Links between Development and Education as Mediated by Colonialism and Neoliberalism - Essay Example

Globalization Name: Course Title: Tutor: Date: Globalization Part A): Crucial links between development and education as mediated by colonialism and neoliberalism? Education is majorly done for literacy purposes. During the colonial period, education was majorly focused with a need to attain the county’s sustainably goals. For instance, with education, colonialists were assured that productivity in the agricultural sector would be positively affected. Farmers will have acquired new farming techniques and learn on how to cope with risks that might arise. In addition, farmers got to understand on the responses that are required in the market. Through education, the status of women was enhanced due to the fact that people started to be enlightened. Chemical applications to farms were also acquired by farmers after they were educated. In addition, it aided them to have title deeds thereby granting them the opportunity to engage in loans and other money lending institutes. All these were heading towards development. Education was directly connected to economic policies such as decline in population which was set so as to be able to gain economic stability of the country. In regard to this, the standard of living rose up mainly because the country was able to control the population economically. It is as a result of education that a person has the knowledge of protecting the environment. If development creates inequalities, how can education alleviate them? The development of both economic and social life across nations has proved to be an education process because people will be in a position to come up with new institutions, new technology usage, adapting the environment and also altering on their behavioral patterns. In undergoing education through schooling, all aspects of life that are interrelated will come close to one another thus being termed national development. When this is done across the globe the equality will be achieved. It is therefore a fact to say that people who have acquired basic education will be in a better position to come up with new approaches on how activities are to be carried. With the rapid technological change, it demands that people acquire skills so that they can work with it effectively. Inequality is a state where individuals do not have full access to life opportunities resulting to different social classes. Equity is considered complementary especially is in fundamental respects in the need to pursue a long-term prosperity. It is therefore expected that both institutions and formulated policies in their area of concern such political, social and economical lives are so far the only factors that promote the development of these aspects. In the efforts to reduce the poverty levels in the society, equity is highly considered because it finally resulting into development because the poor in the society will have benefited from the opportunities that is within their society. Inequality has been found to emerge in many countries because of two reasons; first, in developing countries markets have been noted to fail majorly in the land, insurance, credit and human capital sections of the economy. This indicates that their rate of expenditure is very high while their resources are at a stand still. The consequences that might arise thereafter will affect education sector. Children who are in less fortunate families will not be able to go to school. In addition, agricultural sector will suffer and unskilled labor will not be lucky as they will not get a chance to go to their neighboring richer countries to work. Secondly, societies have been arranged in such a way that it favors the politics and economy of every stratum formed in the society. The issue behind this is the fact that economic institutions will majorly concentrate on that social class that is more influential as a result economic costs are generated. It is therefore obvious to say that during budgetary allocations, those that are of more influence will be favored. This is experienced during public services distribution, the wealthy are of influence leading to those are poor to end up with unexploited talent. In connection to this, we look at this in the global view; it is quite obvious that developing countries have little contribution to the global development. An opinion put across by developed countries is prioritized which will be unfavorable to the developing in terms of economy politics and social. The effects of development inequalities are growing with time because of the responses that are given in terms of political, economical and social. They therefore reproduce themselves with revolving generation. In regard to this, children who are quite unfortunate will get access to good education as for those children from wealthier families. The same children will continue to earn little even at the adulthood, the reason being that their voices are less or not considered at all in public resource allocation (Lechner, 2009). Development inequalities affecting the developing countries have affected education greatly. There have been actions which have been done in the need to equalize so that every child from all social class gets access to at least basic education. In acquiring basic education a person will be able to participate in contributing into the development of the global economy. According to a comparison that was made in one of the journals, it indicated that even at a point where a child has completed basic education in the middle-income countries they cannot bring any achievements (Boudreaux, 2008). In developing countries, education has not been a major problem; this is because basic education has been satisfactory to them. Global education sector has concentrated much in improving the accessibility of quality education being advanced in their approaches. It was considered that the suppliers of education are the ones who are supposed to improve their services so that children who come out of it can be able to compete in the global market like the other children from the developed countries (Lechner, 2009). On the other hand, policies have been formulated so as to govern parents and demand side in general so that they get motivated and invest in education. The quality of education that was offer earlier was not appealing them that were one of the reasons that made them to look down upon education (Suarez & Hilliard, 2004). The purpose of education has changed. Discuss. What are the productive possibilities offered by globalization that can be applied to education? Some of the measures that have been taken in order to improve education in the developing countries is increasing the number of teachers; that is the ratio of teacher-student should reduced to increase productivity (Robertson, 2002). Secondly, teaching approaches in developing countries have been researched in detail has been revised so as to meet pulling demand in the global market. The