Learning Power-Myth of Educational Empowerment Education and empowerment

Education is important and essential for everyone be it formal, informal or even public education. It therefore means that everyone is entitled to education. Education is an entry point to many opportunities and it forms an integral part in the preparation for as well as the legitimization of forms of social life in particular. Education is not only purposed to "achievement" that is measured through standardized tests and assessments.

There are other important purposes of education one of them being empowerment. Empowerment is a process through which an individual's assumptions are challenged about how things can be done and are done. Empowerment challenges ones basic assumption on power, achievement, helping and succeeding in life. At the centre of the empowerment concept is the idea of power. For empowerment to take place there are two things to be considered; first requires that power can undergo change and if it cannot change then it means that empowerment is not possible neither is it conceivable in any way that is meaningful. Secondly the empowerment concept is dependent on the idea that power is expandable. Therefore through education one gets to be enlightened and can understand the concept of empowerment and they as well become empowered. Through formal education one gets the skills of reading and writing which enable one to create with as well as act on the world. Through assignments one learns to get evidence and come up with arguments. Through formal education there is the existence of powerful, emotional, quality-cognitive and existential all in one package. Through this one gets to know how to define themselves not just in the matters of education but also in ways which one can interact with others.

Education also enables one discover how they can move through civic and economic lives. One gets competence and confidence that enables them to independently seek out information that will enable them make decisions that enable one to advocate for what they believe in. Through education one attains the power...

It is multidimensional since it occurs in a sociological, economic, psychological dimension. Therefore through education one gets an insight on all these dimensions and hence they get empowered. Empowerment also occurs in various levels such as an individual, in a group or a community. When public education is done to a particular group of people they are empowered individually or in the entire group.
Empowerment is a social process as it occurs on one's relationship to others. As opposed to denying, weakening or distortion of the capabilities of a human being, educational practices contribute to the realization of various capabilities of a person. Through encouragement of development of capabilities and competencies it expands ones understanding. Therefore education is empowering processes that enables people who are marginalized in social, political, economic as well as cultural areas claim their actual statuses as fully participating members of their communities. Therefore there is no way that education stifle people's growth by squeezing them into prefabricated cultural molds.

Everyone therefore deserves the opportunity to be empowered and equipped in life through education. That explains why it is difficult for one to secure a place into a university in Iran. More than one million students try to pass examination for university while the capacity is two hundred in top majors. This means that in Iran people know the benefits that come with education and that is why they are all fighting for the limited spots in the university so that they can be more empowered. At the same time leaders in Iran are well aware that education is empowering hence they do not allow people to study in the field of humanities as they feel as if they will be empowered and want to overthrow them.

Goals of Public education in democracy

For a democratic society to have informed participation of each and every member,…