Philosophy of Education

What does it mean to educate? The Webster s New American Dictionary defines the word educate as to provide with schooling; to develop mentally and morally; to provide with information, train, discipline, school, instruct, teach. The Oxford English Dictionary defines education as "The systematic instruction, schooling or

training given to the young in preparation for the work of life; by extension, similar instruction or training obtained in adult age. Also,the whole course of scholastic instruction which a person has received. Often with limiting words denoting the nature of the predominant subject of the instruction or kind of life it prepares, as classical,

legal, medical, technical, commercial, art education." Both of these are basically saying the same thing, education is instruction you give to an individual pertaining to life.

Who exactly is an educated person? Only those who hold college degrees? Those who have made some significant contribution to the arts or the sciences? The world looks at an education as only related to scholastic and academic achievement. The truth is, a person may be very educated with not even a high school diploma. Education is different for every person. A doctor might be education only through obtaining a degree. A native of the Amazon might be educated through knowledge of farming methods and techniques. Is one smarter than the other? The doctor would probably refer to the Indian as uneducated because he doesn t know how to solve a complicated calculus problem. The Indian would think the doctor uneducated because he wouldn t be able to survive in the wilderness. There really cannot be one standard for education. What is education to one person might not be education to another, and one persons education may not be relevant to another s life. The question arises as to how much education one individual needs, and can that education be measured. Is it enough that a child has been educated in how to take care of himself, or must he know chemistry also? Is he stupid if he can only bath, cook, and clean? No, he is not. Knowing basic skills of survival show that a person has some form of education, obviously not from a professor, but from a parent.

Take another definition provided for "education" in the Oxford English Dictionary: "The process of bringing up (young persons); the manner in which a person has been brought up with reference to social situation, kind of manners and habits acquired, calling or employment prepared for, etc." This definition seems to make more sense. High school and college are not absolutely necessary in becoming educated.

The skills acquired while being "brought up" can often prove to be of more use during life than can twenty years of gaining knowledge in a high school or college situation. Education for most people begins outside of the classroom. What is learned in school should not be considered an education. A better word one should consider is knowledge, or perhaps knowledge of information. Knowledge is gained in school. And knowledge is not an education in itself. When a person can use the information he has learned and apply them to everyday things then that person is truly educated.