Academic certificates do not give us the skills to meet certain situations we face in our everyday life. Some of these skills may be termed social skills as we need them in our day-to-day activities. So, educational institutions need to serve a number of functions beyond just transmitting academic knowledge. We socialise as we grow up. Acquiring socialising skills will equip our learners to face the challenges they face in their practical lives. Socialising sometimes takes place in specific contexts. It is also cultural-specific: people in different cultures socialise differently, to uphold their beliefs and values.
Socialising refers to a process by which individuals acquire a personal identity and learn the knowledge, language, and skills required to interact with others. Schools are the primary base from where the young learners can acquire how to interact with their peers from different backgrounds. Schools help integrate diverse groups of young people into one society with a shared identity, preparing them for their roles as citizens in the days to come. Â
Children develop in many ways when they grow. Each child also acquires a consistent personality structure, so that he or she can be characterised as shy, ambitious, sociable, or cautious to say the least. As children start to grow they move into an ever-widening world of activities. Culture is a significant dimension of a child's socialising habit. Understanding various cultural styles of parenting and skills acquisition is critical to understanding how, why and under what circumstances socialising occurs (Coates & Wagenaar, 1999)
 The importance of the school as having a direct influence on a child's mentality in this regard can be divided into three segments, such as the school and society, the classroom, and the teacher. When children begin to attend school, it is usually the first time that they come under the supervision of people who are not their relatives. It is likely that the school is the first agency that encourages children to develop loyalties and sentiments that go beyond the family and link them to a wider social order. The school as an agency of socialising should be recognised as the first organiser of social relationships (Elkin & Handel, 1978). The classroom is often seen as a place where the children socialise with their peers. Since most of the things that children do in the classrooms are done in the presence of their peers, they have to learn how to deal with a more formalised group situation. Parental expectations and perceptions of their children's development of both cognitive and motor skills serve to affect the transition to the school environment (Coates & Wagenaar, 1999).
Socialisation continues throughout life, from childhood to adulthood. This is significant because there is reason to believe that childhood socialising sets limits to what may be accomplished in adult life (Elkin & Handel, 1978).Children spend a large amount of time with other children and, in so doing, they have extensive opportunities to influence one another. The same situation exists for adolescents, suggesting that peer relations contribute substantially to socialising from early childhood and beyond.
      Learners' social interactions with their peers contribute to their cognitive development. Their interactions are considered a form of social behaviour, and they engage in several social situations such as cooperation, assistance, sharing and solving problems in appropriate ways. In these situations, children acquire social skills and learn about their social world, such as the adults' and their playmates' points of view, morals, social skills, and conceptions of friendship (Saracho, 1999).
Schools are also major centres for gender socialisation. In this context, it should be mentioned that teachers in countries like ours receive little training in recognising and combating gender stereotypes and prejudices-their own and others-and as a consequence, they often lay the foundation for gender discrimination among their pupils. Thus, most schools create and maintain traditional gender stereotypes, biases, and differences. Teachers thus need training to recognise their own explicit and dormant biases and how these biases affect their classroom behaviours. Additionally, teachers should receive training in confronting children's biases. Parents also should seek educational settings for their students that are gender-integrated so that their wards are not affected by gender bias and inequality.
As people grow up in a particular society, they pick up on the expectations of those around them and internalise these expectations to moderate their own impulses, sentiments and values. Socialisation teaches individuals how to prepare for and perform certain social roles such as occupational role, gender role, as well as marriage and parenthood roles. Socialising cultivates shared sources of meaning and value. Through socialising, people learn to identify what is important and valued within a particular culture. We must give a serious thought to the point whether our existing educational system serves the purpose. The prevailing incidents and happenings that we experience every day around us bear testimony to the moral degradation of our young generation. Eve-teasing, rape, mass rape by the students and even in higher educational institutions undoubtedly prove that they have not been groomed up to the expected standard.
The writer works as education specialist in BRAC Education Programme. masumbillah65@gmail.com
Schools and lessons on socialising
Masum Billah | Published: October 23, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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