Should Governments Throughout The World Make Education Compulsory For All Children Between The Ages Of Five And Fifteen? (Essay Sample)

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Should Governments throughout the World make Education Compulsory for all Children between the ages of five and fifteen?
Children start their education from the very first moment they are born (Piaget 180).However, the term education is commonly misinterpreted to seem to represent an individual’s formal learning activities. According to Biggs, Burville, and Telfer, education itself is a continuous process that only comes to an end upon the demise of an individual; with formal education constituting a small fraction of this ongoing process (15). Every child is by default self- taught or educated. Research by various scholars has shown that the mentality that a child might eventually grow up to formulate in their adulthood is not determined and neither is it crafted by their current environment(Gadamer 535).Why then the need for formal education if studies show that every child out there is self – taught and is continuously learning new things?
The answer to this question, however, lies in the significant role that intellectual knowledge plays in the molding and development of a holistic individual. It is paramount that children arm themselves with intellectual knowledge; however, this kind of knowledge can only be transferred to them through the use of observations and numerous exercises that are geared towards the enhancement of their reasoning capabilities. Children who lack strong reasoning capabilities have difficulties when it comes to the learning of various subjects. Such children are intellectually malnourished with pauperized problem-solving skills. For children to learn various topics that end up imparting them with intellectual knowledge, they need verbal explanations from teachers, books or a combination of the two. Contrary to the widespread perception by most people that tutors are immensely overrated, instructors play a crucial role in the provision of further explanation on various points that a child might not have understood from books. Teachers step in and make use of their previous comprehension of such books to impart intellectual knowledge to the child (Van Driel, Beijaard and Verloop 142).
Though most countries have differing ages upon which one has to attain to be legally regarded as an adult, it is of great significance to note the peculiarity in most governments in respect to adulthood. A huge majority tend to overwhelmingly approve and consider those of fifteen years and below as children. The notions that before children attain the legal age limit in which they can provide and decide for themselves, children require supervision as they cannot responsibly act on their behalf is factual. Children should be under the guidance of their parents until they can attain the legal status of adulthood. However, depending on their ideology and attitude towards formal education; some parents might object to their children attaining formal education (Hello, Scheepers and Gijsberts 14).Who then is to supervise the parents to ensure that they send their children of between five to fifteen years to institutions of formal learning? This is where the relevant arm of government should step in and stamp its authority on the issue by holding every parent within the states' jurisdiction accountable to their children's formal education. This will consequently ensure that every child is given their much-deserved opportunity to acquire intellectual knowledge until the age of fifteen.On attaining the age of fifteen, children can be allowed the luxury of deciding on their own whether or not to continue with formal education.
In conclusion, for this to be realized, al...