WHAT MAKES A PERSON EDUCATED?

7/7/08


What Makes a Person Educated?

I’ve been thinking about this question all afternoon and evening. As I did my reading I would get side-tracked and jot down my thoughts on what makes a person educated. This is what I came up with:
~ A person is educated if they have the tools to accomplish tasks on their own, engage in intelligent conversations with others, and able to make moral and ethical decisions in order to be self-sufficient in our society.
~ A person is educated if they demonstrate the ability to see different viewpoints on topics; being able to formulate an opinion based on facts, not just personal interest.
~ A person is educated if they can meaningfully make decisions.
~ A person is educated when they can use their knowledge to problem solve situations needed to thrive in our society.
Since the readings were about curriculum, and curriculum is course content (information to be learned, experiences to incorporate in instruction), I felt that someone would be educated if the goals of the curriculum were met. I really don’t have a definite definition so I decided to look it up on-line and this is what was stated:
ed·u·cat·ed ( j -k t d)
adj.
1. Having an education, especially one above the average.
2.
a. Showing evidence of schooling, training, or experience.
b. Having or exhibiting cultivation; cultured: an educated manner.
3. Based on a certain amount of experience or factual knowledge: an educated guess.

I also asked my family what they thought it meant. ** My daughter said that a person is educated if they are well-rounded in their knowledge; having information on many topics and having various life experiences. ** My son said that a person is educated if they can reason. He proceeded to say that he felt there were many types of “educated.” One type was school or book smart where you could comprehend, recall. Another was street smart which was life education, being able to survive; get by each day dealing with everyday activities, interacting with people. He thought some more and came up with educated meaning able to form your own thoughts and express them meaningfully so others understand. ** My husband said that there were two types of educated; 1-street educated (through experience) and 2- book educated as in school; getting from the written word.

This seemed like such a simple question, yet it is very complex and there is no right or wrong answer. We all came up with something similar, so I guess to be educated means to take the knowledge that you have, whether it is book knowledge or life experiences (or both) and utilize that knowledge to make meaning within our society.