What Does It Mean to Be Well Educated

What does it mean to be "Well Educated?"

Being a mother of three, and going to school, is tough work. Am I doing it so that I am "well educated" and I can get a good career? That is a part of it, but mainly I want to be an example of responsibility to my children. I believe that being well educated means that we are to be pro-active in all aspects of life, whether that is academically, spiritually, physically, or with our behavior. Another phrase I think people use for this is being "well-rounded." Whenever I summarize my view for others, I say something along the lines of, "an educated person is someone who has the habits of mind, hand, and heart to adapt to whatever life might throw at him or her."

Politicians and other public figures talk about education as though it's most important function is serving the needs of the economy. There are financial aids of all kinds available, and some students even go into debt trying to fulfill this commission. Of course, making a living is important. But one major reason we try to educate all of our citizens in America is to prepare us to act as full participants in a democratic republic. Likewise, I believe that education can and should be personally fulfilling, allowing us to appreciate life more by giving us the power to do things like read for pleasure, or compose music, or to better understand the world around us. To me, a good education is about developing habits of mind, the ability to make things, and to find an appropriate balance between your own needs and the needs of others.

Many believe that teachers and schools are the only ones responsible for educating children. There is that age-old saying stating that "it takes a village to raise a child" that could not be more true. Everyone -- parents, teachers, community members and institutions - have a role to play, and one of our main goals should be to work together to ensure that this happens. "The deadly notion that the schools' first priority should be intellectual development...the main aim of education should be to produce competent, caring, loving, and lovable people." (Nel Noddings, Stanford University) think there are a lot of ways to provide children with a rich, useful education; there is no one "right" answer that will work for every child or every school.

Another way I think that you can be well educated is if you are very proficient in one skill, for example, my dad is a plumber. He knows everything there is to know about plumbing, but ask him to spell something or to react in certain ways socially, and he is lost. People are drawn to trade jobs for this reason; they can become good at one skill, or set of skills, and identify with them. I believe this person is well educated because they choose their careers and they are good at them.

" Does the phrase well-educated refer to a quality of the schooling you received, or to something about you? Does it denote what you were taught, or what you learned (and remember)? If the term applies to what you now know and can do, you could be poorly educated despite having received a top-notch education. However, if the term refers to the quality of your schooling, then we'd have to conclude that a lot of "well-educated" people sat through lessons that barely registered, or at least are hazy to the point of irrelevance a few years later."( Kohn, Alfie 2003)

I do not think that the term, "educated" refers to what a person can or cannot do, but rather refers to a mindset. I am going to school online because it is one way that I can be pro-active in bettering my attitude, situation, and intellect. I am also showing my children that no matter how busy life gets, there are always positive choices we can make to help further our knowledge and help prepare us to be better people. I never want my kids to feel like they are a grade, or a percentage, but that what they are learning in school is useful for making them into a well-rounded adult, and these "skills" are creating in them a desire to learn more.

I was a terrible student in high school, my GPA was probably a 2.0 at best, but I loved to learn. A lot of the things that I was learning did not resonate with me academically, and from that, I had a fear that I would not get a good grade