What an education mean to me Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

What an education mean to me - Essay Example Education for her is confined to the realm of the observable, quantifiable and rational. Education occurs in the classroom mostly, and occasionally in the field under controlled conditions. I know a man in my mother’s neighborhood that is constantly learning. He told me that education and learning for the sake of understanding is enough for him. He reads classical literature and philosophy as well as all of the latest books on political science and environmental concerns. His mind is filled with the words of some of the greatest scholars that have lived over the past 1500 years. He works at a neighborhood corner shop stocking shelves and running the cash register. When I asked him why he didn’t get a better job he replied that a more demanding job would interfere with his education, and that he valued knowledge over money. The superintendent that works in my apartment complex told me once that he never read anything he couldn’t apply to his job. If it was a manual on fixing a trash disposal or direction on installing new lighting fixtures, then the reading was worth his time. He said that he really didn’t see the need for any education beyond the obvious needs of his career. Formal study beyond his career was a waste of time because it couldn’t earn him any money. Read a novel for enjoyment or enlightenment? Never. He’d rather play poker. I list these examples of people I have in my life and their attitudes towards education to illustrate why I am so conflicted about education in many ways, specifically my education and how I should conduct it. I respect all of these people and see the good and bad in the choices they have made relative to their own education. Summarizing my feelings about education is difficult because of the disparate examples, but as I learn more about the world and the people in it, I can see one thing clearly. I can see that an individual’s approach to their education (whatever that may