My Philosophy on Education
As I dig into the college searching process, I constantly ask my mother which living location she loved the most and thrived best in. Every time I ask, the answer stays the same.
“GO TO NEW YORK CITY! There is simply no better educational opportunity than living in New York!”
I proceed to get an hour long anecdote of her and my father taking on the world in Spanish Harlem by day, and splitting the rent in a closet sized apartment at night.
Interestingly enough, my dad was a first generation immigrant from Trinidad that barely graduated high school. He got a full ride to Syracuse University for football due to his sheer size (he was 6’7) and captain status on his high school Rugby team. He failed to attend because his mother couldn’t figure out how to fill out the paperwork. He moved to New York City for a change of scenery, and hopefully, more promising job opportunities.
My mother on the other hand graduated high school on the top of her class, killed her SAT’s and graduated from a top Ivy League school: Dartmouth. Despite their educational differences, my mother and my father gained approximately the same amount of money, and lived in the same cramped apartment. Despite my mother’s 4 year “educational edge”, neither one of my parents ever seemed smarter or more promising than the other.
That being said, education is much more than a $100,000 sheet of paper. It is more than a high school diploma or GED. Education is the ongoing process of applying obtained information. To be educated is to apply pre-existing knowledge to develop the skills, the passion, and the mind to develop new or more complex understandings.
For most, the educational experience starts a birth. We learn simple gestures, like how to roll over, or how to cry in order to gain attention from our parents. We smack our lips together and say “Ma-ma- ma-ma -ma..”, and we find that our mother will smile brightly and swoop us out of our cribs. So, we say this more and more to her. Slowly but surely, we learn to speak. But what is speaking if we don’t speak to someone? What is learning without application?
The vast majority of the United States population will proceed to attend some level of schooling. They will learn how to count numbers with their fingers and share Lego’s with their pals. They will learn how to read, write, and play kickball during gym class. Outside of school, children will learn how to brush their teeth, prepare their food, and make their beds. Everybody will develop their own unique set of moral codes. All of these developments are a response to a person’s exposure to varying situations, each offering differing educational expertise. Each of the infinite amount of educational experiences hold the power to shift the mindset and change the life of a person if utilized correctly. These experiences can be as large as learning how to drive a car, or as small as learning that males normally throw “rock” during the first round of Rock Paper Scissors.
That being said, education is relative and unique when going from person to person. It is impossible to learn everything, as there is an infinite amount of information. In addition, it is nearly impossible to apply all acquired information. A person’s passions and necessities should drive their educational voyage, as this will lead to the person being more content with their life. An experienced writer who has not been exposed to (and has limited interest in) information about physics is not uneducated because he cannot understand physics as well as a physicist. However, he is uneducated if he does not apply the knowledge he obtains every day towards being a successful writer, if that is where his passions lie.
In addition, the most educated people will apply their knowledge to their passions, even if they seem unrelated. Einstein’s genius was in part about his ability to rock an equation in the classroom, but his ability to apply his information from outside of the laboratory is what made him an intellectual powerhouse. The fact that he came up with the gravity when an apple fell on his head demonstrates the sheer power application can have.
The terms “education” “learning” and “schooling” are often used interchangeably but they contain a few distinct differences. As defined previously, learning is the process of obtaining information and being educated is knowing how to apply it. Schooling, or formal education, is not synonymous with either of these words. In schools, students are often exposed to a wider range of topics that they would naturally be exposed to in their day to day lives. However, it is completely possible to leave school uneducated, even though it is considered an “educational facility” if the knowledge learned is not applied.
The issue that we arrive to today is that people assume that others are educated based solely on how they look on paper. In high school, students constantly push their peers to share their grades, and gasp with astonishment when they find out that one of their peers is taking 8 and a half credits of AP course work their junior year. Quick to judge, many in Farmington High School scoff when a peer does not graduate on time. Many desperately attempt to associate themselves with the girl who received a full ride to Harvard.
This, of course, can be a mistake. If we follow the definition described above, we know that it is completely possible to graduate high school, or even college, without gaining any educational background. Although these facilities help the individual obtain knowledge, they do not always help a person utilize it.
In addition, if we look at some of the most educated geniuses in history, many of them gained their significance without the basis of a modern education system. Abe Lincoln freed the slaves and united a divided nation with only a year of formal education. Aretha Franklin dropped out of high school at the age of 15, and is one of the most iconic singers of all time. James H. Clark dropped out of high school at 16 and became a self made billionaire due to his business skills.
So, at the end of the day, education is what we make of it. Every day in school, I hear the comments, “I am never going to need to know how to balance an equation.” Or “Why are we forced to learn calculus when we don’t even know how to balance a checkbook?”
In reality, if a student can balance a chemical equation, they could potentially use that knowledge to deepen their understanding of the sciences on a day to day basis. If a student can do calculus, or even basic math, they CAN balance a checkbook. These skills just require a bit of effort, a bit of insight, and just a dash of educational application.
