What is education?

It’s important to distinguish between teaching and educating

License Creative Commons

David Rabadà

Good education should provide optimal knowledge to create autonomous, empathetic, and critical adults grounded in accurate and insightful learning. Failure to do so, the educational system will churn out millions of workers with limited perspectives and victims of low-quality jobs. As noted by essayist Pascual Gil on Twitter, it cannot be a low-quality school for the low-quality jobs of the future. Regrettably, the political landscape of this country, both left and right, falls short in effectively envisioning this. It’s also disheartening to observe the frequent and largely unjustified blame placed on parents and teachers for the nation’s educational shortcomings. The majority of parents and teachers fulfil their roles commendably, providing quality education. The few who fall short are exceptions, as is the case in any statistical distribution. However, before delving further into these issues, it’s crucial to broaden our understanding of what education truly entails. Indeed, this poses a significant question for many!

The ultimate objective of education should be to cultivate individuals who are civic-minded, competent professionals, and effective educators. It’s imperative that every educational system fosters cultured and critical thinkers by imparting truthful, logical, and ethical knowledge. This empowers individuals to make informed decisions in various life situations. Education and teaching represent a universal right for young people to acquire objective and verifiable knowledge free from dogmatic, political, or historical prejudices. Education should not be left or right, but serve a social necessity to provide opportunities for each successive generation, therefore enhancing our civilization under shared and correct values. Authentic critical thinking can only be created through logic and facts. Interests and prejudices, under the guise of indoctrinated common sense, lead to mediocrity and confusion. Therefore, education must provide knowledge, values, and skills that effectively serve and guide the individual. If this leads to students experiencing more happiness than unhappiness, it would be a remarkable achievement. As Plato and Gandhi said, happiness is derived from effort, not the ease of accomplishment. In pursuit of a goal, one engages with enthusiasm, and upon achieving it, happiness ensues. If the objective is not met, students fortify their psyche to better navigate future challenges and life’s inevitable frustrations, thereby preventing greater unhappiness. In education, the aim is not to achieve happiness, but to overcome unhappiness through sound knowledge and optimal decision-making.

It’s important to distinguish between teaching and educating. Teaching imparts verified knowledge to students, while educating instils moral values and social skills. Teaching is grounded in reality, while educating is guided by ethics. Some prioritize values over knowledge and vice versa. Typically, knowledge is emphasized more in secondary education, while education, particularly moral and social education, is largely imparted within the family. This presents the initial challenge: the level of involvement or commitment required from parents. As the saying goes, in a plate of ham and eggs, the chicken is involved, but the pig is committed.

The process of educating a child begins even before conception. Reflecting on the motivations behind bringing a child into the world is crucial for their future development and education. The reasons for conception can vary widely: the fruit of love, the biological clock, the desire for companionship, an unplanned occurrence, the wish to solidify a relationship, adherence to religious doctrines such as the Vatican’s stance on procreation ‘as many sons as God says’, or the aspiration to continue one’s lineage. However, one reason of paramount importance often goes unmentioned: the desire to educate a child in autonomy, responsibility, and respect. The aspiration to nurture a remarkable human being.

Thus, whether a child is brought into this world through natural birth, in Paris, or via in vitro fertilization, the primary objective should be their education. In essence, the act of giving birth should be driven by the intent to educate, rather than the mere act of childbirth. Over time, every educator, be it a parent or a teacher, should strive to establish a connection, becoming a leader and a role model for the children. When students trust their educators, they are more receptive to learning. This trust also facilitates better access to advice, enabling effective teaching and education. It’s a reciprocal relationship – we must earn their trust so that they can trust us in return. This cycle of trust, akin to a fish biting its own tail, perpetuates itself – trust begets more trust. In fact, in countries with high academic success, such as Estonia, the teacher is the undisputed leader of the classroom. To achieve this, one must strive to understand and cater to the needs of the students.

Source: educational EVIDENCE

Rights: Creative Commons