really what I'm saying, which is that unless culture is included in the curriculum and there are university courses other than at Oxbridge (ie ones that are accessible to all) then the only points of view we read or watch will be from those able to access an education in 'elite' institutions. It is very important that this does not happen, and that talent is nurtured at all 'levels' of society, so that the books we read and films we watch are properly representative of us all (or at least that we can all see ourselves reflected if we choose to).

Escaped, I agree not all fee paying schools groom pupils to be political leaders, however the few very expensive ones tend to do so.

As long as there are schools that are not available free at point of use to the general public it stands to reason these schools will indoctrinate a biased world view; sometimes biased towards a religious belief system :sometimes leaning towards a particular moneyed class .

Top quality state education for all is the only classless system possible.

Learning something new is what keeps our brains healthy, but as I’ve aged I do question what I’ve been taught and is it the truth.
I enjoy history but I often hear the saying ‘history is written by the victor’ and therefore the truth could in fact be a lie.

AJKW

Learning something new is what keeps our brains healthy, but as I’ve aged I do question what I’ve been taught and is it the truth.
I enjoy history but I often hear the saying ‘history is written by the victor’ and therefore the truth could in fact be a lie.

I don't think the truth is a lie, but I do think that truths have half lives, inasmuch as they stay true until someone proves otherwise.

I also think that what we believe to be historically true is based on what was written at the time, which means that it is the view of those who could read and write, and whose words were considered valuable enough to record. That is something we should, IMO bear in mind when accepting things as 'fact'.

Without going off on a tangent, education means to learn and be able to think for yourself. Watching my little grandson tell me about how many bones are in his feet, what the organs of the body are, that is learning and he has learned that, amongst many other things, at his daycare facility. Certainly mum and dad haven’t taught him this, in-depth as it is.

So learning is what education is about. Whether it be maths, English or life skills. It sets you up for the future.

The word 'educate' has roots in Latin, specifically from the verb "educere" meaning "to draw out," "to lead forth," or "to bring out".

As I was told by a teacher at school, the purpose of education was to make us think and use what we are taught to lead on and bring out ideas and knowledge, not to ram in lots of rote learning.

Education is a lifelong process of learning, questioning and analyzing. I'd also add it's about being open to new information and changes, but this is probably the result of education and not the process itself. It's also about acquiring new skills not just by necessity but simply out of curiosity. You like taking photos and you learn Photoworks, you like music and you learn to play the guitar. Just the tiny pieces of new information here and there, not because you want to be a professional but because you're genuinely interested in how things work.