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How Do You Define Education?Some May Have A Very Simple

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How do you define education? Some may have a very simple definition to answer this question. However, the definition of education is much more encompassing than one might think. If your definition didn’t make you think of philosophy, experiences, and theory than you might want to rethink your understanding of education. Furthermore, why do we educate? Everyone’s opinion on this subject is somewhat connected between expanding experiences to producing “good” citizens. This paper seeks to explore the various definitions of education, as well as, find valid evidence to support the answer of “why do we educate?”

Education: How We Define It and Why We Educate
When people hear the word education most immediately think about …show more content…

Although, there are some specifics that were found to be common. For example, Coulter and Wiens (2009) conducted an experiment which they entitled “The Educated Person.” For this experiment, they asked several different types of people of all ages and backgrounds to pick one person in his/her life which they deemed to be “educated.” Although, their responses were divergent, there were in fact similarities found among them. Namely, they found that most of the people picked as “educated” by the participants, were older, had more life experiences, and many had humility as a common characteristic. What I found fascinating was, of the people they chose, none of them had any “formal education.” I have said for years that some of the most “educated” people I have ever met don’t necessarily have a formal education or a degree, but they do have rich life experiences. I was happy to see that Coulter and Wiens confirmed my thoughts in their book, Why Do We Educate?. Further stated in their book is the notion “Education introduces us to worlds we might otherwise never encounter thereby reshaping our vision of the world we think we know.” (Coulter & Wiens, 2009, p. 32). A perfect example of this is the research and readings I did for this paper. It opened my eyes up to new avenues of exploring the craft of educating. Without this class, I may have never come to question my educational philosophy or my

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