National Identity in Education

Education helps in developing the society and economy of a country and can be used as a milestone of the development of a nation. Education equips people with skills and knowledge to the population of a nation. How does Education nurture the identity of a person or the sense of belonging that one has towards their own nation? This report examines how national identity is related to the education that one obtains. The sample used for the study consisted of 375 respondents who were expected to respond to a self-administered questionnaire. According to the results of the study, there’s a clear contribution that education makes in the formation of an individual’s national identity.

2. Introduction

Education is very essential for the success of an individual in their life. The education impacts the human opportunity greatly by continuation of the quality of life. Education is an essential pillar in the founding of a society as it brings about social prosperity, economic wealth and political stability of a nation. The social status and economic status all depend on the education that an individual obtained since it is sorely responsible for the capability that an individual has in managing the quality of life (Imazeki 2003, p. 150). Acquisition of knowledge helps the individual to escape and avoid poverty while building up the democracy and harmony of a society.

Education empowers people enabling them to be able to voice their ideas and views by exposing the people to their inner potential and leading them into becoming better people and broadening their view of various aspects in life. Education is the key to achieving success in the world which involves seeking better forms of employment which eventually lead to a successful life.Education can be viewed as the most reproductive investment since educated people are privileged with more opportunities in getting employed which ultimately gives the educated individuals a sense of satisfaction. People who are educated get to earn respect among their colleagues and can offer contribution in the growth and development of society and the country as a whole by inventing new innovations and discoveries (Imazeki 2003, p. 142). Education also serves the purpose of integrating people into the society and educating them on morals and values pf a particular society. The essential duty of education is to bring about self-understanding by teaching members of the society on skills and knowledge that they need in order to be effective as contributing members and how they should take part in development of shared virtues and common identity.

3. Literature review

Definition of education

Education is defined as an alteration of the conduct of an individual in their life (Oxford). This means that it is viewed as an upgrade of the ability of a person to choose the best among several alternatives in a particular circumstance at a specific time. Education means developing an individual in preparation to picking the most favorable approach to an issue. It can also be defined as the capability to adjust and conform to changing times, surroundings and situation (Beauchamp 2009, p. 173). Life depends on education as an essential input which a man relies on for their survival and development as an individual being. The general role that education plays in the society is to bring up a generation that have the capability to solve real problems that happen to be a menace in the society.

Role of education

In the modern day world, people do not settle for basic education and are more interested in reaching secondary and tertiary levels of education since the contemporary society demands for this necessity for survival. People are ready to sacrifice two valuable resources which are time and money in attempts to reach higher levels of education as they realize education is the beginning of a sense of self-reliance and dependence and can be used to unlock opportunities in the future of an individual. The school’s role in youth development is supporting their progress by promoting a sense of ethnic identity that is deemed as positive. For example, when schools organize programmes meant to promote the sense of interaction among various ethnicities (Beauchamp 2009, p. 180). They give those learning an opportunity to understand other ethnics apart from their own.

Through the implementation of these school programmes, individuals are able to realize the uniqueness and strengths that are associated with ethnic identity. Community service which is a dimension of the education curriculum, helps in nurturing and developing a sense of national identity in an individual. It can be considered as an aspect of civic education when it is conceived as more than the display of good deeds in the society.

 Community service in education instills the solidarity value among people of different races especially those who are at a younger age. It involves stressing on harmony and tolerance value despite of the religious aspect or racial aspect of individuals.  Nationality modules in the school curriculum for example can help educate students about their country and cultures and customs that are involved with the country (Britzman 2016, p. 443). This will also expose them to the unique aspects found in various cultures. Participation in community service as an input in education helps students to develop a sense of civic duties and dedication to one’s nation.

National identity in Education

In London, religion is viewed as a vital aspect in the life of a society. Religion is viewed as spiritual guidance as well as the ethnic identifier for one’s race. Ethnic identity can be defined as the sense of self in an individual in terms of being a member of a specific ethnicity. Ethnic identity is seen to incorporate other aspects that’s include self-identification, sense of belonging to a group, commitment to a group and sense of shared attitude and values towards the ethnic group that an individual identifies with.

