What is Education?

Schooling is widely available throughout America with nearly everyone attending school up to at least high school, and most attending college. It has become possible for children of all ethnic backgrounds, all social and economic classes to attend schooling. However, schooling and receiving an education are two different concepts. Just because students endure years of schooling does not mean they are receiving the best possible education. All of this schooling is ideally supposed to prepare the child for adulthood, but is it actually doing this? In the article “Against School” by John Taylor Gatto, Gatto examines the schools and their system of education in order to inform people about the failure of the current education system. He introduces the idea that today's schooling system delivers an incomplete education, instead turns creative children into mindless machines, in order to spread awareness and hopefully produce change throughout schools.

Education has existed throughout history in one form or another. The process of passing down accumulated information from one generation to the next has been present in every human society, past and present. From the young listening to the stories of the elders around the hearths of the ancient world, to pupils being instructed in the alphabet in a one room schoolhouse on the American frontier, to the present day online teaching sessions; the tradition of teaching and learning has been a constant in the ever changing world. Education has been and continues to be used for many purposes, chief among them being the creation of an educated citizenry, the empowerment of that citizenry, and improvement of the

Aristotle said, “Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” What does it really mean to be educated? Many people thought that they knew what education meant, even I felt confident in myself to define education. However, the ideas discussed in class really made me question my definition of education. My definition has changed within the past few weeks as I discovered more about education. I am here to present my definition of education; with the lack of resources, one can still become educated by learning the unknown and putting your knowledge to good use.

From the dawn of time, education has been the past's greatest utility in survival. Through learning, skills that have been passed down from the errors of others, communities were able to learn and grow with each other. Simple public education systems began to pop up to educate the youth and the curious, and ever since the first school systems began there has been room for improvement. The largest reforms of the educational system began at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.

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

Choices can make or break us depending on what we do. That is what Jon Spayde attempts to convey to his audience in his 1998 Unte Reader article, “What Does it Mean to Be Educated?” He goes through many examples and arguments that could possible answer this “surprisingly tricky and two-sided question” (Spayde paragraph 1). Although the actual arguments he poses throughout his article, he uses the rhetorical devices – ethos, pathos and logos, to get his readers to accept his purpose.

Education plays a vital role in this era. I support that education should not only be focused on books but also on critical sense and practical knowledge. Students should be able to experiment with the technological advancement and its outcomes.

Malcolm X once said “education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today”. From adolescence to adulthood almost every person is put through schooling. As one gets older in age, the education they obtain becomes more rigorous in order to stretch their minds far beyond two plus two or what color the sky is. The strategies of critically thinking and being able to analyze/decipher information in front is them is reinforced routinely in the educational system. With this being said, the purpose of education is to aid in enhancing one’s qualification, socialisation, and subjectification skills within the society regardless of how or where one’s education was obtained.

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.

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

Before the rewrite of the emergency preparedness plan could be started, the principal sent out forms to all the teachers and staff to find out what different types of special talents were in the building. The staff went through the forms and

The idea of education is that it properly educates students. American schools teach a variety of subjects over 12 years of schooling. The skills taught are supposed to prepare students for adult life. These skills range from basic math and english to more complex knowledge for those going to college. Students are supposed to graduate with some common knowledge. Most of the more advance learning comes from high schools. This is where they learn how to live in the real world. However, many students are not prepared for the real world. The American education system does not complete the purpose of educating students properly.

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.

As Daniel J. Boorstin said, “Education is learning what you didn 't even know you didn 't know.”

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” - Nelson Mandela. Without education, there is simply no telling of what this world would be like. There wouldn’t be doctors, lawyers, businesses etc. Life and everything around us would be fatuous. Schools and education give us a plan in life and help guide us. Throughout the years education has changed tremendously. It had its improvements throughout the decades, and it also has had its falters as well. Education in America is an issue in this country and it definitely needs to be tweaked and improved. Education is what makes us people who we are and what we will be. Nelson Mandela had it right, there is no weapon more powerful than education.