Essence of Education

The old saying goes "knowledge is power" but we continue to fail to apparently educate adequately a growing and disparate group of children in the United States. We have even managed to saddle those who succeed onto college with Education loans. First, we fail you in receiving an adequate K12 education; then we convince you to go to College and burden you with Debts. The final insult to injury is we saddle numerous other groups with totally worthless Technical Degrees that serve no practical purpose whatsoever. I'm sure there are a few exceptions who did succeed but lets just say for argument, most did not.

Lately, I have been observing some YouTube Videos on Education for Calculus or Trig or anything. I have listened to open courseware from MIT, Stanford and Yale. Who would have thought such open access would ever occur. It is amazing.

I have always been a frequenter of all things TEDX from Leadership to Faith to Reality. Its always been a great source for meaningful talks.

Now, I recently spoke to a Teacher and asked did they use Kahn Academy which I also like to frequent and they said Yes so I asked them whats going on with Schools failing today and the Answer was "its the parents and kids" who just do not follow through when the resources are clearly out there. I asked about Internet and Money and the Gospel I received was Parents don't use what resources are out there due to sheer Laziness, It was shocking but I gather the frustration for Teachers working in poorer communities is overwhelming.

Recently, I observed how badly it has become as I truly began to understand what employers have been telling me for years, the kids can't function. They can't read, write, count or verbalize at a mininum level. Hell, today, with texting, they speak in TMT, LOL, FU and whatever DIY. Maybe its just a generational issue. I at least felt as if I could function effectively in life. I knew how to study, research issues, define problems, identify resources, navigate bureaucracies etc, communication and manage-lead.

OK, I can feel the pain so it begs the Question, what is the Essence of Education today versus yesterday. As I look back on my own Education, I started to wonder exactly what it produced in me. As fortunate as I was to go to Private school K12 and thru High School at one of the most elite schools, I also felt like I didn't quite know what the heck I learned. I took Pre Calculus and Chemistry and Biology and so forth and Shakespeare and writing and I got into College and so forth but I really don't recall what the Hell it all meant. I really seemed to just be going thru the motions and happy to get a passing grade and move on to the next level but what for exactly.

In college, I knew I was not going to be an Engineer or Doctor and I enjoyed Economics classes and while I finally left with a Econ BA, I knew I wasn't going to be an Economist. It did help a little in work, Supply and Demand and Diminishing Margin of Returns, but oh so esoterically. In College, I had joined Army ROTC and it sorta took over my life and everything else was just what I needed to get out of College. I was not the greatest student but I did really love taking classes in a varying degree of subjects. Later, like everyone, I wanted to go back to school once I realized what work was like.

Ok, I had multi-careers and always included my BA on my resume as a sorta proof that I could finish something and get a piece of paper but it didn't help me day to day at work per se.

After my College years, I realized I had to pursue more specialized training courses in Real Estate, Insurance, Human Resources, Technical Army Courses, and so forth. It seemed like I never ever left school as I had to attend additional training at Work, Army and some college extension.

Yes, school never ended, but why. As I look back on myself and what its been like I am just as stymied because I can barely understand Calculus and Geometry because I rarely if ever used any of it.

I am looking back and still wondering what is the Essence of Education and what exactly are we doing to these kids, young adults and workers. Its a quandary.

My only final thought is that I never lost my curiosity and my desire to better myself. Maybe that is what I got out of everything. Maybe that was the Essence of my Education. Maybe that is what is lacking today somehow.