Countdown of Existing Educational Imbalance

The word imbalance fails not to suggest a bunch of figure-tinkering tools like weighing scales or the common seesaw. Funny it seems, with its iconic falling and rising ambivalence. However, there are times that even its silly analogies impale the sore maladies of society -- educational imbalance, for one.

What imbalances could subsist under the wing of educators and academics? Provided below is some of it:

1. Imbalances in quality of education. An example would be the strong emphasis laid on higher education but less of such in secondary education. Hence, quality education is proliferated via strict evaluation in higher education.

2. Educational imbalance in access to quality education. Quality is largely accommodated by urban areas, while its percolation fails to effectively populate amongst its rural counterparts.

3. Imbalances in educational resources. This is inclusive of both human and material resources. Imbalances in human resources entail the shortage of teachers in areas of great demand. On the other hand, material resource-imbalance manifests through the lack of physical appropriation of text and reference books, technological equipment like PCs or learning software, and other important facilities, such as libraries and audio-visual rooms.

4. Educational imbalance in course or program choice. This describes the limited choice of course or program offers in an educational institution and/or community. For example, a fishing community naturally offers marine biology programs or tourism courses, but may lack information technology or I.T. courses.

Indeed, behind such numbered imbalances is a multitude of factors at play. In other words, the obvious may not probably show it all and may hide the real culprit. Hence, imbalances are rampant – its lack of genuine roots propels everyone to point fingers and not address the real issue. Yet, this does not give the authority any right to give no fight against these imbalances.

Educational Imbalance: How?

Education has been considered as one of the main pillars of the human society. Through education, the society has been able to maintain its humanity while posting progress in all other aspects. Though education, human beings are able to pass on, develop and improve knowledge, skills and abilities. Without education, a person would be left fending by himself through relying on his instincts.

Regrettably, there is so-called educational imbalance that threatens to weaken the formal process of imparting knowledge and skills. This imbalance has been there since the education was institutionalized. Through the course of time, this imbalance has become more and more noticeable, especially in the modern times where equality and parity is the common theme. Although politicians, governments and education stakeholders have been doing something to minimize the imbalance in education, the situation seemed do not improve but only became more obvious than before.

How is educational imbalance happening today? Here are two situations that prove that imbalance is very rampart today.

• There are places in the world where young people has no or limited access to university or even vocational education. Many of the major and well-funded universities and colleges in the world are located in urban areas and mostly in developed countries.

• University and college education have become less affordable to the many young individuals aiming to study their chosen courses. In the United Kingdom alone, students have to pay tuition fees of up to £9000 per year. Those who do not have the money would have no choice but be discouraged in studying.

Educational imbalance is not rampart in one side of the world, but in all part of the globe. For the imbalance to disappear, there is a need for education stakeholders to move according to their humanitarian will.

The Issue of Global Education Imbalance

Late in 2011, a group of people launched a protest called “Occupy Wall Street,” which rocked the world’s central financial district. The aim of the protest’s organizers was to send out a strong message about the imbalance of income and wealth in the United States, where it is believe that one percent of the working population controls around 40 percent of the country’s wealth. Same is true about the wealth situation around the world. However, wealth imbalance is not the only thing that the protesters should cry about. They should also worry about the educational imbalance prevalent around the world.

Educational imbalance may seem not as great as a concern as wealth imbalance, but think of this: wealthy persons became that rich because of a certain platform from which they could launch their careers. That platform is education. Although it is true that some billionaires and millionaires were college drop-outs, it makes sense that their success could still be attributed to the fact that they learned how to do things right by acquiring the necessary education. Mark Zuckerberg, founder of the popular and money-magnet social networking site Facebook, was a college dropout himself, and that is from Harvard University. He started Facebook along with his friends while still in Harvard, and what he is now could be attributed to education being his springboard.

In terms of worldwide educational imbalance, the main factor for this is the unequal distribution of institutions that provide higher education like universities and colleges. Presently, majority of higher education institutions that made the top 400 of the best universities and colleges in the world is located in developed nations like the US, United Kingdom, Japan and most countries in Europe. No wonder that these countries enjoy development at a higher level than others in the world.

Educational imbalance in Nigeria

        The citizens of Nigeria have already put in a lot of effort and personal sacrifice just to unite it politically. However, the true measure of a united nation cannot be said through its political system or military might. The issues which affect unity in Nigeria can be traced to a dominant social undertone. Social restructuring is an important move to ensure that a society can be created which will provide equal opportunities for all. This, in turn will contribute to a lasting national unity and stability. In order to achieve an egalitarian society, the problem of educational imbalance must be addressed in order to give equal employment opportunities for everyone. The most important factor that will promote equal opportunity employment is education, most especially higher education.

        As it is, certain regions of Nigeria will be disturbed to know about their prospects to improve their status in life should Nigeria be united by studying the pattern that is shown by the educational imbalance in higher education opportunities. This is the kind of disturbance is the reason why people make actions and counteractions leading to mutual suspicion, the practice of nepotism especially in politics and the overall loss of confidence by ordinary people for the idea of fair play.

