1 Education: Making it more practical

RESEARCH PAPER ON EDUCATION: Making it more practical

DATE OF SUBMISSION: 7
TH
MAY, 2013

PREPARED BY:
Rafey Zaman
ID- 111 0825 030
COURSE: ENG 105
SECTION- 14
PREPARED FOR:
Abdus Selim (ASm)
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

2 Education: Making it more practical
ABSTRACT

The purpose of this research is to propose the idea of making the education system more
practical, which has been a major topic of debate among researchers since long. Initially I have
gone through several online articles, journals, blogs and researches to have some idea about how
to properly make education more useful. After that I have collected primary data through
interview from teachers, students and corporate officials know to their opinions about the
proposal. To add more to it, I have also discussed the possible ways through which we will be
able to make education more practical as well as fruitful. Finally, in the conclusion part of my
research I have also given recommendations from different levels on both long term and short
term basis in order to establish a practical based education system.













3 Education: Making it more practical

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background
Whether education should be made practical or not that has been a major topic of debate
among researchers. However, it is the miserable truth of life that we learn what we will not use,
leaving all other valuable experience and skills needed to actually lead our life. The education
system that we now see is basically only a few decades old. However, from the very beginning
of human civilization it is skills and experience that has been passed on to the next generations.
And holding this trend came the greatest inventions of all time. It is practical skills that we
should emphasize more rather than learning the so called structured materials. With the load of
unnecessary things we live our life and blame the education system in every step. However,
generations after generations the same mistake is being carried forward. And we human are
being enforced to do what we do not want in reality. Like previous times education should be
kept and made more practical. Not only will this truly educate people but will also let them deal
with the reality.








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Significance
My research sheds light on such an issue which is well discussed and most people have
supported the issue of making education more practical. My report focuses on practical education
and I will propose the ways on which education can be made more practical. The idea of making
education more practical has been around for several years. In countries like Great Britain and
United States the practice of practical education besides normal education is also provided. In
many regions this is also called vocational training. Through my report I have tried to find the
loops holes of the prevailing education system moreover the opinions of different researchers all
over the globe are also taken into consideration in order to find the ways to make education more
practical. Going deep into the topic I have figured out some feasible ways of making todays
education system practical and moulding it in a way that will make activities of our daily life
more meaningful. I have also put an effort to find out the exact problems we face in our work
places as well as educational institutions due to the lack of practical skills or experience. From
my findings I have proposed different ways to make education more practical.







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Hypothesis
The hypothesis that I have set up is that Traditional bookish knowledge do not prepare us
for our daily life, for which reason both on and off the job trainings are provided which not only
is a waste of time and money but also of valuable resources. Considering all those years of
education a waste, only the practicality is appreciated and due to this practical education is very
important and vital. While going through the secondary sources related to the topic I have found
many information which has guided my research and also helped to prove my hypothesis to be
right.












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1.2 Methodology
This paper has data from both primary and secondary sources. As part of the primary source
I have conducted interviews. I have questioned teachers, corporate managers and students. The
interviews were mostly done with North South University faculties and students, moreover, some
corporate manager and officials were also interviewed with the question Should education be
made more practical?
As my topic for research is well debated, I could collect information from secondary
sources mostly comprising of researches, articles and journals.

1.3 Constrains
I have faced a few obstacles while doing this research. Firstly, the turbulence in the political
situation contributed to the procrastination of the research; moreover I faced problems to get time
from the corporate officials. Even after I got a chance to do the survey it was only the faculties
and students of North South University and some corporate officials from whom I was able to
collect the data. .






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2. FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS

Elimination of useless materials and practical learning being added
From the very start of our education life we start learning several things which are not
necessary or to be said more clearly they are not of significant value. This thing not only creates
a burden for the students but also derails them from their tracks. Students cannot concentrate
their core choice. Due to which they end up performing work in those sectors which they never
liked or preferred to work on. Moreover, since the system is not providing proper skill training
many students are dropping out of schools and are learning from different practical sources. In
the meantime, creative minds in the mold of Gates and Zuckerberg are dropping out of school.
(Meek, 2012). From this statement we can easily see that most of the successful men are mostly
practically educated. For adding value to education firstly it is required that a student chooses a
specific field of study which they would like to work on. For example, for computer
programming jobs and other information technology jobs it is required that students are given
proper training or at least a basic training on programming languages, components etc. Given
this scenario it is the requirement of the education system to eliminate useless materials as well
as add practical skills and trainings.

