In a good system of education, the home should become school and the school home. Home or family exerts a great impact upon the development of values, norms, attitudes and behavior pattern of the children. The family members and their inter-relationship among themselves have a great role to play in the children’s learning about social manners and ethics. In fact, school can not propound all the functions alone about the shaping of the children as the members of the society. The assistance of the family in this regard is very essential. the child spends the major part of the days in the family. As a result of this, the influence of the family in the development of habit, attitude and behavior is very much significant. Hence the mutual cooperation between the home and the school is very much important.
The home is the primary group, where face to face relationship are made. this is very useful in providing education to children because in such situations children learn wide a lot. However, as an agency of socialization, the family usually perform the following functions.
Functions of Socialization
1. Provision for physical development:-
The first function of the family is to develop the children physically. Parents and elders members of the family should be careful about the physical development of the children. therefore, useful physical exercise and activities should be provided to the children. They should also be provided with wholesome food containing all the ingredient of balanced diet.
2. Development of mental ability:-
The second important function of the home is development of the essential ability of the child. The home should provide suitable atmosphere in order to develop mental life, thinking, reasoning, feeling, judgement, memory etc. and parents should always creates a special atmosphere for the child.
3. Emotional development:-
The real education of the child begins not intellectually but emotionally. Good fellow feelings and unity among the members of the family effect the emotional makeup of the child. As a result, it can develop positive emotions like, sympathy, tolerance, love, justice, etc. The home also gives a sense of security to the child which enable him to receive fruitful education.
4. Home as the socializing agency:-
The home is the first socializing agency in the child’s life. It is a society in miniature. Here, the child learns all socially desirable values like, companionship, love, security, interpersonal relationship, tolerance etc. Thus the home serves as the first and most effective social system for the child.
5. Home provides religious instructions:-
Religious education is the only source which can provide peace and happiness to an individual. it is therefore desirable that the home should impart religious education to the child. As a result of such religious education, the child can develop a quality life, kindness, service to others, devotion to duty, goodness etc.
6. Transmission of culture:-
A family may belong to a sub-cultural group which is different from the national culture. In which cases, the home transmits its specific and peculiar culture to the child. The home preserves and transmits its individual culture and also culture of its society to the child.
Role of Community in Socialization
Every family lives in a community. This provides the base for an individual to extend social relations and interactions beyond the narrow limits of the home. This is particularly true of villages where there is much more interaction among the various families. In view of this, it is only natural that the community should play an important role in influencing the process of socialization. The neighbourhood are source of social learning.
It is more, if the member families of a community have been living together for a long time. In a way, the neighbourhood community can be regarded as a primary agency of socialization next in importance only to the home. Apart from one’s own parents, adults in the neighbourhood also exert an influence in the shaping of the social behavior of the growing child.,
A community may be thought of as a total organization of social life within limited area. Community educates their members for its maintenance. It plans progress and development by providing purposeful and effective education to the children. It is quite obvious that school and community influence each other and there is a constructive interaction going on between two institution. Community as an informal and important and active agency of socialization. influences the socialization of children by teaching about social customs, beliefs, traditions etc. It also develop virtues like cooperation, sympathy, social service, social adjustment, sacrifice and tolerance.
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