performance in learning is what is actually being monitored with the need to arrive at best approaches that can yield good results for these children in the developing countries thus making education equal across the globe. The school setting is suggested that it ought to have a clear physical infrastructure on how learning should be carried. It is recommended that students should be monitored closely because they cannot perform as required if they are left to work by their own (Lechner, 2009). Another measure has proved that girls are less considered in the society, they are therefore lack the opportunity to get the basic education. Statistically, there are very few girls who get a chance to pursue education like their brothers. Global development have treated all people equal, job opportunities are now assumed to be performed by everyone in less consideration of gender. Basing on this, approaches have been introduced that will favor girls just like any other person. For instance, scholarships have been granted to girls so that they can meet global standards (Osterhammel, & Petersson, 2005). The physically handicapped were considered a curse in the society during the colonial period. Such people were not given any responsibility in the society. In some countries, such people were isolated in the society. The main reason for this was that they were more of dependent on the society and therefore were meaningless being alive (Steger, 2010). The global development has improved all its sectors of the economy which has favored the physically handicapped. The emergence of computers has basically improved on education in general. The diversification of jobs and technological change has encouraged the handicapped to get job opportunities in the global market. The type of education therefore has been introduced that can favor this group of people. Bibliography Lechner, F. J. (2009). Globalization: the making of world society. Wiley-Blackwell. Osterhammel, J., & Petersson, N. P. (2005). Globalization: a short history. Princeton University Press. Suarez, M. M., & Hilliard, D. Q. (2004). Globalization: culture and education in the new millenium. Unversity of California Press. Boudreaux, D. J. (2008). Globalization. ABC-CLIO. Steger, M. (2010). Globalization. Sterling Publishing Company. Robertson, R. (2002). Globalization: a social theory and global culture. SAGE. Part B): 8. Using the two theoretical approaches described by Dale (2000), discuss the impact of dominant world (western) ideology or a shared culture in shaping the nature of states and their policies in school education. Introduction Education is a tool that has been accepted to contribute towards the growth of the economy. In a given developing country, it will never get out of poverty unless it brings in education. In the recent past, developing has looked so much into the improvement of primary education and currently, they are looking on the secondary education. In considering the two levels of education, they have not realized the importance of another level which is the tertiary education which is the most recognized developer of the economy thereby kicking poverty. For instance in Africa, a summit was held in Dakar, it was aimed at improving the primary education which was seen as the leader of social welfare. Tertiary education was left behind. Developing countries has lacked an understanding on how higher education actually contributes into the economy thereby neglect it and consider it as costly without considering the long term. A theory was developed so as to examine the benefits at the individual level as well as to the society. In the theory developed, it did not give any result that illustrated a link between higher education and social benefits. On the contrary, the results suggested that higher education brought about social unrest together with political instability (Waters, 2001). In contradiction to the stated opinion, the latest suggestions indicated that higher education significantly affects and determine income, in regard to this, it therefore come up with both public and private benefits. For instance, through higher education, higher levels of tax revenue are created, savings and investments are increased; this leads to a greater entrepreneurial and civic society. In addition, the health of the nation is improved, population growth is checked, technological improvement is enhanced and the mode of governance is strengthened. Critically, the way in which developing countries currently perceive higher education is positively changing. The urge that universities are supposed to be key contributors to development has been raised in many conferences which are held in favor of higher education. Moreover, universities are able to bring up expertise; problems which are affecting the subject countries are scrutinized; local institutions are strengthened; a base for good governance is created; conflicts are resolved and the human rights are put into much consideration. Basing on the African countries, it is evident that they greatly differ on their varied characteristics of how their higher education affects the growth of the economy. Environmental policies for instance can be an important aspect on how higher education can positively affect the economy in different countries. On the same note, the varied political and economic arenas together with their geographical situations in the African countries have brought out a base for higher education institutions to best work in it. In regard to this, their near-term economic possibilities have been created in the long run. The differences of the African countries should recognize the efforts of higher education in its contribution to economic growth. The state of higher education Basic facts The rate at which Sub-Saharan countries are enrolling towards higher education is rated as the lowest globally. Statistically, the number of those who enroll has increased as compared to the last four decades. Earlier, statistics indicated that only one percent but currently it is reaching five per cent. The rates at which the sub-Saharan countries are enrolling as compared to other regions indicate that it is very low. According to gender, there has been differences and that it is expected to remain that way for quite some time before it change. The output of research academia in Africa is weak. The international communities who are in charge of development have urged African government to further tighten their belts on the issue of primary and secondary education. The World Bank which is practicing development influences on developing countries, they have therefore believed that both primary and secondary education is more important than the tertiary education. The reasons that were given on this were that investment returns on primary and secondary education is higher than those harnessed from higher education. It also highlighted that considering equality, basic education will be strongly emphasized. PRODUCTION POSSIBILITY FRONTIER GAP