What an Education Means to Me - Essay Example

The meaning of education seems to vary from one person to another. I have a friend that believes nothing that is really worth knowing can be learnedin a book. For her, education is the culmination of experiences one has over the course of a lifetime. Book learning, as she calls it, is only good for making money and keeping a job. Real education occurs through living life and interacting with people. An aunt whom I love and respect has the exact opposite view. She is a university professor and feels that academia has a monopoly on “real” education, as she calls it. Education for her is confined to the realm of the observable, quantifiable and rational. Education occurs in the classroom mostly, and occasionally in the field under controlled conditions. I know a man in my mother’s neighborhood that is constantly learning. He told me that education and learning for the sake of understanding is enough for him. He reads classical literature and philosophy as well as all of the latest books on political science and environmental concerns. His mind is filled with the words of some of the greatest scholars that have lived over the past 1500 years. He works at a neighborhood corner shop stocking shelves and running the cash register. When I asked him why he didn’t get a better job he replied that a more demanding job would interfere with his education, and that he valued knowledge over money. The superintendent that works in my apartment complex told me once that he never read anything he couldn’t apply to his job. If it was a manual on fixing a trash disposal or direction on installing new lighting fixtures, then the reading was worth his time. He said that he really didn’t see the need for any education beyond the obvious needs of his career. Formal study beyond his career was a waste of time because it couldn’t earn him any money. Read a novel for enjoyment or enlightenment? Never. He’d rather play poker. I list these examples of people I have in my life and their attitudes towards education to illustrate why I am so conflicted about education in many ways, specifically my education and how I should conduct it. I respect all of these people and see the good and bad in the choices they have made relative to their own education. Summarizing my feelings about education is difficult because of the disparate examples, but as I learn more about the world and the people in it, I can see one thing clearly. I can see that an individual’s approach to their education (whatever that may be) will be the greatest determinant of the level of happiness a person will experience in life and the amount of choices one will have. In short, my thesis is that people who are always learning in whatever manner they have chosen are happier than those that are intellectually stagnant. Therefore, education to me equals real happiness. Thinking back over my life so far, I can see how many different types of education have brought me joy and happiness. In some ways, each of these individuals mentioned earlier typifies a different experience I have had. My earliest recollection of learning is the type of learning exhibited by my aunt. It was in the classroom and was directed by a teacher. I can still remember sitting around a small table with about seven other kids. We passed a book around and said the single word that was on the page. The word matched the picture on the page. The first couple of days we did this activity, I remember looking at the picture for a clue about what the word below it meant. The day that I can recall being such a happy one was the day that I decided to play a game. I decided that I was not going to look at the picture for help in figuring out the word. When the book was passed to me, I closed my eyes and covered the picture with my hand. When I opened my eyes I could see the letters b-a-l-l. I knew this word was ball. It was the first word I feel I ever read all on my own with no help from a picture or the teacher. The other kids in the group saw me close my eyes and cover the picture. They tried to do the same thing when the book was passed to them. I remember feeling so happy that I could now read for real. I also thought it was so cool that the other kids were copying my game. This early recollection of formal learning in the classroom and the joy that it has brought to my life is not overshadowed by the joy that I get each time I read something entertaining and amusing. My ability to read is the key to much of the happiness I have in my life. My good friend’s emphasis on real life learning reminds me of a time that getting out and participating in events was so much more satisfying than simply reading about them. When I was sixteen I was asked to become an umpire for my younger brother’s baseball organization. I had played baseball but didn’t feel comfortable being an umpire because I was sure I did not know all of the rules. He begged me so I agreed. I got a book on umpiring, but it was so boring I couldn’t seem to learn from it. Instead, I began to attend as many baseball games at the local park as I could. I watched the umpires and studies how they operated. I watched how they positioned themselves on the field. The day of my first umpiring event arrived and I was nervous, but soon found that I could be a good umpire. I gained confidence and had a great time helping out the baseball league. This type of satisfaction would have never been realized if I had continued to just read about being an umpire without going out to experience games in person and participating in some myself. The scholar that works in the corner shop in my mother’s neighborhood reminds me of my brief but eventful study of art history. A good fried of mine is an artist. She is constantly talking about Monet and Caravaggio or Michelangelo and Renoir. I always wished I knew what she was talking about but I must admit I never had a clue. I decided that for my own edification, I would take an art history course and attend some lectures at a local venue. I knew that I would never use the information in any practical way. I was never going to make a cent from it, it did not count towards graduation and I never was going to be an artist, but I pursued it anyway just for something good to do. I enjoyed the courses and the experiences I had in the museum over the course of a semester. There was a strong hand’s-on component to the course, so I was able to spend some time in the lab with art historians and conservationists. This experience in learning simply for the sake of learning brings me happiness now every time I have a conversation with my friend and she drops some reference to an artist. I now have some framework for discussion with her, instead of just feeling like I understand so much less than she does. A final way that education has brought me joy was when I applied some serious educational efforts into making money. A man offered me a job in my neighborhood that owned a pet shop. He sold tropical fish. Initially, I was just cleaning fish tanks and stocking shelves. Then one of his sales associates quit. He said that I could have the position (which paid a lot more money plus a commission) it I could show him that I was willing to learn about tropical fish. He said he would give me the chance to prove myself in two weeks. He handed me several books and told me to study. I also watched the one remaining sales associate while I was at work. For two weeks I studies nothing but tropical fish. I learned which ones like a high Ph and which needed a low Ph. I learned which fish could go into a community tank and which needed to be alone. I learned all about eating, breeding and providing the proper plant life in the aquarium. The big day came when my boss posed as a customer with some questions. He asked me some really tough questions about the fish and I was able to give him good advice. I got hired and made more money that summer than I ever would have made sweeping floors and stocking shelves. For me, education means happiness and opportunity. I still do not know if I will ever be one type of learner more than another. All of these types of education have brought me happiness so I plan on pursuing all different types of education throughout my life. Read More