What Does it Mean to Be Educated?

We are asking the enduring questions “What does it mean to be educated? and “What is an educated person?” It is also important to keep in mind that how we use our education can have an impact on our role as citizens of a state or nation, thinking beyond our own perspectives and contexts.  

Readings and Questions for Reflection

1. Review the brief Purpose of UVU’s General Education Curriculum.

• Why do UVU students take general education courses (GECs)?
• What is the difference between liberal education and general education?

2. Read excerpts from Alfred North Whitehead’s Aims of Education (1929) below and consider the following questions while you read.

• What other connections do you see with general education curriculum?
• Why is style so important?
• What other thoughts do you have?
• Does Whitehead help us think through the value of studying a discipline (a major)?
• Does Whitehead help us answer the question, “What Does it mean to be educated?” 

“What education has to impart is an intimate sense for the power of ideas, for the beauty of ideas, and for the structure of ideas, together with a particular body of knowledge which has peculiar reference to the life of the being possessing it.”

“The appreciation of the structure of ideas is that side of a cultured mind which can only grow under the influence of a special study. I mean that eye for the whole chess-board, for the bearing of one set of ideas on another. Nothing but a special study can give any appreciation for the exact formulation of general ideas, for their relations when formulated, for their service in the comprehension of life. A mind so disciplined should be both more abstract and more concrete. It has been trained in the comprehension of abstract thought and in the analysis of facts.”

“Finally, there should grow the most austere of all mental qualities; I mean the sense for style. It is an aesthetic sense, based on admiration for the direct attainment of a foreseen end, simply and without waste. Style in art, style in literature, style in science, style in logic, style in practical execution have fundamentally the same aesthetic qualities, namely, attainment and restraint. The love of a subject in itself and for itself, where it is not the sleepy pleasure of pacing a mental quarter-deck, is the love of style as manifested in that study…. Style, in its finest sense, is the last acquirement of the educated mind; it is also the most useful. It pervades the whole being. The administrator with a sense for style hates waste; the engineer with a sense for style economizes his material; the artisan with a sense for style prefers good work. Style is the ultimate morality of mind.”

“But above style, and above knowledge, there is something, a vague shape like fate above the Greek gods. That something is Power. Style is the fashioning of power, the restraining of power. But, after all, the power of attainment of the desired end is fundamental. The first thing is to get there. Do not bother about your style, but solve your problem, justify the ways of God to man, administer your province, or do whatever else is set before you.”

“Where, then, does style help? In this, with style the end is attained without side issues, without raising undesirable inflammations. With style you attain your end and nothing but your end. With style the effect of your activity is calculable, and foresight is the last gift of gods to men. With style your power is increased, for your mind is not distracted with irrelevancies, and you are more likely to attain your object. Now style is the exclusive privilege of the expert. Whoever heard of the style of an amateur painter, of the style of an amateur poet? Style is always the product of specialist study, the peculiar contribution of specialism to culture….”

“[I]n this address I have been considering the aims which should govern education…. The amateur is essentially a man with appreciation and with immense versatility in mastering a given routine. But he lacks the foresight which comes from special knowledge. The object of this address is to suggest how to produce the expert without loss of the essential virtues of the amateur…. When one considers in its length and in its breadth the importance of this question of the education of a nation’s young, the broken lives, the defeated hopes, the national failures, which result from the frivolous inertia with which it is treated, it is difficult to restrain within oneself a savage rage. In the conditions of modern life the rule is absolute, the race which does not value trained intelligence is doomed. Not all your heroism, not all your social charm, not all your wit, not all your victories on land or at sea, can move back the finger of fate. To-day we maintain ourselves. To-morrow science will have moved forward yet one more step, and there will be no appeal from the judgment which will then be pronounced on the uneducated…. Where attainable knowledge could have changed the issue, ignorance has the guilt of vice. And the foundation of reverence is this perception, that the present holds within itself the complete sum of existence, backwards and forwards, that whole amplitude of time, which is eternity.”

WATCH

• VIDEO: In this video, journalist Fareed Zakaria discusses and defends the value of a liberal education. What are your thoughts on the debate? Why do you think this topic is debated? 

Fareed Zakaria’s “Defending Liberal Education” (00:02:17)

Lifelong Learning

A key aspect of becoming an educated person is the concept of becoming a lifelong learner. Lifelong Learners are individuals who find value, meaning, and possibilities beyond situational educational contexts and across time and place.

A major goal of higher education is to create lifelong learners–intentional, independent, self-directed learners who can acquire, retain, and retrieve new knowledge on their own (American Association of Colleges and Universities, 2002, 2007). Only lifelong learners will be able to keep up with the explosive growth of knowledge and skills in their career and to retool into a new career after their previous one run its course. – Linda N. Nilson

At UVU we strive to help students think of themselves as lifelong learners. Take a moment to read UVU’s mission statement. It highlights the relationship between lifelong learning and leadership.

Think about these questions:

• How do you and your classes fit in to UVU’s mission statement?
• Are you a lifelong learner yet? If so, how do you know? If not, why not?
• Who do you know that is a lifelong learner? What characteristics does this person have? What habits do they have that makes them more effective at learning?
• How does self-regulation affect lifelong learning?
• What could you do more of or what could you be doing differently that would you help you become an educated person who is a lifelong learner? 

If you want to understand global trends that affect you consider registering for SLSS-405G: Leader—Global Contributor.