21st Century Education - Essay Example

Introduction In the middle Ages, should a patient have required an amputation, the surgeon would; have him held down to a chair, gulp down huge swings of whisky or ale (as anesthetic). He would proceed to hack of their leg with a saw, which had probably not been cleaned. He would then bind the wound with no regard to the infections that may result. Then the patient would take his already slim chances with gangrene, and infections as the “doctor” went back to his other duties, which most likely were shaving a client’s hair (surgeons were often doubling up as barbers though in reality they probably knew less about surgery than barbering). This analogy depicts the grim picture about the professionals of the time. This explains why patients were just likely to die of the treatment as well as of the disease. In early time like the medieval and renaissance periods, education was an extremely rare commodity, and when available, it was insufficient and created dangerous professions. Today education is considered a basic need to survive in life; this is remarkably different from what it was in retrospect. However, in the last few centuries, education has become more and more available to people and largely thanks to the invention of the printing press and other means of spreading written material, which has been the most outstanding vessel for knowledge literacy. Thus, it has increased, and when 100 years ago we may have said that a person is well educated simply because they knew how to read and write, today those are mere basics in education, and very many people with literacy skills, yet they do not qualify as educated. Even knowledge by itself does not suffice for one to be educated, “Familiarity with a list of words, names, books, and ideas is a uniquely poor way to judge who is well-educated” (Kohn, par 12). Being educated today means that one needs to have not only knowledge, but also the professional, social, and ethical skills that come with it, as well as experience in dealing with people. As demonstrated in the introduction, the professionals of the past had at best half-baked skills mostly relying on luck. Today’s education creates professionals who in some instances spend as many as seven years in college to get the skills need to them to practice in the public domain. For some of the professions, they are trained for require them to have highly precise knowledge such as one would expect in a doctor. This is because he is entrusted with lives, or an engineer who will build bridges or cars in/on which people will travel. Consequently, it is essential for students to learn and hone these skills to the uttermost and often have bodies that ensure standardization such as the bar exam for lawyers. On the other hand, many art colleges teach skills, which are not particularly specific to any job. For example, a student from the faculty of Education can use the same degree to apply and probably get a job, as a customer relations manager in a firm yet there are people who go to school to study the latter. The skills learnt in Arts College are versatile and can be applied in a variety of fields. However, some of the existing professions cannot be practiced by anyone who is not qualified and certified for them. For instance, a doctor may teach biology in a high school class but there in no way a biology teacher, would be allowed to operate on a patient. The key task for companies in the knowledge economy is to getting the right talent into ones organization; however, companies are struggling with school leavers who lack the needful skills to make an impact in the work place (Gaskell, Para 1). This brings out the issue of deficient learning that goes on in many institutions of learning, and many have blamed the poorly skilled school leavers for economic problems considering that 73% of employers in a study conducted in the UK believe that the poor education system is to blame for the skill crisis in the UK (Gaskell par 8). Contrary to the popularly held assumption that when people go to school they do so purely for the sake of the classroom knowledge and to get a diploma, a great part of learning that happens in school happens outside the classroom. Even when it does, it is experienced and cannot be tested in a convectional exam situation. Some of the most fundamental skills students acquire in school include social, skills and cultural knowledge and enlightenment. Bearing in mind that colleges are institution where many different people from different parts of the country and the world meet. A student would expect to interact with people from who bring with them their unique experiences beliefs and culture. Consequently, when one interacts with different cultures at close range, they are able to dispel and disabuse prejudices, which they may have carried with them. For instance, one stereotype held by some in non-Muslim communities especially those from the west is that Muslims are religious fanatics, and they have a propensity for violence and destruction. Yet many of them have never met a single individual of the Islamic persuasion. By the time, one is done with college where he/she will have interacted with them, and realized they are just ordinary people with lives and having problems like anyone else. A person will come to create an opinion of your own far removed from the intolerant beliefs perpetuated by ignorance. Thus, when one starts working he/she can relate effectively with people from any culture without being subjective and prejudicial. Considering the increase of a cosmopolitan society where people from all over the global village often work and live side by side, such cultural education is