An Analysis Of Jim Davison 's ' The Ledge '

Some people might like education, others might dread it and really don’t see a reason to continue learning about it. Today, for teachers and professors it’s easy to them to tell how the education they teach is effective for an individual student. As we know, education is being taught at school, home, and a little of both. For America today, most children attend preschool, kindergarten, elementary, middle school, high school, and college. Depending on the pupil's career choice, it can take up to 20 or more years completing their schooling system, Usually, during the middle and or high school years in America, professors teach you valid things pupils will be using in life.

What defines a good education and what can classics like Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 and Plato’s Allegory of the Cave teach us about it? Many people spend their life searching for wisdom and work hard to get a good education. Without education, society does not progress and knowledge does not thrive. If a society does not let knowledge thrive then the only thing that can thrive is ignorance.

Therefore, there are many different viewpoints and opinions that different ages and genres of people might have on this topic. Though there are many different perspectives the standard definition is developing the power of reasoning and judgment, and generally preparing oneself intellectually for a mature life. In Daniel Pink’s article, “Mastery”, and in Sir Ken Robinson’s ted talk, “How to escape educations Death Valley”, these two men talk about their views on what education really is or might be and how to best educate other people.

In the book, The Conscious Reader, there are many stories by many different authors. All these stories are different but at the same time they are alike. They all in some way deal with education. Whether it is using education, gaining education, or giving education, they all have their way to show that education is important.

Education is the process of learning, whether it occurs at a specific building designed for that very reason, such as a school or an institution that provides opportunities for higher learning (college), or even somewhere as, conveniently accessible as home. Us humans are always learning and therefore being educated. Robert M. Hutchins, said, “The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives.” The principal education we are provided with, is what we gradually increase, improve on throughout our lives. Learning can also be done through experience, which is correlated with the idea that hands on learning stays in the memory longer and is more effective.

The result of having an education can be immensely impactful if exerted correctly. My first example of an impactful education is Friday Night Lights, a character by the name Eddie Driscoll. Eddie had valued his education by striving to advantage by always longing for the highest grades in his class. Friday Night Lights states, “Eddie Driscoll a wonderfully articulate student ranked number two in the senior class, he loved to read and debate and throw out ideas” (Bissinger 136). Sherman Alexie had similar perspectives to Bissinger’s character Eddie when it came to education.

Education. A word that resonates differently with everyone, but resonates deeply nonetheless. To some it is seen as a means to maintain their current, comfortable lifestyle where  to others it is seen as nothing more than a waste of time and yet to others still it opens the door to numerous opportunities for a better life. On the most part though, our society as a whole seems to agree that education is the pathway to success. Not coincidentally, this is also the stance taken by most authors in modern day literature. This theme of education is clearly presented within two completely different texts: Mary Lawson’s Crow Lake, and David Auburn’s Proof, though not necessarily in the most traditional sense of the word. The characters in both

Education not synonymous with schooling because a person who is educated does the polar opposite of what the school system and our society desires. An educated individual “think[s] critically and independently” instead of reflexively obeying, failing to question authority, and refusing to ‘think outside of the box,’ as the old saying goes (Gatto). This person is not “conditioned to dread being alone, and seek constant companionship through the TV, the computer, the cell phone, and through shallow friendships…” Instead, they possess the ability to find solace in being by themselves in addition to “develop[ing] and inner life so that they will never be bored,” (Gatto). Lastly, Gatto asserts that education is studying “the grown up material, in history, literature, philosophy, music, art, economics, [and] theology,” which are the subjects he claims that instructors are conditioned to

Above all, education is important. Rather it be the education we get from our schooling, or the education we get from the things we learn externally. The author, Mark Twain, has a quote that says, “ I have never let my schooling interfere with my education”, this quote can be interpreted differently, depending on the standpoint of the person reading it. Some authors that would universally agree with this would be: Francine Prose, she wrote the essay, I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read,  another author, Ralph Emerson, he wrote an essay called,  from Education, and yet another, Kyoko Mori, she wrote an essay called School. There is an image that could be related to the text as well that was painted by Norman Rockwell, and it's named The

Growing up under the myth that “If you do not go to school you will not learn anything,” was the logic behind getting an education when I was a child. However, what should have been our focus perspective, was the quote by Ingersoll, n.d.), “It is a thousand times better to have common sense without education than to have education without common sense.” That is to say, that there are countless people, who have an elite education, but have not, applied that education to their life. Moreover, they have failed to employ common sense in understanding the necessities of learning the fundamentals of their education. As a result, they are ignorant to the simplicity behind life from which to succeed, but have assumed that their Ivy League education has made them elite and well educated. Nevertheless, I am in partial disagreement with this way of thinking, and believe common sense and education should work hand in hand, because education without common sense is worthless. Furthermore, albeit an elite education and the extent of schooling is beneficial in success, the term well educated is having common sense, which is the key to sound judgment that opens the door of wisdom to receive education.

Education should not only be looked at as attending college and passing exams to succeed in school. Nevertheless, it should be seen as the complete development of one's personality, intellectual development, and moral evolution. The system tells everyone to learn the same material, even if the students are bored and even if they’re sleeping during class. In the article “Against School”, John Taylor Gatto states, “teachers didn’t seem to know much about their subject and clearly weren’t interested in learning” (Gatto). This shows the teachers and the students disconnect from the context because either it’s irrelevant or not being taught in inspiring ways. I believe an educated person should at least have some background knowledge for a job

The frigid water slowly rises. Minutes before, all safety was assured on The Ledge, but now it struggles against the wrath of nature to stay afloat. An eerie blanket of sadness and realization of their unavoidable death settles over all three of them. Death comes near and closes in by the second; there is an inaudible pleading call for someone to step up and reveal their heroism. The hunter that steps up to solve this seemingly impassible obstacle is known as the Fisherman. His companions are his son and nephew. Fear of not only his survival, but more importantly, his sons slowly overtakes the fisherman. All previous thoughts of selfishness are discarded as the fisherman gives his life to save his son. He emerges as being the hero of the situation despite his past. The Fisherman in Hall’s “The Ledge” heroism prevails as being his most authentic quality through

Education is the gradual process of meaning making and acquiring “knowledge.” One views the world through his or her own set of lenses or filters, from his or her own perspective, and the mind of the learner attempts to connect new information to existing schema to make new connections. These constructions and connections in the brain become "knowledge." Therefore, knowledge when people begin to understand facts or information through experience and/or learning. We begin to realize, through knowledge, details that we learn in isolation are actually interconnected. Education can be intentional or unintentional and can occur everywhere and at any time. Education is greatly influenced by affective factors and social context. It has both internal and external value, both to a person and to all of society.

I believe that education extends far beyond the classroom walls, and involves many more people than students and teachers. People should be learning wherever they go, and should continue learning long after they’ve graduated from high school or college. Education isn’t something that can be quantified with tests or report cards, but is instead something that people carry with them. It’s a survival pack for life, and some people are better equipped in certain areas than in others. People with a solid education are prepared for nearly anything, as they will be able to provide for their own physical, emotional, and aesthetic needs.

People have ignored the importance of education in one's life nowadays. They give too much emphasis on the grade that they will get and not on the wisdom that they will obtain from it. We must realize that the grades does not exactly determine how well we have learn but it is through experience where we learn most. For example, a person learns how to love oneself more when one experience pain and suffering. A person becomes stronger when it faces different challenges in his life. Hence, experience is the basis of the level of knowledge and it is the ultimate judgment on a person's level.