Education first of all | The World of English

Education first of all, an article that analyzes and explains the fundamental role of education for improving lives in our societies, with links and resources.

Private schools, pretentious educational and political institutions, with a lot of university teachers most commonly and pompously called professors are clearly more interested in making money than in spreading pedagogical matters, logic and common sense, also because before teaching you must first be able to learn.
Carl William Brown

A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.
Bruce Lee

A man profits more by the sight of an idiot than by the orations of the learned.
Arabian Proverb

To be old and wise, you must first be young and stupid.
Anonymous

Never underestimate stupidity, in fact even the most ignorant person can always teach you something.
Carl William Brown

Men are born ignorant, not stupid; they are made stupid by education.
Bertrand Russell

Education has for its object the formation of character.
Herbert Spencer

The great aim of education is not knowledge but action.
Herbert Spencer

Next in importance to freedom and justice is popular education, without which neither freedom nor justice can be permanently maintained.
James A. Garfield

“The best thing for being sad,” replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow, “is to learn something. That’s the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then – to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what a lot of things there are to learn.”
T.H. White, The Once and Future King

The wealth of knowledge acquired by an individual after studying particular subject matters or experiencing life lessons that provide an understanding of something. Education requires instruction of some sort from an individual or composed literature. The most common forms of education result from years of schooling that incorporates studies of a variety of subjects. “Jamie knew the importance of an education, so she chose to go to a four-year university after graduating from high school.”

The definition of education in common usage, that education is merely the delivery of knowledge, skills and information from teachers to students, is inadequate to capture what is really important about being and becoming educated. The proper definition of education is the process of becoming an educated person. Being an educated person means you have access to optimal states of mind regardless of the situation you are in. You are able to perceive accurately, think clearly and act effectively to achieve self-selected goals and aspirations.

What is education; knowledge in basic skills, academics, technical, discipline, citizenship or is it something else? Our formal education system says only academic basics are important and that is based on collecting knowledge without understanding its value. How about the processing of knowledge, using inspiration, visionary ambitions, creativity, risk, ability to bounce back from failure, motivation? Many education institutions don’t consider these skills. These skills are associated with understanding the value of knowledge. There is a huge disconnected gap and this is a problem for high school students in particular.

https://ocw.mit.edu Since 2001, MIT OpenCourseWare has been creating new opportunities for millions of learners and educators, sharing Open Educational Resources (OER) from MIT and helping to lead a global revolution in free access to knowledge. MIT OpenCourseWare is a free and open collection of material from thousands of MIT courses, covering the entire MIT curriculum. Knowledge is your reward. Use OCW to guide your own life-long learning, or to teach others. MIT does not offer credit or certification to users of OCW – and asks for nothing in return. No enrollment or registration. Freely browse and use OCW materials at your own pace. There’s no signup, and no start or end dates. Made for sharing. Download files for later. Send to friends and colleagues. Modify, remix, and reuse (just remember to cite OCW as the source.) MIT OpenCourseWare continues to build on this foundation. With a new web platform, ever-growing content, and collaborations across the vibrant open education ecosystem, we’re creating a world of more equitable and inclusive education for all.

The Smithsonian Institution is the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex. We are a community of learning and an opener of doors. Join us on a voyage of discovery. Explore our vast digital resources and learn online. In the Smithsonian Open Access area, you can download, share, and reuse millions of the Smithsonian’s images – right now, without asking. With new platforms and tools, you have easier access to more than 4.9 million 2D and 3D digital items from our collections – with many more to come. This includes images and data from across the Smithsonian’s 21 museums, nine research centers, libraries, archives, and the National Zoo.