Education Essay

What is education? The dictionary defines education as “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.” To put it simply, education is learning.
People often associate education with school. However, one does not have to be lectured in a classroom or read an assignment from a book to learn something. We learn new things everyday in school, but also outside of school, that increases our education.
Whether you are making a mistake, traveling to a foreign country, or learning to drive a car, education is present. We are constantly, both intentionally and unintentionally, learning new things that will help us in our lives at one time or another.
This point proved to be true in Loren Eiseley’s essay, “The Hidden Teacher.” Eiseley stated, “. . . We think we learn from teachers, and we sometimes do. But the teachers are not always to be found in school or in great laboratories. Sometimes what we learn depends upon our own powers of insight.” She then tells about a spider in its web. She could tell how intelligent the spider was by how it reacted when she changed its physical environment. The essay pointed out the importance of viewing things from a different perspective and how critical that is to education.
Another important aspect of education was pointed out in Malcolm X and Alex Haley’s essay, “How I Discovered Words: A Homemade Education.” The main character in the essay became envious of Bimbi, who was very articulate and intelligent. So the man decided to get hold of a dictionary and teach himself how to read.
In the article, “Two Ways of Seeing the River,” it was made apparent that not everyone learns the same way. Everyone sees things differently. Even though you may be sitting in the same classroom with someone, you could learn something faster or slower, or you may see something totally different than how your classmates do.
While watching “The Dead Poets Society,” the school and all the teachers told the students that education was the most important thing in life. School came first, and then life. One of the characters, Neil, had a passion for acting. However, his father would not let him pursue acting because he though that Neil should spend his time doing school work. Although the teachers were very strict, one English teacher told his students, “Don’t consider what the other thinks, but consider what you think”. This implies that we don’t need the books and authors to teach us, but that we need to educate ourselves. We need to think for ourselves.
After reading the essays and articles, and watching “The Dead Poets Society,” I really had to reevaluate what I thought education meant. Education is more than going to school and hearing your teachers preach to you. Education is experiencing something new. Education is looking at something from a new perspective. Education is learning.


Works Cited:
1) Twain, Mark. "Two Ways of Seeing the River." Seeing Nature: 282-283.
2) Eiseley, Loren. "The Hidden Teacher." Seeing Metaphors: 167-169.
3) X, Malcolm, with Haley, Alex. "How I Discovered Words: a Homemade Education." How I Discovered Words: a Homemade Education: 187-189.
4) The Dead Poets Society. Director Peter Weir. Performers Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, and Ethan Hawke. DVD. Touchstone Pictures, 1989.