Education is viewed as a systematic collaboration of efforts that come together to communicate knowledge, skill, attitude and value among people in a society in an effort to promote the potential of an individual and the changes that take place within the individual. Education therefore is an effort that aims at exploiting the individual potential of people in a holistic manner that is integrated. It aims at producing intellectual individuals with emotional, spiritual and physical balance based on firm beliefs in the society (Britzman 2016, p. 447). This effort is meant to produce competent and knowledgeable citizens whose moral standards are high and citizens who have the capability to attain a higher level of personal wholeness and well-being. It is also meant to contribute to the improvement and harmony in a society.

National identity is greatly influenced by the society where it exists. Education is important to a nation by influencing the personality of the youth in the modern day society. The education that is passed on to students shapes a country’s identity whereby education impacts the opportunities in life opportunities in possessing good identity and quality. Quality education can therefore be seen as a dynamic change concept that gradually changes with time and changes in all contexts that are: environmental, social and economic. Through education, individuals are able to build self-esteem among them and gain confidence to approach the world in search of the desires of the heart. This allows individuals to be assertive.

When individuals attain assertiveness, they have the capability to make decisions and choices of action independently without the influence or interference of other people’s opinions which are do not benefit them in any way. Without education there is less self-esteem when compared to being educated which is self-assuring and is characterized by confidence and sense of identity.

Education has a major role in transfer and fostering of values which in turn determine the attitudes, behaviors and reactions of various individuals with responsibilities (Britzman 2016, p. 453). For one to display a sense of identity, they have to consider values that are acceptable within the society and values that boost excellence. When education fails to shape the national identity can only be influenced by components that make up the system of education. All society members should be involved in the improvement of education standards. For example, teachers need to display a sense of strong identity and also show commitment in order to instill this sense of identity in their students.

4. Methods

The participants of this study were 376 final and first year undergraduates enrolled at University of Edinburgh. The respondents included 117 males and 239 females with different ethnicities including Britons, Chinese, Indians and Malays. In faculty numbers, 208 students were from the science faculty while the Arts faculty had 148 students. All the participants in the study were expected to respond to the self-administered questionnaires. The questionnaire was developed with the intention of comprehending the impact that national language has towards the forming of a national identity sense and unity. The questionnaire is based on a 5 point Likert scale that has six sections: Section A contains questions on demographic information about the participant, section B scrutinizes the national identity and section C investigates on the understanding of the London concept. Part D investigates on how culture and language reflect the national identity of students while section E asks about the choice of language and its functions outside the learning environment and finally part F investigates on the contribution that culture and language have in bringing together or dividing the society. This research paper will only focus on some sections that are related to the topic of this study. The analysis of data was done using SPSS version 15. The reliability factor on the other hand was based on Cronbach reliability analysis since the instrument was found to have the highest reliability compared to others.

5. Findings

Figure 1. Classification of levels

Classification Level

Range of Mean Score

Low

1-2.33

Moderate

2.34-3.67

High

3.68-5.00

After the classification of levels, they were used to identify the composition of participants in relation to their identity using frequencies. The results are as follows

Figure 2. Percentage level of identity based on gender

Gender

low

Moderate

High

n

%

n

%

n

%

Male

1

.8

6

4.8

117

94.4

Female

0

.0

12

4.8

239

95.2

Basing from the above table, it is observed that more than three-quarters of male students and females had obtained a high level of identity. The difference in gender seems no to affect the identity since esteem is based on how one tends tothink about themselves and not their gender (Hymes 2005, p. 10). Education received aided the students in acquiring a sense of identity.

Figure 3. Levels of Identity across stream of studies

Discipline

Low

Moderate

High

n

%

n

%

n

%

Science

1

.5

4

1.9

208

97.7

Arts

0

.0

14

8.6

148

91.4

Judging from figure 3, the results of the analysis indicated that more than 90% of science stream students and arts stream students had high levels of identity.  The analysis shows that one student (5%) from the science stream had low self-esteem levels. The student development process shows student behavior changes when approaching a complex level due to increase in maturity over their life (Hymes 2005, p. 13). Therefore students that are active in relation to sports, religion or academics while still learning in the school showcase better results in the university.

