Through the twenty first century, education has been a hot topic. Everyone has their own understanding of education. The concept of education is affected by their culture. In my opinion, education is a process which combines learning behavior and logical thinking. If education is missing any of these conditions then it is not complete for a person.

     Back in the sixteenth century, the meaning of education was different from now, the Etymology Dictionary gives the definition of education as, “1530s, ‘child-rearing,’ also ‘the training of animals,’ from Middle French education (14c.) and directly from Latin educationem (nominative educatio) ‘a rearing, training,’ noun of action from past-participle stem of educare (see educate). Originally of instruction in social codes and manners; meaning ‘systematic schooling and training for work’ is from 1610s” (Online Etymology Dictionary). Eventually the definition on the Dictionary Website of Education became the well-known definition of today, “the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life” (Dictionary). However, society is only focusing on the first half of the sentence. This is an inevitable result. Because a person’s intelligence can be presents as number through test. A person’s idea, moral view, and world view are hard to be measured. When people ate exchanging their opinions to each other, there is no absolute right or wrong. We have different opinions with each other instead of having an “A plus” opinion or “F” opinion. The meaning of education to society is similar with the meaning in the Sixteenth century. Society does not pay attention on “generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life” (Dictionary). 

     The understanding of education at different societal roles causes conflicts between nation and individuals. Our former president Obama’s, opinion on education was, “What you make your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. The future of America depends on you … … don’t ever give up on yourself, because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country” (Barack Obama). The development of a nation needs education but the attention on each subject are uneven. The nation needs elites of math for space exploration, the elites of biology for the cure to cancer, the elites of architecture to improve city planning, and so on. The expectation of the government towards education is having as many people educated as possible. Thus, they are care about the quantity. Ken Robinson, an educationalist from Britain, has given a speech on Ted Talk, “One effect of ‘no child left behind’ has been narrow the focus onto the so-called STEM disciplines … … A real education has to give equal weight to the arts, the humanities, and to physical education” (Ken Robinson). To a country, STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) disciplines are necessary for the development of a society. But for individuals, the importance of STEM disciplines’ is less than the country considers. Because not everyone is good at math, science, chemistry, etc. The focus on STEM disciplines would limit personal growth. Robinson said, “and one of the roles of education is to awaken and develop these powers of creativity” (Ken Robinson). For individuals, the education is about the quality. My thoughts about education are similar with Robison, a nation is constructed by people; the improvement of a nation also must be made by people. So, a government should leave the space on education for the creativity of people.

     In society, education is more focused on intelligence tests than the “inner part” education. This situation would make people confused that moral education and the way of thinking is less important than the test result. Education is important to a society in general, but what is the meaning of education for individual? I question myself, what is the meaning of being a college student? The answer is get a nice job when I graduate. A nice job relates to a high salary. High salary relates to a well-being of life. Eventually, education relates with material life. As the result, the education is done when people get a job. A person would most likely not be willing to read a book after graduating from school, so that his/her “data base” is not updated. This is why some people of the previous generation have outdated thoughts. People are trying so hard to get rid of the burden of education, because the “education” will not fulfill the hollowness of their heart. They cannot see the importance of education to them.

     Education taught people how we can find the solution to solve the problems. Education links to thinking. Determining what is right and what is wrong are important, but how do we judge the right and wrong? The hollowness which stays in people’s heart is one of the results of the lack of thinking. Doing things without thinking why, leads us into the maze of life. The people in the maze often say “I cannot find the purpose of life.” The book, Analects of Confucius has wrote about, “The Master said: ‘To study and not think is a waste. To think and not study is dangerous.’” (Confucius). Learning without thinking would lead to confusion and misunderstanding eventually. People cannot determine the right and wrong by their own logic to other’s opinions. We would follow whatever the book said. This situation is still happening now. It is like solving a math problem. The formula is given but the student still cannot correctly use the formula on the test. Thinking without learning would lead to the end of nothing. A person is thoughtful but has no knowledge to support his/her idea, the thinking would tire out the person and that person would be stuck on the problem that is too hard to solve. For example, a three years old kid question himself why is the sky is blue, he may give the answer like an elfin painted the sky in blue or cannot give an answer. Without learning the concept of scattering and the wave length of light, the kid would stuck at this question for a long time.

