In today's society, education is often a topic of debate. Many people -- including educators -- believe that education is the act of going to school, sitting in a classroom, completing assigned homework, and test-taking. The goal of much formal education is to produce adults who know facts, dates, and trivia because they have learned these things in a building called a school by people called teachers. However, in order to be defined as education, learning does not have to take place in a school, and does not even require the use of standardized testing, or any type of test-taking. True education engages a student in independent thinking, and brings out a student's natural curiosity for not only a time period of 12 to 16 years, but inspires a student to continue learning for the rest of his life.
In "What True Education Should Do" by Sydney J. Harris, he states that true education is similar to how Socrates taught (Harris, p. 251). For example, Harris argues that true education brings out what is already in a person's mind. Thus, a true education does not involve the "stuffing" of a student's mind with information about how and what to think (Harris, 251). On the other hand, Harris argues: "Pupils are more like oysters than sausages (Harris, 251). By this statement, Harris means that oysters are opened up and their pearls are found, but sausages have casings that are merely "stuffed" (Harris, 251). Harris's definition of true education makes sense, as this definition implies that knowledge is already contained in our brains, and that it takes a good teacher to stimulate his pupil into remembering what he already knows, in a sense.
In "Becoming Educated" by Barbara Jordan, she states that her education in law school involved a lot of studying and reading. However, she felt very pressured to remember case studies during her textbook readings (Jordan, 252). She found that, by participating in study groups, she was able to remember her law school coursework better (Jordan, 252). Later, she discovered that, by reading more and more, her mind was stimulated into thinking for herself, and coming to her own conclusions (Jordan, 253). Thus, Jordan found that, through reading, she became a better law student, a student who learned to defend what she knew based on what she could cite as a source of her knowledge (Jordan, 253). Her realization is very much like Harris's statement because Jordan's studying brought out her own ability to think critically.
In "Angels on a Pin" by Alexander Calandra, he writes about how education can teach a student how to arrive at a conclusion by using many different methods. For example, the student in his essay, when asked to determine the height of a barometer from a building, answered the question correctly, but did not use the approved method to find the correct answer (Calandra, n.p.). Thus, this student knew a variety of ways to arrive at the same answer. This is much like real life. Many times, people will solve problems using different methods, but they still arrive at the same conclusion. Hence, this is yet another excellent example of true education. Education should be able to help students know many types of ways to find an answer to a question. This involves a true understanding of problem solving, and also means that a student uses reason to analyze the best way (for him) to answer a question, a type of independent thinking.
In conclusion, all of the abovementioned writers assert basic things about the true nature of education. Unlike the accepted, standard definition of education, learning is not only one acceptable way of doing things, and does not only involve the memorization of useless facts and dates in order to do well on homework and exams. True education demands that students think for themselves, and use their natural abilities to reason and analyze in order to arrive at meaningful responses to problems. Lastly, true education and learning lasts a lifetime, and is never complete.
Works Cited
Calandra, Alexander. "Angels on a Pin." n.d. Web. 03 Feb, 2016.
Harris, Sydney J. "What True Education Should Do." n.d. Web. 03 Feb, 2016.
Jordan, Barbara. "Becoming Educated." n.d. Web. 03 Feb, 2016.
