A simple and easy question is proposed: “What it means to be an educated person?” This sounds rather strait forward, and most people when asked if they’re educated, the answer would probably be an immediate “yes”. When ask “what it means to be educated? Or “how did you become educated?” The answer might not come so easily. Right from the start, education is thought to be as a process of learning; one might instantly think of school or college but other knowledge obtained outside of school would then become put into question.
In March 2012, the CFR in New York published a converse report entitled “U.S. Education Reform and National Security”. The report discussed the topics of the proposed questions and how they affect the national security of the U.S. Through the use of consistent testing administered by the NAEP showed a decline in national indigence properties by global unity standards. The use of strategic thinking was one of the major losses in score. Americans weren’t become educated in a deeper capacity. The state of the how we see education is in need of change.
My personal philosophy on the subject of education is that of personal dedication. To truly become educated, one must have a desire to learn. To have a yearning passion to learn, instead of just an obligation; the modern society has made it so that we are required to stuff information into our heads to succeed in life. To make it in this world at even the slightest, one must require the all of schooling necessary. Schooling that is made to promote education, though in reality it is defined as an unfortunate hassle of obligation to reach a final goal. This goal is the degree, masters, a doctorate, or even just a high school graduate. At least one of these is...
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...direction of this mindset. The only other question is: “Will the rest of our growing society ever have this mindset and desire”?
Works Cited
Klein, J. I., & Rice, C. (2012). US education reform and national security (No. 68). Council on Foreign Relations.
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Rich, A. (1977). Claiming an education. Speech delivered to the students of Douglass College, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ.
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Knowledgeable, educated, and wise have become descriptive characteristics that have become seemingly interchangeable in today’s society. However, what does it mean to be educated, wise or knowledgeable? In the article “The Educated Student: Global Citizen or Global Consumer” by Benjamin Barber, he says “…young people were exposed more and more to tutors other than teachers in their classrooms or even those who were in their churches, their synagogues-and today their mosques as well.” (417). It is suggested that the places where these characteristics are obtained have changed with industrialization and capitalism. “The Student and the University (from the Closing of the American Mind)” by Allen Bloom directly postulates from the vantage point of a college while referring to an entering student “In looking at him we are forced to reflect on what he should learn if he is to be called educated.” (422). The main reason students continue their education falls under the assumption that will be considered educated at the completion of their studies. But, what does it mean to be educated? Deborah Tannen proposes in “The Roots of Debate in Education and the Hope of Dialogue” that students since the middle ages have gone to places of higher education to learn how to argue or, more formally, debate (538). Where does the ability to argue fall into education? With little support for the education system currently in place, Barber, Bloom, and Tannen discuss in their respective articles the existing problems, their origins, and what they entail.
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.).
Gintis, Herbert. "Chapter 1 Beyond the Educational Frontier: The Great American Dream Freeze." Schooling in Capitalist America: Educational Reform and the Contradictions of Economic Life. By Samuel Bowles. New York: Basic, 1976. N. pag. Print.
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A Nation at Risk had excellent timing. It was commissioned when change was needed. The American people had become mollified to a failing school system. The American government had turned a blind eye to the state of the country’s school systems. A Nation at Risk identified the problems and provided routes to improvement to the people of America, the educators of America, and to the United States Government, assuring that everyone possessed a clear understanding of the shortcomings of education in America. It is hopeful that America will remain vigilant and constantly seek to improve the education that it provides its youth.
Strauss, Valerie. "Where U.S. Stands in Education Internationall." Washington Post. N.p., 25 June 2013. Web. 15 Mar. 2014.
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There is no one single definition for what education really is. Experts and scholars from the beginning have viewed and commented about education in different ways. The definition mostly agreed upon was that education is an acquisition or passing of skills, behavior or knowledge from an institution to another. This institution can either be a person, a school, a family or even the society. If we go in the ancient meaning and the ideology of education, it means to lead out of ignorance. In other words, education or knowledge in this sense was light and education brought the person out of the dark. The purpose and ideology of education is therefore to bring out the potential of a person and pass on knowledge