Education has Lost Touch with its Origin and its Meaning

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Education has Lost Touch with its Origin and its Meaning

"It is only when all these things, names and definitions, visual and other sensations are rubbed together and subjected to tests in which questions and answers are exchanged in good faith and without malice that finally, when human capacity is stretched to its limit, a spark of understanding and intelligence flashes out and illuminates the subject at hand." Plato had this to say about dialogue and its importance to the process of education. Does this sound like the educational system that is in place today in the United States? Odds are that it does not. What does being educated mean anyway? What is an undergraduate university education? These questions have been debated for centuries, and they are still relevant today. Many people feel that being educated is going to college and making good grades so that a diploma, the mark of an educated person, can be received. Does that diploma really signify that a person is educated? It does, if being educated means being able to pass a series of tests and courses at the university level, but is that what it's all about? Many college students, and parents, feel that this is what being educated is.

These people, it could be said, are missing the benefit boat when it comes to taking full advantage of what an undergraduate education has to offer. Being educated is more than taking notes and passing tests, it is in fact, a participatory process that takes place between students and faculty, through dialogue, all drawing out the best from each other. Through this process, a student develops an understanding of himself in relation to his community, and the rest of the world. With this comes benefits, both for t...

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...ht, it is a privilege." At times, a privilege afforded to an individual by their government.

It seems, at times, in this era that the idea of what an undergraduate education really means has been lost. For many it has been. That is a tragedy, but there is hope for others. A true university education is available for all who wish to pursue it. It can be achieved if the student enters the university open-minded and ready to participate in a free exchange of dialogue with other students and faculty. Only then will that person, and society receive the full benefits that a university education has to offer. A society filled with people who understand themselves in relation to the others around them is a much better place to live. Socratic dialogue says about education, "We come together to learn about ourselves and our world. We look within to see without."

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