        In Nigeria, the existence of educational imbalance in opportunities for obtaining higher education has been observed among its various ethnic groups. This is one of the reasons for the friction that often occurs between ethnic tribes. While efforts from various sectors have been made to correct the disparity with regards to educational imbalance, this issue will have to be faced head on in order for lasting nation building and social integration to be achieved.

        Note that this problem is not unique to Third World countries such as Nigeria. There are also other countries whose population is composed of various groups and races such as Canada and Malaysia which experienced this kind of problem.

Educational Imbalance in the Study of Architecture

        There is a general consensus in the field of Architecture as an academic discipline that it should characterise both art and science, with an additional argument that it is also considered as practice, because society and clients requiring architectural services require several constraints and complexities which are all critical for architecture to stay vital. In terms of the education that aspiring architects get, an important question that should be asked is whether they are receiving adequate opportunity for education in all three aspects. The absence of lack of one or more of these components will result to an educational imbalance.

        In the United States, educational imbalance occurs because most of its schools of architecture, most of awards programs that draw sponsorship from architects and many professional journals all cultivate the perception that the artistic side of architecture alone is exciting, intellectually satisfying, and worthy to be recognised, while architecture as a science is generally perceived to be a burden, something that is only learned because of necessity and learned with the minimum amount of knowledge required. The idea that the scientific side of architecture involves imagination, creativity or design skills is interesting by its own merits. As for architecture and its practices, this is generally perceived to be the responsibility of the employer who will hire the student when he or she eventually graduates. However, many architectural firms have problems in stabilizing their work load and others cannot afford to do on-the-job training for new hires because of austerity measures. Another critical aspect of the completion of a project relies on the strong working relationship with clients, users, government agencies and other parties who all have a hand in the project.

        So how did an educational imbalance develop? It is because majority of an aspiring architect's education is through “the Studio” which uses a learning format that allows students to develop their own projects while they are guided and criticised by their teachers. Unfortunately, the faculty teaching students in the Studio setting subscribes to the school of thought of architecture as art. To remedy the educational imbalance, changes should be allowed in the Studio to allow students to further explore the aspects of architecture as science and practice and integrate this into the curriculum.

Educational Imbalances Occurring in Adult Education Programs

        The factors that can contribute to an educational imbalance in adult education programs include the environment, the variation of communication skills between students as well as the varying levels of aptitude among students. This is caused by continuing education serving as a vehicle drawing adult students from all backgrounds for reasons ranging from fulfillment of a curiosity or hobby to advancement in terms of employment. Let us discuss each of these factors one by one:

• Environmental 

        There is a tendency between different regions, localities and groups of people to accommodate the needs of their adult students in an equal manner. However, the effect of globalisation has made it possible for a small global village to be created through the use of technology, therefore having more and more older students from diverse backgrounds opting for continuing education. When a variety of viewpoints, cultures and ways of life clash in a classroom for adult students, the resulting environment will cause an educational imbalance which will hinder learning. Whether this will be a detriment or a source of strength depends on the educator, the program being followed and the school's overall attitude in dealing with this situation.

• Communication Skills 

         Each person has has own communication style and needs, which is also another factor for educational imbalance and will need to be addressed in the classroom. The learning style of adults is different from those of children because adult learning can only start once adults feel comfortable enough to communicate with their teachers and fellow students.

• Levels of Ability 

         Adults also have different levels of abilities and bring different kinds of talent into the classroom. When this is combined with communication issues and environmental factors, the resulting educational imbalances will become not only more pronounced, it will also create a tense atmosphere in activities such as classroom discussion or group projects.

Educational Imbalance in the Job Market

Educational imbalance can be present in the job market. The job market should be a place where educational qualifications and jobs are matched. However, we can observe that many jobs accept, welcome or encourage applicants who are not educationally suitable to them. Supply and demand for graduates can also be a form of imbalance in education. There are certain times in which graduates in in demand careers are few while graduates in saturated fields are many.

• The Job Market – The job market manifests a form of educational imbalance. There have been an increase in jobs which are lenient on the qualifications of graduates. There are job advertisements which indicate that they prefer graduates of the study field corresponding to the career field; they further indicate that they also will still greatly consider applicants who are not graduates in the study field corresponding to the career. To add, because of the dual and multi-training of graduates, students and drop outs, many companies do not specify study fields that they require of graduates or non-graduates in their job advertisements. They indicate that any graduate, for example, in any course can be considered for the position.

• Supply Of and Demand For Graduates – Supply and demand are factors and they can be factors in educational imbalance. Every now and then, certain career fields experience over or lack of supply of graduates. Correspondingly, certain study fields experience over or lack of demand for their graduates. For example, nursing graduates were in demand in previous years because there were still few graduates compared to vacant nursing jobs. In response to the demand, many students study nursing with the hope of landing jobs after they graduate. However, as time passed by the vacant positions were filled and the newer graduates arrive at the job market only to find out that the demand have been satisfied and there is now shortage of vacant positions.