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i work with an engineer, that graduated from a state university, that is so uneducated. I guess you can take a class over enough times that you can finally pass and get a piece of paper. He not a P.E. I don't know if he pass the EIT but he know just enough to be dangerous
Although I have a law degree from a tier 1 law school (currently applying for admission to the bar after having passed the most recent bar exam) and did my undergrad at an Ivy League university, I try my best not to use the term "educated" as it often comes off as snobbish and fails to take into account various degrees of education, including what some would call "street" smarts and people who have a better understanding of many academic and non-academic concepts than others, despite having not having the same level of formal education. I've seen many so-called "educated" people who, while certainly knowing their profession inside and out, had a very narrow and sorry understanding of the world; they were, as I like to say, educated fools. You can teach law or medicine to those who are willing and able, but teaching such individuals common sense is not so simple.
Being "educated" is based on the opinion of the individual.
- Some people believe they are educated if they can yell and scream louder than other people they are debating with to seemingly "win" a debate, even though they provided no facts, logic, ration, or substance to their "yelling".
- Some people believe they are educated because they have a college degree...ANY college degree, even a college degree in Black People Studies or Lesbian Women Studies.
- Some people believe they are educated if they can regurgitate material over and over that's been spoon fed to them and programmed for them to believe.
What do I think? I believe that knowledge is power, and you will know if someone actually has knowledge (or is educated) if they hold some sort of power.
What good is it to be able to regurgitate material over and over, but you are broke living in someone's basement without even the ability to purchase a vehicle?
What good is it to have a college degree but you are broke?
What good is it to be able to yell and scream louder than everybody, but you are the poorest debater of the group?
Surely, everybody WITH money aren't what I would call smart people, but they are surely knowledgeable people even if they received the money through a Trust Fund as receiving the money is only part of the battle, you have to be "educated" enough to KEEP it.
So in my opinion, the real educated person is a person with power. Power in this case is defined as having financial, professional, and political resources, leverage and networks.
When I say "educated man," I do not refer to the individual who has read a thousand books and magazines, however important reading may be to the life of the mind.
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When I use the term "educated man," I do not mean the individual who has memorized a thousand facts and assembled in his mind a million data, on the basis of which he has earned a string of academic degrees.
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When I say "educated man," I do not refer to the skilled engineer, the able trial lawyer, the talented musician, the gifted writer, or the expert surgeon.
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The educated man ******* has opened the windows of his mind to great thoughts and ennobling ideas; he is not imprisoned by the printed page, but chooses to make a relentless, rigorous analysis and evaluation of everything he reads; he is less interested in the accumulation of degrees than in the stimulation of his mind and the cultivation of a generous spirit.
I grew up in a very low income area where everyone was ignorant and racist, moved into a upper middle class neighborhood where everyone "knew" everything. I have been in the military where your education is combat oriented and your knowledge of life was irrelevant compared to what you knew about the military. I have worked in the various trade skills where the only knowledge you needed was based on your craft and I have been self employed rubbing shoulders with folks whose net worth exceeded some countries GDP.
In my opinion educated means you are open minded and always willing to learn, willing to view things from other perspectives and actively strive to increase your knowledge base.
An educated person will use facts and deal in information while questioning the same. They view the world from many perspectives not just the model they have formed from their personal experiences.
To me being educated has a lot more to do with than just going to school...
Being educated means you have common sense, you can read and follow directions, you can accomplish things whether they are hard or easy, you know the difference between good and evil or naughty and nice and apply that in your life...
It also means that you can raise a family (if you have one) and make the right decisions for their well being... Also how you relate to other people...
I have known people who had all kinds of degrees and weren't worth the ground you spit on... I have also known people who barely or didn't even finish high school and are a lot farther along with their lives than the ones with a degree...
As said by nana053 and Westcoastnavy, education is about having an open mind.
Here's an old quote that has been attributed to many people:
"Training is taking an empty mind and filling it.
Education is taking an empty mind and opening it."
I used to be a teacher, and it is the best thing that my professor ever told me.
Well, that, and "never turn your back on a classroom full of kids."
And here is one from Epictetus:
"No greater thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen."
I have no idea what he was actually talking about, but that's how I see education.
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