The Question of Education

When I was 9 years of age, I shaped my opinion of educational institutions and the authority that goes with them.  I was almost done with elementary school, and had to begin studying for this make-or-break Common Entrance exam. This exam literally shaped your entire academic future from age 10. This exam decided whether you would become a professional elite or blue collar worker, forever.  I was always good at academics.  However, I had two incidents at age 9 that made me realize all was really not well in how we were being taught. There was a very athletic boy in my class, great at rugby. He had the build for it, even at age 10. He just couldn’t grasp the insane body of knowledge needed to pass this exam. Honestly, today’s sophomores in college may have a hard time grasping it. And in true “The Wall” type fashion, the teacher constantly beat him for getting Ds and Fs. I did not feel pity, but great amounts of anger. I was less than 5 feet tall then and I didn’t have the physical ability to fight the teacher. I felt powerless.

So I broke the rules the best way I knew how. I did his homework for him. Not so he would get As, but that he would pass with Cs, and at least get less corporal punishment meted out by this cruel teacher. I realized that this was only a temporary fix, and that for the dreaded final exam he would most likely fail, but a fix was better than nothing. Until my turn came. One day, we had the measles vaccination right before a very important mock exam. I reacted badly to the vaccination, but took the exam anyway. I scored 92% on the exam, an A-. I will never forget that. However, it took 95%+ to ensure that I got into a “Prestige School,” which is an Ivy League high school equivalent. I got punished, and it wasn’t pretty. My sister went after him and threatened to take him to the police. He never hit me again. But, I confess that I have had an underlying distrust for institutionalized education ever since.

This is the life of your average child growing up in most post-colonial countries.  Really, because a child fails to correctly identify the Archipelago of Venezuela at age 10, he/she must be beaten like a dog and further condemned to a life of low wages? Who invented that? The Gestapo? How does trauma evoke excellence? I’m not talking discipline here; I’m talking fear induced education. Mind you, I enjoyed my undergraduate years, a lot. Why? My liberal arts education at Barry University fostered, discussion, and allowed a curiosity for learning. It was okay to ask questions, and there were opportunities to question concepts without being hit with a bat, or belittled.

Here is my question: What is education?

We would all agree that an Ivy Leaguer has achieved educative milestones in terms of covering a vast, complex body of knowledge. It is also wise to believe that someone who has specific training in an educative track such as finance, or project management, has achieved a structured, detailed approach to understanding and to executing a body of knowledge. However, are they fully educated?

Merriam-Webster gives us:

To educate:

: to teach (someone) especially in a school, college, or university;

: to give (someone) information about something : to train (someone) to do something.

 So to receive an education, is to receive an approved, structured body of knowledge, and to be validated as educated via tested aptitude of this knowledge. I accept this in part.

 What I do not accept is:

1. The manner by which children from ages 2 to 19+ are taught to absorb and be tested on bodies of knowledge deemed appropriate by ‘decision makers’, who oft time do not have practical experience in executing the said same bodies of knowledge.
2. The manner in which individuals who master knowledge mainly by practical experience are treated in terms of HR hiring policy preference.

I just finished my education requirements that go towards receiving the Project Management Professional (PMP) exam. I enjoy independent study immensely, and I’ve decided to pursue the PMP to add further structural value to business. Technically speaking, it makes me educated in the field of Project Management. However, I do not mind taking a junior or support lead to a PM who does not have a PMP certification, but is a veteran in the business. Similarly, I do not have a Masters degree in Compliance, but can be senior in Corporate Governance from an engagement perspective to someone who does, based on experience. It is all about experience and perspective. I have never agreed with locking someone in a box based on theoretical policies. It made no sense to me at age 9 and it doesn’t now.

This DOES NOT MEAN that to get away from punitive education we need to completely ‘dummy down’ in knowledge and technique. We need experts who believe in their body of knowledge to carry on our operations and systems.  Yet, this is where I see a lot of modern day education programs heading – no abusive punishment (good), but no substance (terrible). Why is it that decision makers believe in order to get away from one paradigm it is necessary to swing the pendulum far in the opposing direction? Are we really that two dimensional in thinking? We have been, but thank heavens there are pockets of change, especially with a startup revolution afoot. There is the Khan Academy, the School in the Cloud, free online courses from Stanford University, incubators and accelerators growing across the globe that educate and promote entrepreneurship at the same time. Some of us are here to be part of this new educative movement of free thinking.

In this world of ironies, it would happen that a week before relocating to Miami to begin my undergrad degree, who would I meet by happenstance after 10 years but that same teacher. I kid you not. I let him know that I did well in my ‘prestige’ high school, and got a full scholarship to study in the US. He had tears in his eyes, and he was truly happy for me. I thanked him, and realized that he too was playing his part in a less than perfect education system, which meted out even worse punishment in his time. Even though we do not add it to the curriculum, forgiveness is a powerfully educative process.

Yours in Progress,

Astrid F. Kowlessar