Informal Education

In any given society, experience and wisdom are considered to be a prime asset. The combination of these two constitutes what can be referred to as knowledge. Knowledge is, therefore, quite essential for the well-being of the entire society in that it can quickly become the difference between life and death, prosperity and despair. A primary indicator of success in society is based on the ability of an individual to
utilise given resources to ensure their success, and that of their community is safeguarded. It is worth noting that towards the culmination of ones life, the key priority becomes the need to ensure continuity of their legacy and that of their society.
This essay will examine four different articles and critically survey their viewpoints on the issues of imparting knowledge through education. All over the world, there are different schools of thoughts with regards to the manner in which knowledge should be passed from one generation down into the next. The first article examines the way in which the ability to recall folklore and other traditional stories, changes as an individual grows older (Trevathern, 10). The article, Cross cultural invariance in story recall was written by several University lecturers and educationists. The article examines a study that was conducted in which a comparison was undertaken between the recall capabilities between Liberian non-schooled children, non-literate adults, non-schooled literate adults and schooled literate adults. The data received was compared to similar data collected from American children and adults. The findings of the research indicated that there was highly similar patterns of recall between the groups and this, therefore, meant that there was a universality of well-recognized methods of schematic organisations and their overall manipulation of their mental processes (Mandler and Jean, 21).
The next article discusses the importance of fantasy ad folklore within the wider purview of education. The publication titled Folklore as an instrument of education among the Chewa people of Zambia examines the intrinsic properties of folklore and the special place it has in the responsibility of imparting knowledge to younger generations. The publication conducts a comparison between folklore and education within the Chewa culture and establishes that indeed there is no difference in the ability of either media to acquire knowledge and education to the Chewa children (Banda and W. John 208). The rendition of stories is as much a conduit of primary imparting of knowledge just as much as both formal and informal education are. The absence of any scholastic principles does not prevent folklores from imparting much-required knowledge in a manner that can be well understood for posterity by the younger generations (Woodhead 90).
The above two publications are of the school of thought that wisdom imparted through folklore and stories has the same impact as scholastic education within the younger generation. Focus of education among the youth is usually focused on the need to impart quality behaviour and life skills.  These can just as well be revealed in a home setting. The third publication in this article is titled Informal Home Education: Philosophical Aspirations. Certainly, home education covers a very wide range of styles from structured school type education through degrees of informality to a style of education which has no obvious shape at all (Thomas and Harriet 142). Studying at home does not have a timetable, written exercises, a curriculum and predetermined learning aims. The article further argues that devoid of any rigid formal structures, home education can just be as beneficial as any other structured form of education. This is effective as long as the focus remains on the ability of the knowledge imparted to bring up younger ones within the scope of good, quality upbringing.

















Works Cited
Banda, Dennis, and W. John Morgan. "Folklore as an Instrument of Education among the Chewa People of Zambia." International Review of Education Int Rev Educ (2013): 197-216. Print.
Thomas, Alan, and Harriet Pattison. "Informal Home Education: Philosophical Aspirations Put into Practice." Studies in Philosophy and Education: 141-54. Print.
Mandler, Jean Matter, and Jean Matter Mandler. Cross-cultural Invariance in Story Recall. La Jolla, Calif.: Center for Human Information Processing, U of California, San Diego, 1978. Print.
Trevarthen, Colwyn. "The Child's Need to Learn a Culture1." Children & Society: 9.1 (1995): 5-19. Print.
Woodhead, Martin. Cultural Worlds of Early Childhood. London: Routledge;, 1998. Print.