What Is Education Revisited?

In a previous post I visited the question of what education is. However, as I’ve been writing a lot about self-education on this blog, today I again had to pause and think about exactly how I define what an education is. Is it a set of skills and knowledge that prepares us for employment? Is it more than that? If so, what else is it? If I am to continue writing effectively about self-education, I needed to square with myself exactly what I think education is or else all of my future writing will be muddled and unfocused.

As I pondered this, I did what I often do – searched the web. I found the first online dictionary definition somewhat concerning. “[Education is] the activity of educating people in schools, colleges, and universities, and all the policies and arrangements concerning this.” (macmillandictionary.com) Really, I thought? Is the delivery mechanism for learning, such as schools and colleges, really what education is? The entry went on to further define education as “someone’s experience of learning or being taught,” “relating to education,” “the activity of teaching about a particular subject,” and “the process of providing people with information about an important issue.” I felt these definitions lacking, but to be fair to MacMillan, virtually every dictionary I consulted had similar entries.

With all due respect to the dictionaries of the world that provide a vital and often unheralded service to mankind (I use them constantly), I felt I needed something more meaningful as a definition if it was to propel me to continue writing passionately about self-education.

We often hear of the “educated person” or “pursuing an education” and the dry, dictionary definitions I was encountering don’t seem to adequately explain to me what such terms mean. To me, education is more about personal development and self-improvement than anything else. Yes, it can have utilitarian usefulness for employment and other pursuits, but ultimately I think education’s greatest accomplishment is when it makes a person better in some way. Perhaps that’s why I think subjects such as philosophy and interpersonal skills deserve their rightful place alongside the likes of accounting and computer programming if the desired end result is a truly educated, well-rounded person.

So, here’s the definition I intend to keep in my mind as I write about self-education. Maybe you’ll find it useful too as your pursue your own self-directed learning.

Education is both the end result, and the process of, learning with the best focus of such learning on improving someone’s knowledge base, analytical capabilities and skill sets in order to improve both their personal and professional lives.

Admittedly, that’s a mouthful and sounds a bit academic. And it’s far from perfect. Perhaps I’ll refine the definition over time as I mull this over more. But for now, this is the definition I’m going to work from and if this definition serves you well also, please feel free to use it too.

I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts about what education is to you.