extremely important in helping a student to work and function in society. This is because he will be able to interact, exploit opportunities for their value, and will not merely be guided by bias. College also teaches one to be a critical thinker and leads one to lose the tendency to accept or judge ideas simply for their face value. Many college students when they join they are still in their adolescent and quite impressionable, and as a result, they give in to peer-pressure often engaging in activities like drug taking an indiscriminate sex. However, as they go through college partly because of biological growth interaction with classmates, tutors and observation as well as wide reading they become more critical in their outlook. In the corporate world and the job market, creativity, critical thinking and open mindedness are invaluable skills required to survive. In today’s world, which is in many ways influenced by information technology (IT), college also introduces students to research skills. These students inevitably learns in theory during communication skill classes offered in most schools and practice in research that college students spend a lot of time doing. Considering the amount of information that is available especially in the internet, one need to develop a critical and discerning eye to sort the “garbage” from the real data. Most of college graduates irrespective of their field of study have to do research work, as this prepares them for employment where research is an integral part of most professions. It is also valuable should they wish to pursue higher education and do masters and doctorates, which require a lot of research. A common misconception only formal education means one is educated. While it is the most common benchmark of being educated, it is not exclusively through this that one can be educated. For many people, today, education means training for a given career. Moreover, many presume obtaining an education as the same with getting hold of a four-year college degree, and that more education means another degree. Conversely, to be uneducated means not having attended college, and, therefore, not having a degree (Hunsinger, Para 2). He goes ahead to disabuse these by asserting that such thinking is spacious, and there are many successful people who, instead of limiting themselves to formal schooling, have gone out to have an experience guided by their curiosity of the knowledge that exists. Such people have learnt and posses varied skills and are considered educated, not by virtue of their credentials, but by their knowledge and skills. Another misconception is that knowledgeable people are in the arts; especially those who can discuss the history and literature are more educated (Schank par 5). In reality, they are just more vocal, as they only happen to have knowledge in subjects that are often discussed by people hence more popular. Someone who is familiar with shake spear may outshine a mathematician in conversation, but only because the latter cannot discuss calculus since it is easily done than discussed, but not because the former is more educated. Detractors have often claimed that college only provides book learning and not practical experiences; indeed, there is a joke that students go to college to get a degree, and then come out to look for knowledge. This is a problem being faced by the education sector, and it does not make it redundant. This generalization is a case of turning exemption into normative since colleges despite this are still molding out a good number of skilled teachers, doctors managers and doctors. Besides, while one can get away with hiding behind the theory in college and still pass in some professions, this would be impossible in professions such as in computer programming, or electrical engineering since most of the work has to be done practically. Conclusion Ultimately, to be educated is more than having gone to school and attaining a diploma or a degree. One must also learn education is a continuous never-ending process, which takes place even after one has left school (Setzer par 4). Thus, part of what college teaches one is how to learn from the world and collect knowledge from those around somebody, the different experiences and events in life. Education is designed to enable human beings to be self-reliant, to control and manipulate their surrounding, as well as improve their lifestyles and interpersonal and communication skills. Education, despite being viewed as an in-school concept it takes place all over the place and does not have to be formal. It is worth remembering that the formal education was not there to start with, and it is simply what was informal education written down and regulated. Hence, education is not just being in possession of facts but the ability to use them practically at whatever level. Works Cited Gaskell, Adi. Companies Struggling With a Lack of Skills amongst School Leavers. Technorati October 15, 2011. April 27 2012 < http://technorati.com/business/article/companies-struggling-with-a-lack-of/>. Hunsinger, Earl. 2012. What Does It Mean to be Educated? Buzzle.com . n.d. 27 April 2012 . Kohn, Alfie. What Does It Mean to Be Well-Educated? alfiekohn.org. 2003. 27 April 2012. < http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/welleducated.htm>. Setzer, Luke.What does it mean to be well educated? Rebirth of Reason. April 27, 2009. April 27 2012< http://rebirthofreason.com/Articles/Setzer/What_Does_It_Mean_to_Be_Educated.shtml> Schank, Roger. What it means to have an education in the 21st century? January 21, 2002. 27 April 2012.< http://www.kurzweilai.net/what-does-it-mean-to-have-an-educated-mind-in-the-21st-century > . Read More