Figure 4. Level of identity across year of studies

Year

Low

Moderate

High

n

%

N

%

n

%

One

1

.8

6

4.7

120

94.5

Three

0

.0

12

4.8

236

95.2

According to the above analysis, 120 students from year 1 (94.5) and 236 students from year 3 (95.2) had higher identity levels. The higher the level of identity indicates that students made progress in building their identity through their education. As a university expands and instils knowledge it is also expected to satisfy the expectations of the society on producing skilled students who make rational decisions, are creative and disciplined, innovative and honorable (Hymes 2005, p. 15).

Figure 5. Identity by Primary education

Primary education

Low

Moderate

High

n

%

n

%

n

%

Religious school

0

.0

0

.0

11

100

National School

0

.0

3

1.2

252

98.8

Vernacular school

1

.9

15

13.8

93

85.3

From the above figure, it was realized that more that three-quarter of students from the school types had high levels of identity. This is because peers give emotional and social support that has been a key driver in making teenagers increasingly independent whereby they develop a personal identity by themselves based on education they have acquired (Schuller 2004, p. 23).

Figure 6. Identity by Secondary education\

Type of School

Low

Moderate

High

n

%

n

%

n

%

Religious school

0

.0

1

2.0

50

98.0

National school

1

.4

10

3.5

272

96.1

Vernacular school

o

.0

7

17.1

34

82.9

This analysis found that more than three-quarter of the individuals from the three school types displayed high identity levels. This goes to show that an existing interaction system between students that study in the same school or interaction between students of different schools through education-based activities like communication, social interaction and how the students cooperate promotes the act of identity formation (Schuller 2004, p. 34)

Figure 7. Relationship between Gender and Identity (independent T-test)

Gender

min

sd

t-value

p-value

Male

4.37

.463

-1.448

.148

Female

4.44

.412

Df= 373

The analysis of the independent t-test result, did not display any major relationship between identity and gender (t=-1.448, df=373, p>0.05). This therefore results in no conclusive evidence. The final realization was that the gender of an individual does not affect students’ level in the overall population (Schuller 2004, p. 43).

6. Discussion

Bases from the analysis and results of the study, it was determined that educations plays a major role in achieving a self of identity in an individual since education is a guiding factor in the life of an individuals. It can be viewed as a significant factor in shifting the paradigm shift that occurs in an individual. Education is and has always been associated with the process of skill deliverance, dissemination of knowledge and the value of internalization (Schuller 2004, p. 56). Individuals that have knowledge have the ability to internalize and actualize the knowledge they have acquired into their daily life. For younger children, education can be viewed as a continuous development process so that the children can apply the learnt knowledge in their future endeavors. Education is therefore a major development asset in modern societies since lack of it would stall any further progress from taking place.

Based on personal experience, I have noticed gradual growth in how I identify as a person based on various aspects that I have acquired over time in school. School has exposed me to different situations and instances that have been constructive in affirming my self-belief and confidence. The skills and lessons acquired over time seem to have gradual impact on the personal development of an individual as well as the mental abilities and this explains why I can now make a stand on issues that I did not have the best understanding about during my junior years in school. This goes a long way to show how the education that an individual acquires over time in school, has a direct impact on their perception of the world and the values that people are expected to adhere to in order to reach a point of self-realization.

References

Imazeki, J. & Reschorsky, A. (2003). Financing adequate education in Rural Setting. Journal of Education Finance, 29 Fall, 137-156.

Beauchamp, C. and Thomas, L., 2009. Understanding teacher identity: An overview of issues in the literature and implications for teacher education. Cambridge journal of education, 39(2), pp.175-189.

Britzman, D. (2016). Cultural myths in the making of a teacher: Biography and social structure in teacher education. Harvard educational review, 56(4), 442-457.

Hymes, D., 2005. Models of the interaction of language and social life: toward a descriptive theory. Intercultural discourse and communication: The essential readings, pp.4-16.

Schuller, T., Preston, J., Hammond, C., Brassett-Grundy, A. and Bynner, J., 2004. The benefits of learning: The impact of education on health, family life and social capital. Routledge