Making education interesting and valuable
There should be meaning to everything we do. A thing without meaning is like a fish out
of water. And thats the case that the students now days face. They are totally confused about
what they want to be as well as the learning that they learned makes no sense in practical lives.
This creates lack of interests among the students as well as decreases the value of education. In

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order to attract students to their studies, the best way is to make it interesting, valuable as well as
meaningful. Practical examples and demonstrations can be used in order to grab the students
attention. As it is seen students learn a lot more from practical demonstrations than from bookish
knowledge. Bookish education only has a strictly limited role to play in learning science and
that much of it is of little educational value (Osborn, 1998). So, in fields of education like

Science it is very necessary to practically demonstrate, this not only helps in better understanding
and making education entertaining but also helps students grab the concepts as well as
experiments easily. It is often argued that practical work is central to teaching and learning in
science and that good quality practical work helps develop pupils understanding of scientific
processes and concepts. (Dillion, 2008).

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Helps in performing in real life scenarios
So how is it that we say we send high school students into the world ready, when they can't
balance a check book, can't to laundry, can't cook, wouldn't know how to change a tire if a
situation warranted it? (Annonymous, 2012)
In life we do every act in order to survive. We work, eat; seek entertainment however the
end purpose has always been sustenance. We try every now and then to work harder to get better
results. However, many of us lacks in proper skills due to which we always remain under our
own par. From the very childhood we learn several things; all these adding up it become a mess
as we are not certain what we actually want to study. We learn from the texts but practically we
are never prepared. Thats why every organization or corporation seeks the training process for it
employees. This is a serious issue despite years of education we are yet not prepared and thus are
forced to take the trainings. Should education have been practical we could have easily mastered
the skills that are required in order to work in real life scenarios, that to from day one. As said by
Human Resource executive of MIR group, Training is only necessary because the employees
lack the expertise required. It would be very helpful if education is made practical, not only will
it save money as well as resources but will also save time and ensure productivity. (Ahmed,
2013) From the above saying it is very clear that applicants have serious lacking in the practical
knowledge as well as expertise in order to perform the day to day activities. The entire issue
raises a question that what is the use of our so many years of education if it is not preparing us
for the actual target. On research it has been found that schools and college students have proved
to work better in real life scenarios when they are given practical education. Due to this reason
the Harvard School of Business totally follows the case system. In different courses students are
provided with real life scenarios as cases which they need to solve with their own expertise. The

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result is astonishing; students are taking it to be a challenge and are performing great. Moreover,
in jobs these students are outsmarting the other candidates with their added competitive
advantage. The positive results from this initiative prove that practical education is what we need
in reality, in order to be prepared for the actual scenarios.

Giving the opportunity to find the mistakes helps in reducing mistakes
The idea of giving students the opportunity to find their own mistakes is relatively new.
However, with the help of several researches it has been found that the students are responding
very well and the results are also positive. The tests being performed on various institutions have
in all cases shown positive results. Students were also curious. In some cases the copies were
altered as a result each student got a different copy. The method turned out to be remarkable and
the level of making mistakes reduced by 80% with a matter of few weeks. The process is neither
critical nor is it expensive. It is a simple idea leading towards a better future. As seen recently the
conditions of writing in students now days have deteriorated. As said by a scholar Writers now
days lacks the idea of going deep through writing. This is a great problem as the new
generations are turning away from writings. Moreover, their mistakes are becoming accepted,
despite making it correct. If they are in built with the skill of writing and finding their own
mistakes the writing contents will obviously change and so will the standard.

