What does it mean to be educated?

Title

Language

English

Source

Volume XIX (6) June 1967

Year

1967

Subject

Education

Rights

Abstract

[Education is not a status; it is a process of involvement in meaningful existence; it is the spirit of eternal questioning and an expanding attempt at discovery.]

Fulltext

■ Education is not a status; it is a process of in volvement in meaningful existence; it is the spirit of eternal questioning and an expandinng attempt at discovery. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE EDUCATED? Magazines and newspapers daily feature man’s cruelty to man; review new and im proved ways of lengthening life; expose man’s continual questioning of God’s role in the universe; analyze the in ventions of scientists and the creations of writers, painters, and social visionaries; an nounce the average age of Nobel Laureates in 1966 as seventy-three in an age of youth worshippers; and, at Christmas time, editorialize the true art of giving as the gift of sdf. In the midst of rampant chaos, confusion, and con trast, it seems timely for thinking persons, in nations holding high average levels of formal schooling for the masses, to ask, “What does it mean to be educated?’’ Public formal education is big business in the U.S. The great financial outlay may well be questioned: Why do we spend so much for what ultimate purpose as far as each individual and/or nation is concerned? Are the people getting mean ingful, worth-while return for their financial invest ment? Establishing a common premise on which “What does it mean tq be edu cated?” may be reviewed, Erich Fromm has indicated that to be educated is a pro cess of searching for that kind of behavior which is most appropriate to unify, harmonize, and strengthen the individual and which promotes the most meaning ful interrelatedness of the individual with human be ings generally in the mutual experience of learning how to live. According to this definition, to be born would mean that life exists as a series of questions, problems, and trial and error living, implying a lifetime involve ment in a meaningful exis June 1967 39 tence for himself and for others. Perhaps, to be educated is not a station to be achieved, as high school graduation, or a series of situations to be endured, as K through 12 programs, but a constantly evolving, expanding indivi dual process in which, from birth to death, a dynamic organism called “man” finds himself in continual series of confrontations with others, with ideas, and with things in his personal search for the meaning of life. The ancient historian Herodotus wrote long ago, “The des tiny of man lies in his own soul”; it is not, therefore, in the effectiveness of mass conformity which seems too often to pass for education today. The dictionary states that educated means giving evi dence of education. How is evidence of education given other than by ma terialistic acquisition of a sheepskin in competitive striving where winners take all and losers lose out — some to become drop outs, failures unemployed, crimi nals? Searching for the ear liest meanings of the Latin derivatives, of the word edu cation, we find: (a) the drawing out of a person something potential or latent, and (b) aiding a person to become self-actualizing. No one ever becomes educated but is always in the process of becoming, each in his own way, at his own pace, limited by his own unique expeperiences and his personal internalizations of the mean ing of these experiences. Michener in his novel Ha waii ably described the job of living in these words: For this is the journey that men make: to find them selves. If they fail in this, it doesn’t matter much what else they find .... Money, position, fame, many loves, revenge — all are of little consequence when the tickets are col lected at the end of the ride, if they tossed into a bin marked FAILURE. But if a man learns why he lives, if he knows what he can be depended upon to do, the limits of his courage, the position from which he will no longer retreat, the secret reser voirs of his determination, the extent of his dedica 40 Panorama tion, the depth of his feel ing, his honest and unpos tured goals both for him self and others — then he has found a mansion which he can inhabit with dig nity all the days of his life. It seems then that man who gives evidence of being educated has found life more than mere repetitive exis tence with its earthly rewards of food, clothing, shelter, re creation, diplomas, jobs ac companied by a regular pay check and business invest ments, until a social security retirement abetted by annui ties. Instead he who gives evidence of education has grown into a vital, creative awareness of his human uniqueness and is involved in the challenge of untang ling the web of human po tential and radiating glow in the process of creative pro duction for others and with others. This continuous nature of awareness seems to be the major evidence of becoming educated. When he becomes continuously aware of him self and the world around him and lives in accord with these conditions of being alive, he is a harmonious part of all being. This is the ability to emphasize or walk around inside another person’s skin and feel the way he does. It is the es sence of universal brother hood. When he distorts awareness of these conditions of being, he loses himself and his human uniqueness is out of harmony with others. For man intends both consecration and change, not destruction and chaos, and seeks both rest and variety, not power and competition; so harmony is not an easily acquired state, but must be earned conti nuously in collaboration with others jointly with self search and development. Unfortunately, today scien tific research tries to narrow man into too concrete, dis crete, simple one-to-one re. latedness; but he is far more than the sum of all his parts. To be educated is much more than experiencing so many years of confrontations in living. To be in the pro cess of becoming educated means that he is growing within himself continuous awareness that he does not and cannot know all that he needs to know to protect June 1967 41 that which he loves or to forestall that which he fears. So long as he accepts respon sibility for his personal choices, which is true free dom, but always recognizes the potentiality of tragedy, a law of life, he is truly aware of his human unique ness. If he persuades him self that he has achieved cer tainty, or th*t he can achieve permanent'security, then he distorts reality. This pre sents a current anomaly since today many feel “If I just get a college degree, I’ll have it made!’’ or "If I make so much money . . .’’ or “If 1 get such-and-such job . But the world of daily hap penings is set in a larger world of human experiences. One life js inextricably inter woven with all other lives. As science shrinks the world, so the gate of any one man is bound to the fate of all men, like a huge interlock ing chain. To be educated means not only becoming more aware, but also becoming more in volved, i.e., more genuine in all encounters, confirmations, engagements, and dialogues with others. This necessi tates the belief that all men are created equally human and only a paper thin skin like the outer layer of onion skin hides the great common heart, soul, and mind of all humans. It is man-made barriers that divide the world of humans into enemv camps; only humans who be come genuinely aware (truly educated) can remove the barriers of hunger, disease, prejudice, jealousies, and in equalities so that all men may more satisfyingly meet their socio-emotional needs and live in harmony. But too many so-called educated persons want to "Let George do it”; so it never gets done. — By Prof. Evelyn G. Rime! in The Delta Gamma Bul letin for Spring 1967. 42 Panorama

pages

39-42

Media