Region Productivity Gap Africa 22.8% North America 12.6% South and Central America 19.0% Europe 15.0% Asia 14.0% Australasia 13.6% World 17.5 These assumptions that have been made have greatly affected education the entire African continent. An average of five per cent on the total tertiary enrollment displays differences that exist within countries. Until 2003, other countries were still standing at one per cent. Higher education and the Law The mode of legislation formation has discouraged the development of higher education in Africa. Some countries have formed highly centralized policies which will restrict the issue of universities; they end up politicizing them which will affect higher education in the long run tuning them towards the favor of politics. In politicizing universities, knowledge response will be affected, labor market narrowed, economic development barred. On the contrary, there are situations where countries are not centralized and allow for university education, such education are left to be manipulated by private sectors which will be expensive in the long run returns on the outcome may not be realized. In countries like Cameroon, Tanzania, Madagascar and Benin are some of the listed countries with centralized governments and that they have control over university education operations. For instance, in Benin and Tanzania it is the responsibility of the government to appoint a senior manager who will take control of the given institution. In Cameron, universities are under the control of the Higher Education Minister. While in Madagascar, the ministry of education takes full control of universities as they appoint faculty members and state their salaries together with their working conditions which are in close relation with the political system. Not all African countries have such laws. In Angola, the law grants private sectors to full freedom to run universities as per their decisions. In Congo too it has granted freedom to private sector as it per the law that was established in 1990 made them to provide for this service for the first time. As is South Africa private universities are in operation. This strategy has been realized to have a number of setbacks; private universities are associated with low quality services. A part from the stated effects of law in a country, there are others which negatively affects higher education. In Egypt, it is different because those in the university are automatically given jobs so long as they are in possession of degrees. In respect to this joblessness in Egypt is very low as compared to other countries. This can be of negative impact to the economy too as they may be of low productivity to the economy. The laws formulated should therefore look into consideration its budget before indulging into such employment. Laws that govern higher education in African countries vary greatly. In some countries, universities are left in the hands of the government while others are granted freedom to operate their institutions as they wish. Others give room private universities to be developed. In some other countries, they lack laws that govern higher education (Erwin, & Smith, 2008). Poverty Reduction Strategy papers and Higher Education The World Bank has seemed to not give much concern to tertiary education; this has made it fail in its efforts of coming up with strategies that will reduce poverty in the developing countries such as Mauritania Ethiopia, Mozambique and Ghana. It is evidenced that only twenty countries in the African continent give considerations to tertiary education as seen in their PRSPs. From these, only a small component yields development strategy. The economic circumstances of a given country can be measured and improved through PRSPs prioritization. These are documents that country-led and are made by national governments, in support of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and other external development parties (Stiglitz, 2003). These documents are validated every three years so as to upgrade on the ways of improving on economic growth and reducing poverty. They can be termed as key motivators to coming up with goals which will fight reduce extreme poverty. In completion of this crucial requirement, a country will get access to high- in-depth poor countries debt relief. PRSPs gives an outline on a number of limitations to realizing potentials in higher education in the need to promoting economic growth in Africa. Some of these include; poor infrastructure, high cost of higher education, poor preparation skills to university education, management of universities is poor and the population in universities is very high which is also a problem to service accessibility (Beck, 2000). A global shift In the earlier discussion, it gives a clear indication on how developing countries are exerting much effort to higher education. In addition, international organizations like the World Bank have realized the importance of higher education to the growth of economy in the long run. They have come to concur with the fact that development strategies are crucial at all level of education (Weinstein, 2005). According to the World Bank, they believe that the poor can narrow the gap that exists between them and the rich by using their knowledge wisely. According to the World Bank, main units such as engineering, mathematics and science tend to improve the performance of economy. The rate of return of secondary education is of similar rates to that of tertiary education basing what was computed by the World Bank. From their findings, developing countries use distance learning to train their teachers and also establish an open university that uses satellites and internet sources in delivering its courses (Eriksen, 2007). Many schools have already started working towards making cohesion effective. There are many schools. On the other hand, the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) urges all schools in England to strive to achieve this goal; the main aim of this initiative is to have all children to learn and appreciate each other without regard to the background that each come from. This will help to fulfill the potential of all children in all levels, local, national and international (Waters, 2001). Cohesion is the act of bringing mutual understanding and having good working relations with the neighborhood. In this paper, I will give the extent of community cohesion in the primary school that I work in. in accordance to he various acts that have been passed by the UK government, our school administration has set up high standards of curriculum so that the expectations of all students has always remained to be high. Our school recognizes all cultures that are found in the school. The diversity that is surrounding the school is appreciated well in the school (Stiglitz, 2003). The children that are found in this school come from different backgrounds, both socio-economically and culturally, their beliefs, and ethnicities. The teachers and the parents alike have