“Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those
who prepare for it today.”—Malcolm X
***
What motivated to write today’s column was this message that was supposed to be posted at the entrance gate of a university in South Africa:
“Destroying any nation does not require the use of atomic bombs or the use of long-range missiles. It only requires lowering the quality of education and allowing cheating in the examinations by the students.
“Patients die at the hands of such doctors. Buildings collapse at the hands of such engineers. Money is lost at the hands of such economists and accountants. Humanity dies at the hands of such religious scholars. Justice is lost at the hands of such judges.
“The collapse of education is the collapse of the nation.”
You may not agree with me about this but education is one of the most discussed subjects of the times. Put 10 people in a room and you will have at least ten different definitions of what education is.
“Education is something a person gets for himself, not that which someone else gives or does to him,” says John Holt. “Education is what survives when what has been learnt has been forgotten,” states B.F. Skinner. “Education is the instruction of the intellect in the laws of Nature,” contends Thomas Henry Huxley.
“My idea of education is to unsettle the minds of the young and inflame their intellects,” points out Robert Maynard Hutchins. “The great end of education is to discipline rather than to furnish the mind; to train it to the use of its own powers, rather than fill it with the accumulation of others,” argues Tyron Edwards.
“Education makes people easy to lead, but difficult to drive; easy to govern, but impossible to enslave,” remarks Henry Peter, Lord Brougham. “The great aim of education is not knowledge but action,” declares Herbert Spencer.
In a distant past, a young boy was found at the age of twelve, having been nurtured by a wolf. This boy possessed an exceptionally high intelligence quotient. Within three years, he successfully completed both elementary and secondary education.
Subsequently, two years later, he earned a college degree in nuclear physics, graduating with the highest distinction. His future appeared to be extraordinarily promising; however, tragically, he lost his life one day while attempting to bite the tires of a fast-moving vehicle.
If that’s tragic, this one seems comic. A major international ink manufacturer recently noted that its sales had skyrocketed. Some retailers were asking for gallon bottles.
According to Time, the company “finally discovered that its popularity was due to a thirst for education: Pregnant mothers were drinking ink in the hope that their children would be born knowing how to write.”
Sydney Harris advises, “What you learn with just the mind is quickly forgotten; what you learn when you are so emotionally involved remains imprinted in the nervous system; and the first task of education is involvement, not mere learning.”
“The things taught in schools and colleges are not an education, but the means of education,” reminds Ralph Waldo Emerson.
A mother was having a hard time getting her son to go to school one morning. “Nobody likes me at school,” said the son. “The teachers don’t and the kids don’t. The superintendent wants to transfer me, the bus drivers hate me, the school board wants me to drop out, and the custodians have it in for me. I don’t want to go.”
“You’ve got to go,” the mother insisted. “You’re healthy. You have a lot to learn. You’ve got something to offer others. You are a leader. Besides, you are 42 years old. And you’re the principal.”
Education never fails. I was reminded of an anecdote which appeared in Reader’s Digest.
“From the day we entered the biology class in high school, one blackboard was covered with the names and locations of the major bones and muscles of the human body,” the author wrote. “The diagram remained on the board throughout the term, but the teacher never referred to it.”
On the day of the final exam, the students observed that the board was wiped clean. The examination consisted of only one question: “Name and locate every major bone and muscle in the human body.”
Of course, the whole class protested with one voice: “We never studied that.” The teacher answered: “That’s no excuse. That information was right in front of your eyes for the last few months.”
After the students had struggled with the test for a while, the teacher collected the papers and tore them up. “Always remember that education is more than just learning what you are told,” the teacher told the class. “Most education comes from looking.”
To end today’s column, let me quote Epictetus who said: “To accuse others of one’s own misfortunes is a sign of want of education. To accuse oneself shows that one’s education has begun. To accuse neither oneself nor others shows that one’s education is complete.”
