When educational institutes, especially schools, advertise their curriculums, they emphasize their students’ academic achievements, grades, and spectacular job prospects. While these are crucial parts of how schools contribute to the lives of their students, education does much more.

According to the book Democracy and Education by John Dewey, the difference between education and schooling is in scope, context, and ultimately, objective. Education is the multifaceted process of acquiring knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values from various sources over a lifetime. In comparison, schooling is the formal and structured learning of specific curriculums by trained facilitators in classrooms. What Dewey was arriving at was that education is the holistic growth of a person. It is for this reason that we cannot limit the benefits of an education to academic wellbeing. So how does education contribute to such growth? There are two ways. One is by design, and the other is by circumstance.

First, school curriculums are designed to include subjects like history, civics, and economics, which teach us about the systems on which our world is run. The C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards by the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) explains that schools also promote values such as respect for others and a sense of equality, which add to civic awareness. Furthermore, schools often encourage discourse on current events and social issues which reinforces critical thinking and forces students to think about civic matters.

Second, some school subjects go beyond their technicalities. Take chemistry, for example. As I study this science, I’m realizing that chemistry comprises a hundred laws with a hundred thousand exceptions. Studying these exceptions teaches us acceptance. It explains to us that while there are general laws, there are always people who defy them in some ways. There is always uniqueness.

The other idea chemistry teaches us is understanding. We study ideas that we cannot see. We know that iron rusts because it reacts with oxygen and water, but can we see the reaction take place? No. We see merely the product. In the same way, we never know the kinds of experiences a person has gone through, we see only the products and results of these experiences. This is why we must be kind to everyone; we never know what they’ve been through.

Looking at a subject as theoretical and practical as a science through the lens of life lessons fortifies how education adds to social development. As mentioned by Anita Woolfolk in the book Educational Psychology, social development is a journey of learning to interact with the society around us. It builds empathy and a sense of belonging to a community. In Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Process, L.S. Vygotsky asserts that education teaches social values, provides a platform for social interactions, and encourages cooperation. When we communicate with other stakeholders at school, when we adhere to school protocols, when we work in teams, we are recreating environments in the ‘real world’ where we are required to interact and work with people with whom we aren’t familiar. School prepares us for situations like that by creating these conversations every day.

This idea of creating platforms for interconnection brings me to the other way school aids development: by circumstance. We end up spending twelve to fifteen years with our classmates. While we’re unsure of whether or not this is design, we know it is convention. This convention of being in a "class" with our peers plays a pivotal role in social development in early years. It is with these thirty (or however many classmates you have/had) people that we experience the highs and lows of childhood. I spend eight hours a day with my class, and I have realized how much their opinions and perspectives have shaped my worldview, not just now, but since kindergarten.

Third, everyday school practices are tools with which we evolve into socially responsible citizens. Have you ever considered the fact that when you steal some food from your friend's lunch box, you are actually tasting a bit of their culture? Especially in countries like India, where cuisine is a crucial part of culture and many students bring their snacks and lunch from home, each lunch box comes from a unique background. As a result, the seemingly inconsequential lunch break makes us more open minded and increases our willingness to entertain/accept diverse traditions. Increased diversity of exposure also makes us more empathetic, circling back to social development.

Additionally, we develop emotionally while at school. In her book Infants, Children, and Adolescents, Laura E. Berk elaborates on how schools are safe environments for self expression, social interaction, and building relationships. Communication with other people at school, be it teachers, peers, or support staff, creates self regulation and mindfulness. The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) expands on these ideas and suggests how emotional development takes place in and out of classrooms. Positive student-teacher relationships fostered through contact outside classrooms can cultivate social awareness, conflict resolution, stress management, and emotional regulation. These experts also talk about structured learning of emotional skills via counselors, programmes, and activities that create safe environments for expression along with fostering interpersonal skills.

Moreover, school ensures that students are able to work under stress, with time constraints, and in unfamiliar environments. Academic testing builds time management skills, stress regulation, critical thinking, and attention to detail, as mentioned in James H. Mcmillan’s Classroom Assessment: Principles and Practices for Effective Standards-Based Instruction. Rick Stiggins, author of Student-Involved Assessment for Learning, also discusses how preparations leading up to examinations can build mindsets of goal setting, motivation, and self discipline by enforcing the need for regular practice/revision.

Finally, receiving an education is how students grow civically, socially, and emotionally. These areas of development instill skills and values that are relevant to the 21st century and help them develop as members of society once they graduate. They contribute to student personalities in social situations, making them socially aware and responsible. According to Dewey and the NCSS, moral and ethical development, cultural awareness and acceptance, socialization, and community engagement all contribute to students’ being better citizens.

In conclusion, research, academic journals, and psychologists all advocate for the multi-dimensional benefits of education. It allows for growth of the entire person, mind, body, and heart, by cultivating principles of civic, social, and emotional awareness. It enables students to express themselves, stand up for what is right, and make meaningful contributions to society. Education makes us students of the present and better people of the future.

Sources:

Berk, Laura. E. Infants, Children, and Adolescents (9th ed.). Pearson, 2021.

Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Framework. Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, 2020.

Dewey, John. Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education. Macmillan, 1916.

McMillan, James H. Classroom Assessment: Principles and Practice for Effective Standards-Based Instruction (6th ed.). Pearson, 2013.

National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS). (2013). College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards. National Council for the Social Studies, 2013.

Stiggins, Rick J. Student-Involved Assessment for Learning (4th ed.). Pearson, 2005.

Vygotsky, L. S. Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Harvard University Press, 1978.

Woolfolk, Anita. Educational Psychology (14th ed.). Pearson, 2019.