"Interdependence is and ought to be as much the ideal of man as self-sufficiency. Man is a social being."

While the primary goal of education is fostering independence, independence is incomplete without interdependence. Education has to prepare the human being to integrate into the society he is a part of without losing his own sense of individuality. Education also has to go one step further. It should prepare the individual to contribute positively to the society that he is an essential part of. Besides social etiquette, it should inculcate in him moral codes of conduct as well so that he is able to be a contributor and not a mere bystander.

Social development is an integral part of education. It has to be. In more cases than not, the degree of intellectual achievement rides on the degree of social development. So monitoring the progress of social development is important. The degree and pace of social development in a child is dependent on the following factors:

Factors influencing social development

a) Biological age: Certain social developmental milestones are directly dependent on the age of the child. Neuro-muscular coordination, speech, memory and sense of security play a key role in shaping the social milestones. Nature has to take its course during the initial stages.

b) Early Exposure: The extent of exposure that the child gets during its absorbent years also has an impact on the pace of social development. Its ability to absorb the socio-cultural nuances of the environment, its observation of the adults, the normal activities and routine also play a role in imprinting certain behavioral tendencies.

c) Environment: The environment outside the family that the child is a part of- such as day care, pre-school, school, classes etc and the expectations set in such environments are a big influencer. For e.g. If a child is in a school where social graces such as 'thank you', 'excuse me', 'please' etc are normally adhered to, the child will also acquire such social graces.
d) Guidance: Around the time of adolescence, when the child is ready to begin its inquiry of morality and search for identity, the kind of guidance that he receives plays an important role in defining his social and moral development.

Given these four key criteria, it is also easy to observe that in a way, these four factors unfold according to the four planes of development that can be traced in any child. Therefore the milestones for social development also follow

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