Talk:Education#Changes to the article

{{Template:Did you know nominations/Education}}

I didn't edit anything (yet) because it's a semi-protected article, so to avoid a potential edit war, I'd like to discuss the issue first.

• Education hasn't been only about "the transmission of knowledge" for a while.
• "transmission of character traits" is either a silly claim, poorly worded or just plain wrong.

Here are some sources:

{{tq|"Modern education is extending beyond the transmission of knowledge to include the development of cognitive skills, resilience, empathy and critical thinking"}}https://www.unicef.org/mena/blog/transforming-education-and-building-resilience-embracing-life-skills

{{tq|"School systems understand that this “knowledge transmission” model of education is no longer adequate."}}{{cite web | url=https://asiasociety.org/global-cities-education-network/so-long-knowledge-transmission | title=So Long, Knowledge Transmission | Asia Society | date=24 July 2017 }}

{{tq|"[Title]Teaching Beyond the Transmission of Knowledge"}}{{cite web | url=https://miguelescotet.com/2018/teaching-beyond-the-transmission-of-knowledge/ | title=Teaching Beyond the Transmission of Knowledge – M.A. Escotet | date=September 2018 }}

{{tq|"true education goes far beyond the mere transmission of knowledge."}}{{cite web | url=https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501360802/true-education-is-more-than-just-academic-skills/ | title=True education is more than just academic skills - Khmer Times | date=14 September 2023 }}

I think the lead should be rewritten to include something about education being more than the transmission of knowledge and skills, and the "character traits" part needs to be dropped. TurboSuperA+_(connect) 09:17, 27 March 2025 (UTC)

:Welcome back from your very short wiki retirement. I agree with the sources you mentioned that the transmission of knowledge is not the only component of education. To take this into consideration, our definition also talks of "skills and character traits". Character traits correspond to qualities like resilience and empathy, mentioned in your first source. If you think that the word "transmission" does not fit for character traits, we could use the term "development" instead: "Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits." The disadvantage is that this is somewhat longer. Phlsph7 (talk) 10:46, 27 March 2025 (UTC)

::{{tq|"Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits."}}

::That's a big improvement. But then "character traits" is very vague, which traits? If we go by the first source, it mentions cognitive skills, critical thinking, resilience and empathy. Would it be WP:OR to say that the first two have to do with cognition and the second two with society?

::What about: {{tq|"Education is the transmission of knowledge and the development of cognitive and social skills."}}?

::Just a note, there are plenty of sources that use "transmission of knowledge" and "knowledge transmission" interchangeably,[https://www.journalcra.com/article/paradox-pedagogy-knowledge-transmission-without-philosophical-understanding-what-knowledge] [https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/transmission-of-knowledge/introduction/C0A494848F52E0E95573EDA5C9BED26E] [https://deveniruniversidad.org/en/knowledge-transmission/] [http://web.archive.org/web/20230218215023/https://en.unesco.org/links/transmission] so I think we can too. In case of a lightbulb moment of a sentence where that formulation works better. TurboSuperA+_(connect) 11:30, 27 March 2025 (UTC)

:::I'm not sure about your analysis/categorization of these concepts. Discussing critical thinking, [https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203861073-12/teaching-critical-john-passmore Passmore 1967] p. 136 writes: {{green|‘Being critical’ is, indeed, more like the sort of thing we call a ‘character trait’ than it is like a skill.}} And from [https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203861073-8/philosophical-models-teaching-scheffler Scheffler 1967] p. 89: {{green|The job of education is to develop character in the broadest sense}}. If you don't like the term "character traits", we could also use "character qualities" instead. There are various controversies about the exact definition of education. In this situation, being vague enough to avoid them is virtue, not a vice. Phlsph7 (talk) 17:03, 27 March 2025 (UTC)

::::{{tq|"In this situation, being vague enough to avoid them is virtue, not a vice."}}

::::That is a good point. I changed it to what you suggested in your first reply. I think that's the best one yet. If you feel differently, feel free to revert.

::::I think my return to wikipedia was premature. TurboSuperA+_(connect) 23:19, 28 March 2025 (UTC)

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Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 17:21, 31 May 2025 (UTC)