Education Cannot Be Found in a Book

1016 Words3 Pages

While baby-sitting my younger cousin, I noticed that

she was frantically searching through a stack of books.

When I questioned what she was looking for she responded

frankly, "An education." I had to laugh at such a childish

remark. Many individuals believe that education is simply obtained

by reading books, listening to lectures or sitting in classrooms.

However, education is not received by being an active listener, or

an excellent reader. College does not guarantee a higher education;

rather, it provides the atmosphere and tools that are required to

develop into an educated, and scholarly individual. Education

therefore is achieved by progressing through the different stages

of knowledge, and acquiring the skills required to be an active

observer and participant in the real world.

Education is too often emphasized by the regurgitation of facts,

which diminishes the use of critical thinking. There are too many

dualistic students in society today who think topologically. That

is, they believe that there are only two different answers to every

question, the right one, and the wrong one. This type of thinking

not only limits the quality of education that the student receives,

but it also exploits the teacher's indolence and insufficient ability

to bestow a higher education upon their students. Although I was

ranked number four in my graduating class of 371 students, I do not

feel like I have received a higher education than the student who

was ranked number 371. Why? Simply because high school is equivalent

of a board game, one repeats what the teacher said, one's thinking is

emulative of the teachers, and one turns in the "busy work" on time.

Hence, high school has educated an individual on how to be resistant

to critical thinking.

On the other hand, college professors attempt to make students think

critically about issues, which concern their lives, and the lives of

others. A good college education is not bestowed to the students by

their professors; rather, the students furnish their own quality of

education. A student can choose to remain resistant to critical

thinking, or the student can maneuver into the next stage of education,

which is thinking with multiple perspectives. In this multiple stage,

the student begins to regard issues with diverse perspectives and to

consider multiple answers to questions (Mitchell, 2000).

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