Throughout history, many people have come out to claim that they are educated, which raises the questions as to what such claims mean. It is unworkable to establish whether a person is educated or not simply because they attended an Ivy League school, have a perfect GPA. Indeed, it is impossible to assess whether one is educated or not using any standardized tests. In essence, education does not equate to knowledge although many try to pair the two together. The fact is education is immeasurable and one is either educated or they are not. To be truly educated, one has to possess the ability to listen vigilantly, think critically, and explore points of view that differ from one’s own. There are numerous ways by which one can become educated including through travel, from books and meaningful discussions and naturally through the school system, which equips one with the tools they need to succeed in such an endeavor (U 58).
Susannah is a straight A student who decides to not pursue physics and calculus in favor of drama and work-study. Her reasoning is that she intends to major in art or history and, therefore, has no further need for the subjects she elects to drop. The phenomenon is observable all throughout history where girls and women shy away from sciences and math in favor of history or the arts. The lack of motivation happens at a very critical stage given that if, in the future, Susannah decides to change her mind, it may be too late for her. The case of Fredrick Douglass is in glaring contrast to that of Susannah. While she shows a lack of motivation in certain aspects of learning when they are readily available, a lack of resources only serves to motivate Douglass to the point where he resorts to “stratagems” to learn to...
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... not utilized enough is the television show, “Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?” The core of the show is that adults who many consider educated by traditional standards such that they hold masters and doctorates go up against children at the fifth grade level in a battle of the wits. While there are some adult winners from time to time, what the show depicts is an all out massacre of the adult teams by the children. The reason behind the dismal showing by adults is that these children continuously learn and apply such information in the course of their day-to-day activities while the adults, inevitably prestigious people in society, have not given a thought to such questions in decades. It is important, therefore, to ponder periodically the knowledge one gains to prevent it from atrophy and even help one gain an enhanced understanding of numerous ideas and topics.
A famous quote by Martin Luther King states “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.” The two articles “Hidden Intellectualism” and “Blue Collar Brilliance” both emphasis the author's opinion on the qualifications and measurements of someone's intelligence. “Hidden Intellectualism” focuses on students or younger people who have trouble with academic work because, they are not interested in the topic. Today, in schools students are taught academic skills that are not very interesting, the author mentions this is why children are not motivated in schools. The main viewpoint of this article is that schools need to encourage students
Being educated can help people earn their living and be more responsible. Nowadays, education level is one of the most important requirements and comparative advantage for searching a job. The people who finish higher education, they would have more opportunity. Just like the author Wes’s father, “he finally had the chance to host his own public affairs show. And he’d hired a new writing assistant. Her name was Joy.”(12) After graduate from Bard College, his father gained more opportunities to realize his dream, being on television. Studying in college, we can learn the professional skill and know more about the
Although Douglass’s primary obstacle to educating himself was not money, he still was challenged by the standards of slavery. The text begins with how the standards of slavery transformed his Mistress from a tender-hearted woman who once treated him like a normal being into a corrupted person who displayed no sign of remorse for her immoral actions. According to Douglass, his Mistress had once educated him. After her transformation, he then recognized that she did every attempt to impede him from education himself. It is evident in the text when he stated:” Nothing seemed to make her more angry than to see me with a newspaper” (Douglass 73). However, despite the challenges that Douglass faced, he managed to find every other alternative to educate himself. Although he lacked the freedom to learn, Douglass lived in a house replete with food and essentials needed to sustain him a comfortable life. In exchange for knowledge, Douglass would offer bread to the white poor children in his neighborhood. Another way that Douglass educated himself was by writing on the Crates in the shipyard. He would observe the men that would write on the timber, labeling them. Lastly, while both Master Hugh and Douglass’s Mistress were gone, he would read books written by Hugh and eventually learned how to write the very same way as his
One theme found in The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is that ignorance can lead to a depth of curiosity. In his autobiography, Douglass has an eagerness of wanting to know more information from anything that surrounds, and that his “…want of information concerning my own was a source of unhappiness…”. Douglass want for knowledge is obstruct by his master’s deprivation of information to his slaves. When in Baltimore, Mrs. Auld was teaching Frederick the ABCs and teaching him how to write. Once Master Auld found out about this he was enraged and told Mrs. Auld that “learning would spoil the best nigger in the world”. Once Douglass heard this he understood what knowledge can do. Douglass’s ignorance lead to curiosity from which lead to knowledge. In the news article “The Case for Teaching Ignorance”, Marlys H. Witte, a college professor, suggested teaching a class called “Introduction to Medical and Other Ignorance”. Marlys wanted her students to “…recognize the limits of knowledge and to appreciate that questions often deserve as much attention to answers”. Many people didn’t agree with Marlys H. Witte, but many scientist and sociologist have agreed with her. Sociologist, Linsey McGoey, has said “…students
"Every young man is born with some determination in his nature, and is a potential genius." At first glance this quote produces a mix of emotions from the reader. Upon further investigation and examining the word choice one may find Emerson's statement to be completely valid. Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay titled "Education," uses the open words "some" and "potential," making the statement more realistic and ultimately true.
