Narrative Argument about Education, Free Essay

Education levels

Education is the process of getting or rather the acquisition of knowledge by going through a set system. Often, the set system that gets everybody acquiring the knowledge they need is practiced in institutions known as schools, colleges, and universities. The different systems vary based on the quality of services they offer as well as the type of services provided. In the various institutions where knowledge on certain concepts are harnessed, we have parties involved, and these are the teachers and the students. When one undergoes a complete cycle through the system that is from kindergarten to primary school, to secondary, and finally the tertiary institutions are its colleges or universities, then we say that the person is educated. However, there have been heated debates over what or rather which definition best suits the term well educated. Education is an aftermath of learning, and it plays a significant role in one's learning process. The highest education levels are the PhDs which are gotten after one has spent a good time of their lives in schools studying. Scholars define the term well educated as for when a student passes all the tests in schools and gets the best of grades in their final papers. However, some people see such an argument as to be invalid and this has therefore led to the heated debates over the definition. This paper seeks to have a narrative discussion on the article what does it mean to be well educated (White, 2011). The paper will give a much personal view to the article and the pathos, ethos, and logos appeal of the same article will be discussed.

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To begin with, it is not absurd to find someone that is learned and has the best grades or still is at the highest education level of education but is unable to perform a task that another person in a much lower level can. It has been proven that one would be happier if they are certain that they grasped the right content in the lower levels ad can apply it later in life. This, therefore, implies that the article under study is right as the definition of well-educated cannot come from the single or rather mere passing of exams but put some factors into consideration. For instance, from the article, we see that the author's wife has studied to great levels and is for a fact a practitioner (Kohn, 2004). She, however, is unable to solve simple arithmetic questions and still has difficulties with constructing grammatically upright sentences. It is so sad to find someone judging the author's wife as uneducated based on her inability to workout simple mathematics and have correct English sentences. This is so because she can have her work done perfectly thanks to the education she received in university. According to her simple mathematics and English may not be meaningful to her and therefore no need to know how to do them despite their ease. From her situation then we can say that she is educated based on what she can deliver and not what she crammed or mastered from school.

The quality of schools

That aside, just as seen with the author's wife story, many people are tied to the belief that one is educated if he or she gets good grades and scores highly in tests offered at the school. The belief is held by many people since t is what the tutors back at school have made them subscribe to. Most of us consider people who perform poorly in school as failures, yet they may have other hidden abilities which are not relevant for them in school yet very significant in their lives. From the article, it is true that most people value high marks in school that they often work hard for marks and not for what they like or to understand what they learn. Such beliefs have also been seen to be corrupting our understanding of the definition of the term well-educated.

Notably, to have a better understanding of the definition of the term well-educated, the article is seen to be providing some factors that we ought to consider as we try to define the term. From a factual point of view, the different factors that the article has provided are an ideal truth of what the term means. First, is the point of schooling or rather the reason as to why we go to school. Rather than what most people base their arguments on as to why we go to school, the article states that we go to school to become competent, loving, caring and loveable people just as presupposed by one Nel Noddings a professor at the Stanford University. Based on my stance in this argument I would say that this is the correct reason for schooling. Most people prioritize their studies to intellectual development (Denning, 2011). This should not be the case because, in as much as we need to get intellectually fit, we also need to think of our characters and what becomes of us after schooling. Second is the evaluation of people versus the education they have. We should not judge people as educated or not based on what education they got but rather what they can deliver. The other issue is the good school. The quality of schools one attends are enough to evaluate the quality of education that they have. The above points are from a factual point of view over the issue of the definition of the term well-educated and if one needs to define one as educated or not, then they ought to have the following considered.

Summarily, the issue of what it means to be well educated has bred a lot of debates as many people approach it from different perspectives. An emotional appeal over the same issue proves that people are much happier and feel contented about their education when they can do what they like better rather than master volumes of contents from school. The ethos on the issue shows that people hold many beliefs on the issue of the definition of well-educated that are untrue. The logos also prove that some factors ought to be considered when coming up with the definition of the term. Indeed, from the above essay, we can assert that the term well-educated does not imply to getting high grades and scores but rather the ability to execute what is learned effectively.

References

White, J. (2011). WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE WELL-EDUCATED? 1.T Think,T 10(28), 9-16.

Kohn, A. (2004).T What does it mean to be well educated? and more essays on standards, grading, and other follies. Boston, Mass: Beacon Press

Denning,T S. (2011, July 31). What Does It Mean To Be Educated? - Forbes. Retrieved from www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2011/07/31/what-does-it-mean-to-be-educated/