strived to encourage the students to realize their potential in everything they do. The school has joined the other schools to integrate citizenship education in their curriculum. The school administration is expecting that this will be continued in the high schools in which the students will go. The beauty of it all is that the same has been started in high schools, dabbed Identity and Diversity: Living together in the UK. We have made sure that the pupils find all the opportunities to learn the diverse cultures within the UK and also international relations between the UK and the rest of the world (Kofman, & Youngs, 2003). The teaching is inclusive in the primary school. The needs of all the pupils are well catered for in the curriculum. The disabled are well catered for. The teachers have made sure that the students feel welcome in everything they do. As per the requirements of the UK government, our school has made sure that the teaching of Religious Education and Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) is well catered for. There are also initiatives which have been made so that communities other cultures in their way of worship; there are field-work activities which have been organized. They visit places of worship so that they understand community diversity. For pupils who take English as additional language, they are supported within the school so that they understand the subject as though it was their first language. There are also staff members who have English as a foreign language. To promote community cohesion, these people are brought up in a friendly way so that they don’t feel isolated in their language. This effort has resulted in the pupils and the staff achieving very high standards of English. There are assemblies which involve the wider community so that there is a mutual understanding from the neighboring community. In this initiative, the school ethos and values are appreciated and understood well. There is also the teaching of pupils and the staff about the diversity in the cultures in the United Kingdom so that there is an understanding of all. The school where I work has an open system which is capable of addressing the challenging situations in the school and the country generally. With this in effect, there is the spirit of oneness in the school and one will find it hard to differentiate between the community and the school. The school administration has ensured that the pupils achieve their fullest potential by ensuring that there is respect within the school. Pupils are respected irrespective of the ethnic background and the socio-economic classes they come from. They are treated equally. The exams in the school are administered fairly. The admission procedures of these pupils are done in a fair manner. Pupils are admitted basing on the same requirements without any bias. When the admission date draws, the pupils are given coded names so that there is no form of bias. This way, the admission officers are not able to determine the pupils and their race, and their appearance. For a long time, the school has been ranked one of the best in the region for their fair treatment of pupils. The acts that are highlighted in this paper are followed to the letter. The new School Admissions Code puts a lot of emphasis on the importance of following admission requirements that promote community cohesion (Dale, 2000). It is believed that there is a whole array of technological changes that are found to change the way learning will take place in the future. It is expected that learning will move from traditional ways of someone required to attend classroom to globalized knowledge society. There are two phases that the Information Communication Technology (ICT) has undergone starting with the era where it used to involve machines and instruments to information society in which knowledge forms a very important aspect of the society (Beck, 2000). Between 1956 and 1985, computers were seen to be powerful instruments which were used to assist managers to implement more rational vision of industrial modernism. These were never challenged during those years. In the 1960s, computers were seen to be instruments that would be used to accelerate the processes of production and distribution. With time, there was the emergence of distributed wide area networks which provided a means of sharing knowledge within organization. In the 1960s there was need for distributed systems to undergo prototyping so that the US defense could possibly survive military attacks by use of nuclear weapons. For this to happen there was need to design interactive systems that would help the industry to have efficient simulation tools. With time, learning started adopting the metaphors of computer-based training (CBT), instructional design, and distance education; this showed more emphasis on how the new tools could accelerate the pace of learning. It was approach as a production system where it was viewed that geography would be reduced with the use of these technologies. This then led to mass education which was corresponding to the mass market which was emerging then. It was seen that knowledge production and learning efficiency were essential to production and distribution efficiency. Learning using computers was equated to the slow contemplative concepts of study. In traditional way of learning, there were terminologies like scholarships, organizational and corporate training, erudition; these concepts did not have their equal counterparts in the machine-based learning platform (Dale, 2000). With time, artificial intelligence was believed to be taking shape and the diehards of this technology have strong convictions that this new technology would replace the human counterparts of tutors. They believed that with enough programming there would emerge computer-based tutors that were far much better than their human beings counterparts. It was further believed that the human simulation could be made possible to the machines. There are two theories which were believed to develop towards artificial intelligence. These are the connectionist and logical reductionist models. They were believed to offer the best architectures. Conclusion Higher education is quite important in any country as it is responsible for the growth of its economy. In every percentage growth in higher education, leads to an increase in industrial growth. The rate of employment on the other hand that are taken to the neighboring countries to render services increase in number simple because they have competitive skills to be presented into the global market (Erwin, & Smith, 2008). Invention of new things such as technology is as a result of high investment in the education sector especially to the higher education. For a country to employ new technology, it must have the personnel who will work on them. Generally, the growth of a country is basically dictated by higher education that has been put in place within the country (Dale, 2000). 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