Formal vs. Informal Education

May Flower
1/22/11
Mr. L
Period 6

Formal vs. Informal Education

Informal Education brings a wide variety of outside knowledge to students who are willing to obtain and complete the labor. Formal education forces students to obtain schooling from a young age, including grades starting from Pre-K through college. Some might say Informal ed. is a better choice because it gives the chance for the people to enhance their learning ability. Forms of informal education are alternative schools, which help students who have disciplinary problems, and to students with special needs. Alternative schools prevent students with disabilities from leaving school and acquiring their high school diploma. Schools like those decrease the drop out rates effectively which can then decrease the unemployment and low economic status in the future. Formal education can have students miss out on the outside world. In other words, students may be distracted from their traditional ways of going to school and miss outstanding opportunities that might one day affect their career in a positive outlook. Formal education doesn’t give the student the chance of individual learning and responsibility. Also, formal education is set on a strict curriculum that doesn’t really give a student the chance to learn about anything appealing to their interest. In conclusion, informal education, being a wide variety of outside knowledge, can have students experience more than they would in the traditional way of teaching because the outside world is more liberal. That is why some prefer informal education over formal education.