     Education is not just about learning knowledge but also about moral education. Plato, the famous philosopher of ancient Greece, talks about education in a different angle, “And all knowledge, when separated from justice and virtue, is seen to be cunning and not wisdom” (Plato, Menexenus, p. 196). How does a person get his wisdom? The wisdom comes from two parts; one is what are people born with, another one is through what they gain from education. But the education without a clear moral view, is failed. At the same time, moral education is also hard to control. The moral view of a person is affected by the accumulation of the person’s culture, family, friends’ effects. Morals are hard to be explained, moral education requires that the teacher and the parents have good explanation skills and knowledge. How could we answer the question of why should we be nice to each other? Why should we not cheat on test? Why should we not do whatever we want? Unfortunately, the failure of moral education may lead to serious issues. An example of recent event represents that issue. On June ninth, 2017, Yingying Zhang, a visiting Chinese scholar student was kidnapped and murdered by Brendt Allen Christensen, who is a Champaign resident and former physics graduate student at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. The University of Illinois is one of the Public Ivies. How should we blame for a graduate student who is from a top college of America to commit this crime? The education of the United States is not totally failing but the moral education of the murderer, Brendt Allen Christensen, has totally failed. 

     Education is needed even if it does not work on everybody. I have heard people said “college degree is useless.” Because the most supportive evidence of them is some famous people drop at of college and they have a successful career. However, society is improving quickly. More and more jobs needs college degree. I want to emphasis that, without a college degree, it does not mean you cannot have a nice job, but instead, you need to work even harder for a higher position in the firm, than those who have college degree. Mark Zuckerberg dropped out the college for his Facebook business. The key point is he drop out from Harvard, and then after starting his business. He has learned the knowledge and personal discipline from the education and also has the ability to solve the challenge and keep the discipline for his Facebook career. When Mark Zuckerberg answered the question about “Is Bachelor’s degree necessary for success?” He answered, “I did not choose to leave, I just happen to build Facebook and it kind of made me leave … … I wish I could stayed in college.” The experience from others became the excuse for someone to escape the stress from school. Steve Jobs had the same situation, “The minute I dropped out, I could stop taking the required classes that didn’t interest me, and being dropping in on the ones that looked far more interesting” (Steve Jobs). He did not totally drop out from the education, rather he dropped out from the building that was called college.

     The meaning of education to me is not just being in school but also about personal growth. The book, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails inspires me a lot. I was struggling with my life but the opinion from the book said do not find the excuses for yourself. Human have the potential to make change even if the culture, race, or language are obstacles. Education is a window for you to see the outside world and also is a brick which not only breaks the wall that is builds inaccurate of the castle of your mind but also builds up the base of your mind castle. Even though the education of America does not fit the situation of everyone, we do need the education for solving the problems of our life and providing as a chance to be successful.

                            works cited page 

Confucius. “Analects of Confucius.” Translated by A. Charles Muller, Analects of Confucius, http://www.acmuller.net/con-dao/analects.html#div-3.

“Education (n.).” Index, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/word/education#etymonline_v_29710.

“Education.” Dictionary.com, Dictionary.com, https://www.dictionary.com/browse/education?s=t.

Plato, speech of Aspasia, recounted by Socrates, Menexenus 246e, Plato: The Collected Dialogues (1961), p. 196.

President Obama’s Message for America’s Students, YouTube, 8 Sept. 2009, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZZ6GrzWkw0.

Robinson, Sir Ken. “How to Escape Education’s Death Valley | Sir Ken Robinson.” YouTube, Ted, 10 May 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX78iKhInsc&t=292s.

Student Ask Mark Zuckerberg “Is Bachelor’s Degree Necessary for Success ?”, YouTube, 13 Mar. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXF_yLYa8j8.

Why I Dropped Out of College | Steve Jobs, YouTube, 21 Nov. 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjxhenAHyGk.