No Child Left Behind. Race to the Top. ESEA (that is, Elementary & Secondary Education Act). Public vs. Charter debates. Teacher Quality. Rising College Costs, etc…and the list keeps going and going and going more than the Energizer™ Bunny regarding our education system in the United States.
We have heard from President Obama that we need to increase the number of Americans with college degrees by 2020 in order to compete globally. A bit ambitious but admirable. It has been even postulated (through research) that individuals with a college degree make, on average, $1 million more in a lifetime than those with only a high school diploma. Given that we have a propensity to measure value in terms of dollars and cents, this data makes a tremendous case for a college degree.
But does a college degree suggest that one has received an education?
My opinion is that a degree DOES NOT mean one has received an education. Can one receive an education by possessing a degree? Oh yes! Maybe!? I know this sounds oxymoronic but stay with me, please.
For those of us who have degrees, it means that our degree(s) have been conferred upon us:
…with all the rights and privileges and honors appertaining thereto in recognition of the satisfactory fulfillment of the requirements of this degree. (Taken directly from one of my degrees.)
Take a look at yours. I’m sure yours says something similar. But does it say that you have an education? It’s implied, but I don’t think so.
What, then, is an education you ask? Facetiously, I have heard that it is learning while putting formal education aside. This says, to me, that formal education interrupts or hinders learning. Learning – that ever so elusive concept that is the foundational element of education. At least it should be. So education is about learning.
Our educational system tends to confuse learning with achievement, especially when there is an attempt to quantify learning. We currently have a system that says if student (test) scores are not up to the established pedagogical standards, students are low achieving. Those same students may not have “achieved” according to the established academic standards, yet, may have still learned more than what can be measured quantitatively. Everyone does not learn at the same rate nor do they learn in the same manner. Nonetheless, they are learning and, hence, earning an education.
Yes, there are basic skills that one must possess in order to be a literate, functioning and productive citizen in order to earn to live. I am not disputing that. However, this is even more reason why I put a higher value on education than on a degree. Why? Because with a “true” education, an individual just might be conferred with all the rights, privileges and honors appertaining to learning to live the life he or she deserves.
What are your thoughts on this?