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November 16, 2004
What is Education, Anyway?
I just spent the last ten minutes posting comments to another blog about why it seems that students (these days, and probably in every day) aren't more engaged and interested in education. As I was posting, I couldn't help but think, why aren't I writing this on my own blog?!
Last week, in one of my classes, we were talking about this very issue, only in terms of why people don't like change. We were discussing the impending Singularity (see my Buddhists/Futurists blog for a good start on the topic) and lamenting that people don't really want to have multiple careers in one lifetime. They just want their steady job, a house, blah blah blah.
I guess it's easy for me to say that I don't want that since I don't have a steady job, and I don't own a house. But, I also don't think that I've ever thought that there were those guarentees in life, and to me, education has always been about building knowledge not just gaining training.
I don't know why that's the case, though. Why do I enjoy the process of education and yearn for more (although nearing the end of my doctoral coursework, I AM looking forward to being more in control of what I learn from now on) while others are simply satisfied with the acquisition of a few skills? This comes up for me in my work with first year students, and I sure don't have the answers.
Posted by chri1010 at November 16, 2004 3:13 PM