Most controversies over education are centered around the question of how strictly standards should be upheld. The concern over whether or not flunking students is appropriate or even in the best interest of the student is a widely discussed topic. The argument often begins with students just starting school where the question of standardized testing for kindergartners arises. The majority of people are actually against such testing because they feel that a child who is labeled as a failure at such an early age may be permanently damaged (Bowen 86). The worry over the failure issue is further traced to educators who feel children just entering school are not fully prepared. Teachers are faced with kindergarten students who do not know their addresses, colors, and sometimes even first and last names (An ‘F’ 59).
In order for Douglass to reach his goal of becoming a free man he thought the only way out was education. He needed to learn how to read, write, and think for himself about what slavery was. Since literacy and education were so powerful to Frederick he persevered to get himself the education he wanted. …. Douglass knew it wouldn’t be easy, but that didn’t stop him. Douglass realized the “ conscious of the difficulty of learning without a teacher, I set out with a high hope, and
Through our class discussions of education we came across this quote by Joseph Sobran, an American journalist and writer who spent a great amount of his career working for the National Review Magazine, "In 100 years we have gone from teaching Latin and Greek in high school to teaching Remedial English in college." When asked to critically think about the meaning of this quote I concluded that our educational standards have been lowered over the years and that students in America are not as intelligent as they once were in previous years. These two thoughts brought me to the questions, what does it mean to be educated or intelligent and who gets to decide. When reflecting emotionally on how this quote made me feel I realized it made me feel
It is evident that Gerald Graff’s article is bias because he avoids talking about acquiring academic intelligence through academic learning rather than non-academic ways. For instance, Graff shows bias when he generalizes our way of seeing educated life and academics. He said that, “We associate the educated life, the life of the mind, too narrowly and exclusively with subjects and texts that we consider inherently weighty and academic. We assume that it’s possible to wax intellectual about Plato, Shakespeare, the French Revolution, and nuclear fission, but not about cars, dating fashion, sports, TV, or video games.” (Graff 264-5). Graff clearly thinks that everyone associates educated life with academics, when in reality this is not true. He believes that
When Gerald Graff was younger he and his friends would have various debates about sports including what team had the best pitcher in baseball. Graff pointed out that while having these arguments with his friends, they would have evidence to support their thoughts whether it be using statistics to find batting averages or using their argumentative abilities in general to support their opinion. This proves that even people who do not do the best in school are capable of brilliant things, the school system just needs to encourage students to use their hobbies to enhance their academics. Instead of dividing the different forms of intelligence, book and street smarts could merge and grow into a more detailed educational system that can help not just with academics, but with life itself. While it is good to know proper grammar, knowing about dating, sports, or cars can actually get people farther than anticipated in life. Graff thought that in the school system, street smarts is perceived as less than compared to “book smarts” which are encouraged in school. If the two forms of intelligence were to merge instead of separate, the educational system can transform into something
Education is in itself a concept, which has changed over the millennia, can mean different things and has had differing purposes according to time and culture. Education may take place anywhere, is not constrained by bricks and mortar, delivery mechanisms or legislative requirements. Carr (2003. p19) even states, “education does not necessarily involve teaching”. Education, by one definition, is the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life (education, n.d.).
In summary, we annotate that society forms the opinion of a person being well educated. In addition, the perception is based merely on the accreditations earned from an institute of “higher” learning. Also it is factored with the type of employment a person possesses. This theory indeed proves itself wrong. This is due to the fact that people and technology never seem to stop advancing. Thus explaining the theory of a person being well educated to be an well educated factor. The evidence for this is simple. How can a person be proficient in something that has no limits? Remember WE all learn something new everyday.
How do we get educated? To most, education is an arduous slog through school; starting with simple stories about naughty rabbits swapping bologna sandwiches. As we grow, we move on to more and more intellectual pursuits- onward to ancient kings being depressed. By the time we graduate we are ready for a life as a ‘productive member of society’. One may find themselves wondering where that shift is from ignorant to educated. Most people will tell you it comes when you graduate high school, some will argue that it will not happen until you become a parent, others will say it never happens. David Foster Wallace and Mike Rose believe that being educated is not a matter of how well you have been educated, but how you grow as a person. Mike Rose’s life experiences illustrate this perfectly.
One of the most clearly seen and common aim of schooling is to develop individuals ‘who have skills an...
place to stress out. As I walk through the halls all students seem to have that