Prime
The definition of an educated person
WELL EDUCATED:MP Betty Nambooze (right) is one of the best educated Ugandans because she has a strong influence on society despite only holding a diploma. file photo.
Every time I watch a good film I’m inclined to find out more about the leading members of the cast. Last week I was treated to Leap Year, a film released early this year. On reading up, I discovered that American actress Amy Adams left formal school after high school. She is reported to have said she regretted not getting education. The circumstances of this actress provoke a few questions. Can one’s academic achievements alone be reasonable basis to judge how educated they are? If we consider a high school drop-out and another individual who has completed a three-year degree programme, can we presume the former is less educated? I will consider ways in which being an educated person is currently understood.
General perception
Intellectual life in our times is mostly associated with universities. To be educated almost certainly means having received academic honours from a university or other such institution of learning. The man who has acquired more postgraduate qualifications or the professional who projects oneself as more knowledgeable than peers is considered more educated than others. The person who has traversed the world earning degree after degree may be very learned. I will show that the view that leads many to consider such a person educated can be very misleading.
In reality, an educated person is someone who values freedom of thought and whose learning positively impacts public life and culture. One way to think of the educated person is through an entrepreneurial lens. We know that education produces human capital. An educated person is one in whom much has been invested with a view to high returns in the future. This implies putting one’s knowledge and skills to work benefiting the individual and society. Education is often received through formal school or the experiences that teach and inspire us. It may be viewed to as the inheritance we get from our teachers, friends, parents or peers.
Once with us, we might live in a way that brings that intellectual wealth to multiply or shrink. Here there is a sense of accountability to those from whom we learned and perhaps others who have not had a chance in school. An educated person may then be thought of as the individual who uses well what they have learned and shares with as many people as possible. The most educated people will be those who have understood that they have not been bred thus only for their own benefit. But what society considers educated people today seem to have no use for the larger public.
They are almost exclusively executives in the corporations and professors in universities. Their places of work are their homes, professional colleagues their audience, monographs and specialised journals their media. And because educated people are increasingly preoccupied with demands of their careers, the transmission belt of culture is quickly wearing away.
Independent minds
The Socratic idea of ‘parrhesiastes’—one who speaks the truth freely, despite any risk, out of a sense of moral duty is very important in understanding the place of the educated person in social and political arenas. The educated person is the one who understands and values freedom of thought. According to Socrates, the educated person’s life manifests harmony between how they think, what they say and how they live.
The individual cares for the way he lives and seeks to live the best way possible. This also implies a willingness to listen to others and to be changed for the better. The man who thinks he is good enough is certainly not the one to consider educated. Unlike in the past, many learned people today situate themselves within disciplines because their jobs and salaries depend on the evaluation of a few key persons and this dependence affects the issues broached and the language used.
Politics is overflowing with many supposedly educated people whose actions and speeches betray their academic honours. From these considerations, one will notice that there is need for a movement from academic qualifications and skills to personal qualities if one is to be genuinely educated. Something changes about a person when they receive education. It may be seen as a movement from darkness to light, or from a position of lack of understanding to understanding.
But one’s port is never terminal. A high school dropout who has learned only the science that this level of education offers to work with their hands in a farm to earn a living and to support his or her siblings, may be better educated than an outstanding university professor who neglects spouse and family in pursuit of research honours. I think Amy Adams has put her high school learning to very good use and is likely to impact the lives of many people. Her filming sojourns are also a part of her continuing education.
The author lectures at Makerere University
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