Blog

Socialization and education are perceived as important aspects of one’s life. Both are virtues of imparting knowledge and skills in an individual’s life necessary for living and compacting well in society. Although there exists a close relationship between education and socialization whereby they almost share their meaning, there are various distinctions between them. This essay elaborates the differences between education and socialization and also features where most teens prefer to learn about sex.

Both education and socialization involve a learning process. However, while socialization refers to what happens daily concerning the nature of reality, cultural aspects, and how to cope with others, education involves formal learning in an institution whereby the learners are fed with determinate skills and knowledge (Neundorf, Niemi & Smets, 2016). Socialization strives to make people more alike and unify their behavior while education is aimed at making people more distinct. In socialization, people tend to have a common language, themes, and goals, while in education, the learners have different objectives and goals which they aim to achieve. For instance, the cultural aspects involved in socialization make people share a common behavior by following shared norms and values (Shtarkshall, Santelli & Hirsch, 2007). Contrary, in education, every individual strives towards achieving different outcomes from their colleagues. An example is that of an engineering student and another one studying nursing. Their objectives are different because their careers head in different directions.

Sex education is vital among young people as it imparts them with the knowledge necessary for coping with today’s life. In the modern world of technology, sex education has been made available through various sources such as magazines and social media platforms (Shtarkshall, Santelli & Hirsch, 2007). In this case, as parents, teachers, and peer counselors make their efforts to educate young people about sex, some of them still prefer studying it on their own from other sources. According to Neundorf, Niemi & Smets (2016), parents feel that they should be the major sources of sex information for their teenage children, which is mostly not the case. Most of the teens would prefer to receive information from their friends and the media as they claim to feel uncomfortable when their parents address them concerning the same. Some other teens will still prefer to be instructed about sexual information by people who they have no relationship with such as neighbors or people from afar, but not their biological parents (Shtarkshall, Santelli & Hirsch, 2007). Studies proved that even some parents shy away from addressing their children about sex education, and as a result, the teens end up withholding their curiosity from them and disclosing it to other people who they feel confident with.  From the studies, teens are also at ease to receive sex education from peer counselors who address them during social gatherings. In such places, they are open to ask the questions and believe that such counselors have all the information they need.