Will help in developing research
Researches are necessary in every aspect of life. We need to deal with new things every now
and then, and finding a solution to those or finding better ways to utilize it is necessary.
Researches aids a lot in everything we do. The way we eat, sleep, work, study etc. The main

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purpose of it is the welfare of human beings as well as utilizing the resources around us for better
uses. In every field of researches like science, history, literature it is very essential to have good
knowledge related to the area of research. This is an ability which is grown over years and years
of study. However, if the students are equipped with the practical experience of working in these
researches from their school life, they can gain the experience as well can learn true knowledge.
Their ability of going deep into the research will enable them to discover more as well add value
to those which are already discovered. Students are always interested in creating things with their
this interests the schools and colleges needs to focus on giving them practical experience. When
the students are practically or directly getting the experience or knowledge, they can start their
research form a very early life more over in future they will surely add more value to their
researches with the added advantage that the previous or earlier researchers didnt have.

Practical education and its future
Until now most researchers have supported the fact that education should always be kept
practical. Because, in every single study it has been found that practical experience educates
people more than the regular textbook system. Researchers are testing more and more ways
every day, however till now the best results has been found from practical education system.
Like Harvard Business School several other institutions are also following the practical
education system. Students are also showing great interest in this and thus the result is ultimately
turning to be totally positive. Students having practical experience are also doing great in
different jobs in different fields. Especially, in fields of study like science practical experience is
very essential. Scientific processes as well as methods are best taught with practical experiments.
In fields of research students are contributing a lot as they are getting things practically in their

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early life. It is the natural way of learning, our ancestors followed it and as a result we are using
the benefits of those and so should we. A student interested in learning about space will
obviously not need when and where which war took place. Education should be provided in the
fields students themselves are interested in. Moreover the main aim of education has always been
to guide man through life, to help them prepare for what is waiting in the future, to make them
prepared to take their own steps to shape their life, to help others grow along with you with the
help of unity and support. However, the question always remain is it doing so?
If you notice, half of what we learn in school isn't needed at all. Education today...doesn't
prepare one for the normal problems faced by a person in life. (Vendran, 2002)
This statement of the social activist has added one more witness to the problems of our
education system as well as the urgency to change it to a more practical form.









13 Education: Making it more practical
3. CONCLUSION
In the very beginning I started the research with my own opinion as the foundation which
was about our faulty education system and how practical education will aid in removing the
barriers within it. Traditional bookish knowledge does not prepare us for our daily life, for which
reason both on and off the job trainings are provided which not only is a waste of time and
money but also of valuable resources. With the research and reviews from different sources the
hypothesis that I proposed has been proved to be right. Majority of researchers all over the globe
supported and is still supporting the idea of making education more practical and realistic.
Moreover, from the interviews that I took also added more weight to my proposal. Teachers,
experiencing the flaws, also want to contribute in changing educational institute. Mega
presentation that I take helps students gain the experience as well as confidence to face their
future endeavors. (Morshed, 2013). Supporting this statement of the university lecturer the
students have also adapted the way communicating and portraying themselves in front of
hundreds of people. In addition, students in field of science have also argued about their
education being more fruitful due to the practicality of experiments as well as facts that they are
proving themselves. Not only teachers and students but also the corporate officials support
practical education or practical experience in order to prepare the students for their future. If this
is implemented corporates will not require the need of special trainings for the new entrants,
which will save time enhance productivity and save resources. So, from all tiers of my interview
I have found support for my proposal and my personal point of view to make education systems
more practical. As clich Education is the backbone of the nation but, the saying only implies
when and only when students are properly educated. However, with the current education system

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the saying is appropriate and thus in order to make it appropriate education must be made
practical all over the world.























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Bibliography
Ahmed, Z. (2013, August). Making education practical. (R. Zaman, Interviewer)
Annonymous. (2012). Should public high schools start to focus more on teaching practical skill sets?
Debate.org.
Dillion, J. (2008). A Review of the Research on Practical Work in School Science. London: Kings College
Press.
Meek, T. (2012, October 11). Math Nerds vs. Code Monkeys: Should Computer Science Classes Be More
Practical? Smart Bear.
Morshed, K. N. (2013, April). How do you plan to make education more useful. (R. Zaman, Interviewer)
Osborn, J. (1998). Practical work in school science. London: Routledge.
Robin Miller, I. A. (2009). Practical work: making it more effective. Yorkshire: SSR.
Vendran, S. R. (2002, November). dimdima.com. Retrieved April 2013, from
http://dimdima.com/forumnw/message.asp?Tid=64&q_title=Today's+Education+System