What does education mean to you?

Question

To me education not only means book learning. It includes social learning, life experiences, decision making, etc... How do you define education?

Answer 1

I would have to agree with you. Education means to have a knowledge on all aspects of life, not just one.

Answer 2

I agree with you DHC education is a combination of not only schooling whether it be private, home, or the public school system.  However, social education is just as important as institutional learning. In the times were in now if you do not socially prepare a child for the world they will not make it.  You have to let your children experience all aspects of life(within reason of course) and you have to let them make mistakes not protect them from them because when they get out in the world they need to know how it feels to "mess up" and know on their own how to correct it.  Also if we dint let our children socially develop when they are young, they will rebel and find out on their own what has been kept from them.  Keep it up DHC!!!!

Answer 3

I define education 2 ways. One way is to foster a love of learning for my kids. Letting them find out the learning is fun.

The second is to give them all the facts and letting them make up their minds.

Book learning is not as important as learning by experience. Experience teaches more and makes the lesson permanent. Where as just reading the dry facts makes it, well, boring. I would rather see them doing hands on than books. Except of course when they are learning to read or reading for fun.

Answer 4

Education is more important than a diploma.  

My stepdaughter graduated from public high school with a diploma.  She does not have an education.

This was part of the reason we homeschool our son.  He was being graduated from class to class without getting an education.   He was very social in public school.  He is very social now.

I define education as knowing how to learn and not just memorizing facts for a test.

Answer 5

Here are some thoughts:

Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. - Abe Lincoln

It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Albert Einstein

Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual. - Arthur Koestler

Thank goodness I was never sent to school; it would have rubbed off some of the originality. - Beatrix Potter

The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. - Alvin Toffler

There is no greater crime than to stand between a man and his development; to take any law or institution and put it around him like a collar, and fasten it there, so that as he grows and enlarges, he presses against it till he suffocates and dies. - Henry Ward Beecher

To repeat what others have said, requires education, to challenge it, requires brains. - Mary Pettibone Poole

Your mind is like a parachute, it only works when it's open. - Not sure.

It is impossible for a [or woman] man to learn what he thinks he already knows. - Epictetus

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So, preparation, curiosity, creativity, open to the new / not being closed minded, love of learning, independent learning, life long learning, unlearning, relearning...

But... my grandmother said it best - an education is something no one can ever take away from you.

Answer 6

for me education means something that prepares you to life something that learns you very many and important things

Answer 7

May I ask, DHC, why you put this under the homeschooling category and worded it as such?  I've seen trolls come out in answers, but in questions, this is very interesting.

Education should include the whole person - body, soul, and spirit.  I would also add moral education to your list.

If you're trying to make this an anti-homeschooling argument, well, it's pretty weak.  My son does a TON of "social learning", in the *real* community, with people of *all* ages, not just those 1 year on either side of his age.  When we go to events with public schooled kids, he is the only one complemented on his behavior - respectful, attention given, and thankful.

As for life experiences, as a homeschooled child, my son gets MORE of them than his B&M schooled peers.  Why?  because he's out in the community most days, again, working with people from babies to senior citizens.  He learns from others in that way.  He gets to go on field trips lasting *hours*, not 1-2 hours.  He gets to go bowling and ice skating weekly (at a discount, too, he says) with other HS'ed kids.  His B&M peers rarely get to go.  He gets volunteer opportunities they do not get.

As for decisions, he not only has several hours a day of self-directed, independent learning (after his curriculum work is complete), but he gets to choose his educational goals and take part in the his curriculum decisions.  He is not told what to think and when.  Nor is he subjected to rigid rules of what constitutes his grade/age level.  He is not given curricula that doesn't fit his learning style.  He gets to fly - working on courses at various grade levels, at his own speed, and studying topics he'd never have time to do in a B&M school.  I don't know too many 9 y.o.'s who get to study solar weather, astrophysics, or sub-atomic physics on a daily basis - making their own decisions on how to learn the information.

He also gets a lot of spiritual learning - not just in Sunday school or at Wednesday night youth group.  He helps missionaries, he goes to a bible club, he memorizes scripture, he has in-depth bible studies.  He gets to pray over his lunch, pray for someone else when they get hurt, serve terminally ill people (a recent HS tutor just died), and read his bible as literature and not have someone say it's not "allowed".

