Education and What Does It Mean to Be Educated - Essay Example

Education, and what does it mean to be educated.Robert M. Hutchins is much celebrated for his famous quote: “The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives”. For Robert, education is not like a preparation to enjoy life, but life itself and, therefore, it is a process. The question will therefore be; if education is a life- long process, when do we say that someone is educated? (Rojas 13). Education is whatever we learn on a daily basis while being educated means being able to internalize the information learned.

The word ‘education’ is from the Latin word ‘educatum’ which is comprised of two words ‘E’ and ‘Duco’. ‘E’ means a transitional progress from inwards to outwards while ‘Duco’ implies developing or progressing. The term education is also connected with the Latin word ‘educere’ which means a force from the internal to the external. One may interpret education, therefore as the process of developing inner powers and abilities of an individual (Chandra and Rajendra 64).

Understanding the meaning of education is the easiest way to understand what it means to be ‘educated’.Thousands of years ago, Plato defined education as a life- long process that starts “from the first years of childhood and lasting to the very end of the life” (Plato 325). Plato viewed life as a process that not only provides skills and knowledge but also impacts value. It is important to note that the definition includes schooling as one of the education programs but not the only. Though ancient, it is of late viewed as the humanist definition of education, and it is the most preferred to date.

According to Mohanan, definition of an educated person should be viewed in terms of thinking, learning and language abilities. In terms of thinking abilities, he believes that an educated person should posses the general knowledge needed so as to be able to make informed rational decisions. He or she should also be able to withdraw conclusions from both familiar and novel situations in life. In the case of learning abilities, an educated person should have mastery of the general thinking abilities that enables one to have informed intelligent decisions, assessments, estimates and inferences.

In terms of language abilities, Mohanan defines an educated person as a person capable of using a language clearly, precisely and effectively in relation to knowledge.In conclusion, every day is therefore a learning day for any individual. Learning takes place in whatever you do, think, hear, feel or see but that does not mean that you are educated. You are only educated if you can learn and internalize whatever you have learnt from all these learning processes. It is therefore true to say that education is meant for all but only the willing few will be educated during the education process.

Work CitedChandra, Soti S, and Rajendra K. Sharma. Sociology of Education. New Delhi: Atlantic Pub, 1996. Print.Mohanan, K.P. Who is an Educated Person? Ingredients of educatedness. CDTL, n.d. Web. 5 Feb. 2015Plato. Protagoras. Trans. Taylor, C.C.W. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. Print. Rojas, Martin M. How to write like a college student. New York: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013. Print.