Difference Between Education And Schooling

This assignment will discuss the difference between education and schooling. It will also however show how the two are inextricably linked, the main difference being that education involves learning life skills as well as academic skills.

“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education” (Mark Twain (1835-1910))

This is an interesting quote from Mark Twain as schooling and education can often be perceived to be the same thing. When we think of education the first word to follow is normally school. However although there is undoubtedly links between education and schooling they are also very different concepts. Education is extremely broad and does not focus on one thing alone it incorporates everything we learn from birth

Education and schooling are no exceptions to this and although the gender difference has been proven to be very slight biologically there are still certain expectations of boys and girls academically (Gage & Berliner 1998). From the moment a baby is born and the sex is known, the world of the family becomes either blue or pink. Toys, clothes, nursery furnishings, the house transforms into a sea of blue or pink. The sex of the baby will determine many things, their personality, their academic ability and even the career they pursue in the future. We expect certain things of the child. It is not uncommon to hear that girls are more advanced and learn at a faster rate to walk, talk etc. Boys are almost expected to be less academic than girls from the moment they are born, with this instilled in them from such a young age how can we expect that they should grow up with any other idea in their heads? There is the perception that girls learn faster than boys when they are young and this does not change as they enter the school system. As Arthur and Davies (2010) explained gender is an important issue in education and schooling. Unfortunately it can sometimes determine access to, participation in and the outcome of schooling. Luckily in modern western society gender is not as much an issue as it has been in the past but stereotypes still exist. It would be

Bartlett and Burton (2012) talk about the long lasting relationship which exists between education and wealth. In Victorian England it was not deemed necessary to educate girls outside the home. However boys got the best education money could buy in expensive public schools, for those who could afford it! The poor and working class families received little education and what was provided for them was focused on producing productive workers. A study carried out by Goodman and Burton (2012) showed that social class affects a child’s well being and educational success even before they enter the school system by reporting that National Curriculum testing showed that at age 7 achievement gaps relating to socio-economic status already existed. Social class generally determines the standard of schooling children receive, but not necessarily the education they receive. Middle and upper class children tend to be academically educated through high-quality schools. However, often working class children can receive as valuable an education in other areas. They may not have the academic education the higher class children have but they may learn a trade which could be more beneficial to them. After all even the highest class of people rely on carpenters, plumbers or electricians sometimes. According to Bartlett and Burton (2012) children are inclined to follow their parents. Teenagers with