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Educated vs Educated
I get annoyed when ‘college educated’ becomes confused with ‘educated’. There are many people who have gone to college and graduated, and they are rightly classified as ‘college educated’. But does that mean they are actually educated in the broader sense? I think there is a strong case to be made that that might not be the case for a good portion of those graduates.
I know this makes me sound like some sort of elite education snob. Guess what? I am an elite education snob. I believe in a full and complete, well-rounded, broadly general and inclusive education. I don’t believe college should just be a ‘major factory’ for business or jobs. For us to have a great civilization it also should be, it needs to be, a incubator for intellectual development and critical thinking in the classic disciplines of a liberal education.
Don’t be fooled though, when I say ‘liberal’ I am not talking about it in the political or social sense. It has nothing to do with liberal vs conservative. I am talking about it’s meaning in education, which is specific. It means a broad based, well-rounded education in multiple disciplines.
Ongoing
But, the argument may be given, you can only learn so much in 4-5 years of college. And you do need to think about it having some practical reasons behind all that money and time being put into it. I agree with that. That is one reason why, even if you have the best liberal education possible, it isn’t enough. It isn’t enough for one very important reason. Proper learning in college should always have as one of its main outcomes the realization that what you know now is not complete. There will be new discoveries in science, art, math, politics, environment, religion, philosophy and more. The education of the world does not stop when you get your diploma and neither should yours.
A Proposal
I have had this idea for a while. I propose there be college after college. I don’t mean ongoing education to get mastery in a specific skill or area. I mean tune ups of ideas and information. I mean going back to relearn and expand what you learned way back when. And to add in new areas where you never learned anything in the first place.
And not only that, but I propose we have another graduation later in life. Perhaps every 10-12 years or so. 32, 42, 52? Or maybe 28, 38, 48, etc.? I like the idea of continuing those traditional transitions of our youth into rituals in adulthood as well. I am not sure of the details, but I like the idea.
Drawing and commentary © 2016 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
Quote by Will Rogers, 1879 – 1935, American Humorist
Education system needs to change.
That is true. But then again, all systems are fluid systems and need constant revision and adaption.
Leslie, thanks for the comment. Part of the problem might not be whether colleges deliver the education, but whether the education is received. I am thinking about the difference between a school that designs general education classes to be easy, just there to fill the general ed requirements and a school that is more rigorous, expecting the student to pay attention and receive the education in those areas as well as in their major.
Of course the biggest issue is really not about the college itself but the individual getting the education. If that student isn’t interested and curious about the world beyond their major then all the effort of professors and well-designed curriculum won’t make that big a difference, right?
My hope is to see a return to understanding the value of a broad-based education on the part of more parents, families and society, something I think is currently lacking.
Many companies and professions demand that. However, I disagree with your premise that college-educated doesn’t make you educated-educated. Most colleges deliver a well-rounded experience, not just that focus on one’s major. And life is supposed to do the rest.
In other words, you should know who Shakespeare is and what he wrote and how he changed the world we live in, and then go climb a mountain.