ManÆs essential characteristic is his rational faculty. ManÆs mind is his basic means of survivalùhis only means of gaining knowledge. Man cannot survive, as animals do, by the guidance of mere precepts. He cannot provide for his simplest physical needs without a process of thought. He needs a process of thought to discover how to plant and grow his food, or how to make weapons for hunting. His precepts might lead him to a cave, if one is availableùbut to build the simplest shelter, he needs a process of thought. No precepts and no "instincts" will tell him how to light a fire, how to weave cloth, how to forge tools, how to make a wheel, how to make an airplane, how to perform an appendectomy, how to produce an electric light bulb or an electronic tube, or a box of matches. Yet his life depends on such knowledgeùand only a volitional act of his consciousness, a process of thought, can provide it. Informal education is the sharing of this knowledge, and formal education provides the building blocks to gain more knowledge.
A formal definition by the Websters Dictionary would be :
ed.u.ca.tion \.ej-*-'ka--sh*n\ \-shn*l, -sh*n-*l\ n 1a: the action or process of
educating or of being educated; also : a stage of such a process 1b: the
knowledge and development resulting from an educational process {a man
of little ~} 2: the field of study that deals mainly with methods of teaching
and learning in schools - ed.u.ca.tion.al aj
Consequently education is summed up to be what you learn from a process or stage of development. Most education is informal. The baby/mother combination is the very first example of informal education. It was created out of a need to reproduce. In todayÆs age we all know that a baby needs to be fed and sheltered. This education/knowledge was passed on to us by our family, our observations of other successful parents and by our teachers. The very first parents probably learned quickly that babies needed to be taken care of. The very first babyÆs most likely did not survive, he or she probably died of cold, starvation, and abandonment. The process of thought enabled early parents to understand that their children needed to be nourished. With this knowledge, baby and mother almost instantly learned how to communicate and understand each other. A baby indirectly communicates with its mother when it is hungry by belting out loud cries, and hands waving in the air. Of course, mother will pick up on this act of discontent and feed the baby. As the baby grows, it will learn how to directly communicate with itÆs mother to signal for something, and later learn the ability to communicate with other people.
Formal education is the knowledge and development resulting from applying their current knowledge to a specific task. In todayÆs age we have foundations of formal education, places where people join together to learn about specific fields of interest. This foundationÆs sole purpose is to archive knowledge passed on by the people who originally discovered it and to relay it to people who seek the same answers. The ability to be formally educated enables a person to build upon this knowledge, not to rediscover it. With this a person can learn to how to make a cart, then how to make a car, then how to make a train, then how to make a plane, then how to make a space ship, then how to make a space station, then how to make a space colony.
Processes of thought that developed out of necessity are similar to Informal education. That is, what is not learned in school or a place that deals mainly with methods of teaching and learning, but learned directly due to specific need. Like the baby/mother relationship was created out of the need for survival, the creation of communication was created out of the need to understand one another. As society progressed, from nomadic tribes following their kill, to static societyÆs raising crops and animals. The humanÆs thought process determined there was a need to work together. The ability to communicate enabled people to focus on more specific needs. Mr. Jones and Mr. Gates could raise crops while Mr. Clinton and Mr. Dole could hunt for meat. Communication also provided the ability to pass down the hard learned knowledge to each other. Mr. Jones could tell Mr. Gates that corn grew better in the summer and not the winter. Mr. Dole could tell Mr. Clinton that the spear was a better weapon than the rock. With this basic understanding and ability to communicate, people became specialized on certain skills. The need to perform other tasks diminished and formal education enabled people to focus on more specific needs of their specific purpose.
Foundations of knowledge are not just schools. They are also places of business, libraries, farms, and places of worship. Within all of these places you can learn, and in turn discover something new to be passed along to others. HumanÆs greatest weakness that he cannot provide for his simplest needs without a process of thought has become humanÆs greatest strength. Without the ability to educate and be educated, the human race would not have survived as it has. I believe that education should be provide to everyone who desires one, that a person can learn and achieve whatever he wants through education. Regardless, education is a process every human goes through at every stage of life.