My son also doesn't have to conform to crazy public school "prison" rules such as (and my daughter is in PS, so I know):  walking on the third tile from the wall, keeping your hands behind your back, not being able to talk at lunch because the volume level is too high, getting ONE, 15-minute recess period, on and on.  What does all of that have to do with education?

So education is for the whole person.  That is why I homeschool.

Answer 8

I agree--education is more than just book learning. There's all the social learning, character building/morals/conscience, knowing themselves, self-confidence, building independence, taking care of yourself physically, mentally and spiritually, knowing about the world around them and what they can do to make it better... You educate a whole child, not just their brain.

I also believe that education is a life-long thing, or ought to be, so part of educating a child would include them learning that there's no end to learning, as well as knowing how to learn and where to turn to when there's something you want to know. Someone who has their head filled with facts but isn't capable of figuring out things on their own is lacking in their education.

ADDED: Somebody's answer had me think of something else. I see only part of education as a preparation for later life. I see the bulk of education as being for the here and now---living life NOW. Treating the now (the school years) like it's only a preparation for adulthood, and that adulthood is "real life" is missing out on on the 13 years of *life* being lived while in school (whatever shape that school may take). There is so much to experience, so many things going on in the daily lives of children that to dismiss them, as society is often so quick to do, as nothing more than a preparation for adult life just seems to dismiss the kids altogether.

Answer 9

Education is a lifelong process. Education is something we're always taking part in, whether active or passive, whether tradition or experiential or by observation or by thinking/discussing.

I've always liked the Yeats quote: Education is not the filling of a pail, but the  lighting of a fire.

Answer 10

I agree entirely. It is a holistic process. That is why we homeschool.

    I watched my child along some of her public schooled peers at community choir last night. They required an excessive amount of direction and redirection. I did not see a passion for music in them or any obvious interest at all. It was a frustrating experience for a child who went in ready to learn and genuinely interested in the material. That is the difference in a person who chooses something vs a person whose choices are made for them. We value rich and varied life experiences. My kid is quite proud and excited about the life she leads. Her social interactions are definitely different from most of her peers. She hangs out with other kids, rides bikes, etc, but she also has more adult friends than your average 10 year old. She has recently been asked to be in a wedding as a sign interpreter. The two ladies getting married are very fond of my daughter and want her to be a part of their memory when they look back on their wedding day. She's having a ball getting involved in the wedding planning. They'd like her to help design the programs as well and she is willing to try, though she has no experience with such things. Life is an adventure for her and I hope it always is. Nothing seems daunting or impossible. Challanges are to be looked forward to, not avoided. Differences in people are expected and in no way threatening to her. (Our circle of friends runs the gambit of faiths, races, ages, sexual orientation and income levels.) They are just a part of life. Different can be good. Please try to keep that in mind when you are judging and preaching about all the things you imagine HS children lack. What we have is different. That does not mean it is less valuable or edifying. My kid would not trade her social interactions, decisions or life experiences for the world. Neither would I.

EDIT:Not a troll? Are you kidding? I've seen your other Q&As. Quote,".... I think that home schooling is ridiculous. Am I the only one who feels this way???

1 month ago". You post on General Ed. hoping for support for your incredibly closed minded views and rarely get the answers you want. You choose short bobbled headed agreements as your best answers while completely ignoring well thought out answers detailing support of HS. You never bother to address rebuttals. You are not here to learn or instruct based on anything other than your prejudices. You my dear are a troll. I'm sorry to have to shock you with that news. I thought you knew. I'd have broken it to you in private email, but you don't allow those.

EDIT: This is not about points of view. You have made unfounded blanket statements slamming HS and the families who HS over and over again. That is personal prejudice, not fact and not the result of a deep consideration of any educational philosophy. You have not once approached HS with anything but a damning attitude and an appalling lack of knowledge. You are a fan of anyone else who hates and uses abusive language toward HSers. (Yes, I check the lists.) Now you are hopping on other questions just to insult the HSers asking them. What is the point of this behavior?

Answer 11

Education is book learning.  Wisdom is putting what you know into practice, which is why my family homeschools.  Kids in public school may be able to do basic math, but can they do their family's taxes?  They may read about political issues, but do they ever write their Senator?  They know they have to learn about world/American history, but do they know/care why that is relevant today?  Education is not enough.  You need to be able to put what you know into practice.