A Philosophy of Education

As many people do not have a clear meaning of education, I also did not understand what exactly is education or when a person becomes educated. However, I have read several essays about education which have helped me to understand a little bit better the meaning of education. One of them is “Schooling Is Not Education.” Other is “The Mind at Work.” And the last one is “Reading Requires More Than Words.” Those essays have a lot of ideas which are very interesting and important for people who want to become educated. In addition, during this semester I have seen different films about education and how a person becomes educated. I know that those films are very easy to understand. For example, in the movie “Dead Poets Society” Mr. Keating who is a professor says to his student that people when they are young think that they are invisible. Later on, they know how to become successful in their life. Education has a lot of purposes for a person. Having a great teacher is quite important for students who want to be educated.

            First of all, I think that one of the purposes of education is to turn a person to become educated, permitting him to see the world differently than he saw it before. I have read different types of essays related to education. One of them is “Schooling Is Not Education” in which the author Mortimer J. Adler says, “Awareness of ignorance is the beginning of wisdom,” meaning that when you become conscious that you do not know enough about your culture or that of others, you start searching for information or something else that you need to learn. Therefore, I say that learning is one of the purposes of education. Making the purposes of education real and powerful, first you must prepare yourself to continue learning during your life. I saw a movie titled “Educating Rita.” From this movie I learned that one of the important purposes of education is to make a person less ignorant than he was before. For example, in one scene of the movie Frank, Rita’s teacher, tells Rita that no matter how many books she has read, the problem is that she does not know anything about literature, meaning that even if you have read many books about any topic, this is not enough to say that you know all about that topic.  Another way to make the purpose of education a powerful reality is reading and discussing, because when you read something and discuss it with someone, you can learn and understand better. All of this happens with the help of a great teacher.

            I think that education comes faster with the help of a great teacher. A great teacher is someone who gives students the love of learning. Furthermore, a great teacher lets students know that they are ignorant, and as a result, students begin to study more and more to become wise. I have seen many movies related to great teachers. Four of them are “Educating Rita,” “The Ron Clark Story,” “Dead Poets Society” and “Stand and Deliver.” In these four movies I saw that teachers let students know that they must sacrifice themselves to become successful in their lives. Another quite important aspect that I saw in common in those teachers is that they introduce fun to the learning process because when students have fun learning, learning becomes something that continues outside the classroom. For example, in the movie “The Ron Clark Story,” Mr. Clark who is a teacher of a group of young students, he also plays with them. He makes a rap song mentioning all presidents of the United States to let students have fun in class. I think that it is a good method for students because students feel surprised to see something new that they have never seen before and they like it. An example of a great teacher is Lewis Levine who is my teacher at the college. I just met him and in the short time of the semester he has let me know that I am so ignorant of the world. Professor Levine has given me the love of learning and has introduced fun to my learning process. Therefore, I continue learning outside the classroom.

            At the beginning of the semester, I knew that an educated person is someone who is intelligent. He has many ideas. He also knows how to make an interesting conversation. In addition, he stands up when somebody is greeting him. Nevertheless, during this semester, I learned that those qualities are not enough for an educated person. I also learned that an educated person is someone who changes his/her life in a positive way and is independent in the process of learning. Likewise, when you see the world in a different way, different than you saw it before, you begin to become educated. The author of the essay “Schooling Is Not Education,” Mortimer J. Adler, says that a young man can not be educated because education comes later, usually much later. I agree with him because a young man does not experience many things during his youth. He also says that if you want to be educated, you should have the skills of learning and the love of it. For example, I am a young student and I have not experienced many things during my youth. Therefore, I consider myself immature. Mr. Adler also says that only a mature man or woman can be educated.

            In conclusion, education is quite important for a person who wants to become educated. The keys of learning are reading and discussing. I sincerely say that at the beginning of this semester I did not understand exactly what education means. Nonetheless, now I have a better definition of what education is. Education has a lot of purposes which are very important if you want to become educated. Those purposes can become reality with the help of a great teacher. I know that a great teacher is someone who gives student the love of learning and lets him know that he is ignorant.  In addition, I feel very happy and lucky to have a professor like Lewis Levine because he has given me the love of learning and has let me know that I am ignorant. I suggest to Professor that keep up his qualities as a professor. I liked those films that I saw because they have changed my ideas of education. Additionally, those essays that I read are very informative about education. I sincerely say that all ideas in this essay are very interesting for people who want to be educated.