Applying the definitional rule of
'civilised' as including education and learning,
One of the first rules I learned in debate was that he who gets to define the terms wins. <g>
But we have to wonder what KIND of education and learning. All children get education and learning. They learn from their parents, their peers, their social institutions. Long before the get any "formal" schooling they have learned an incredible amount.
Is it possible for people to be civilized whose learning comes from parents, extended families (think how much grandparents teach in some cultures!) and non-school social events and institutions (churches, medicine man ceremonies, ritual celebrations, weddings, funerals, etc., etc., depending on the culture) rather than from formal education?
(Since you defined civilized, I'll define the education we've been talking about here as formal institutionalized classroom-based instruction.)
So my original question becomes: is it possible for a society to be civilized if half of its population receives its education and learning from parents, extended families, and non-school social events and institutions and the other half receives its education and learning from formal institutionalized classroom-based instruction? |
