WHAT IS EDUCATION?

What is education?   Everyone asks themselves that very question.  Education is defined in the Oxford Advanced Learners dictionary as “a process of training and instruction, especially children and young people in schools, colleges etc. which is designed to give knowledge and develop skills.”  You learn through education and through learning knowledge is gained.  Knowledge is defined as “the facts, information, understanding and skills that a person has acquired through experience or education”.  Can you be educated through life experiences or only learn through being taught by a teacher or elder etc.?

Oscar Wilde said “Education is an admirable thing. But it is well to remember, from time to time, that nothing worth knowing can be taught”.  This quote has both truth and lies.  It is true that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught as many skills and important life lessons are learnt through making mistakes and through life experiences, whereas the statement is untrue in that without elders teaching, learners would not learn. People learn to ride bikes, and learn to change tires, which are very useful skills which are passed on through learning, i.e. being taught.  However, learning how to be sympathetic to people in times of need or learning how to read people to understand them is achieved through life experience.  This type of education cannot be taught.  Heinrich Heine said  “Experience is a good school but the fees are high.”  Unfortunately experience is generally gained a lot later in life (i.e. through age) and very often people learn hard lessons through harsh life experiences.  Sometimes life experiences are more valuable than lessons taught.  It is not always about the direct lessons taught in the classroom by the teacher which are important, but the lessons being taught indirectly.

“The value of a teacher is 90% of what he is as a person, and 10% of what he knows.  – this prolific statement was given by Yhuda Tager.”  A teacher can have all the knowledge on his subject of learning, but without the passion of the subject at hand and drive to teach, he will not impart his knowledge on the learner.  A teacher without passion cannot pass on his knowledge to his pupils.  Likewise a teacher with passion with zero knowledge cannot teach. Edward Bulwer – Lytton said “the best teacher is the one who suggests rather than dogmatizes, and inspires his listener with the wish to teach himself.’  This statement also suggests the value of the person in the teacher as opposed to the value of the knowledge in the teacher”.  The best form of teaching is to teach a learner how to think for themselves.  This will help the student get through life.  The way in which learning occurs is as important as the content learnt.  Scholars remember the good teachers not for what they taught them but for whom they were. 

Education is something which cannot be taken away from you.  In life, you can have it all and loose it all but you cannot lose the knowledge that you have gained through education and learning.  People should never stop learning.  There should always be a willingness to learn.  If a teacher manages to teach his class so that the students come away with a desire and willingness to learn throughout their life, the teacher would have been successful.

So what is education?  Nelson Mandela said that “education is the most powerful weapon that you can use to change the world.”  Teachers come in all forms to educate us; we must just be ready to accept the teachings.