The meaning and criteria of education.

  

Date Posted: 9/14/2011 3:46:55 AM

Posted By: Wishstar  Membership Level: Gold  Total Points: 7507

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Most of us have been to various institutions to acquire education. This is because we are endowed with higher abilities of reasoning, perception and cognition unlike other creatures. Education is defined as a deliberate attempt to acquire and to transmit the accumulated, worthwhile skills, attitudes, knowledge and understanding from one human generation to the next.

There are three criteria which an activity must satisfy before it can be called education

a. The value criterion

Before an activity can be regarded as education, it must be of value to society. What we normally see in our institutions these days may not be considered as education since it is not of value to the society. Things like cheating in exams, cramming, reading only for purposes of passing exams among others. Those who engage in such activities are not involved in anything educational because each of them is of no value to society.

b. The knowledge criterion

Before an activity can be called education, it must be seen to relate to other forms of understanding. It means that education must be seen as a range of activities which enlighten, broaden and deepen the understanding of ourselves in relation to the universe. An educated person is known by his ability to apply and relate his knowledge and understanding of a particular field to other aspects of human activity. Inert knowledge or narrowly specialized knowledge cannot be called education.

c. The life-long interest criterion

Before an activity is called education, those who are engaged in it must continue to be interested in what they are doing. In this sense, an activity which is educational generates sustained interest in a person for continued self improvement. Thus a person who stops showing interest in learning after his primary, secondary, or university degree in his particular field cannot be called educated. One whose interest in learning ends after the final examination and one who does not apply what he knows can be said to know a lot or to be well informed but not educated. It can then be said that out of the many individuals who leave university or high school every year, only a few can be called educated since only these few continue to show interest in pursuing further and worthwhile knowledge and discovery.

So are you educated or are you just well informed?

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