The shocking truth about "education"
... so, umm education for growth and education for training are not the same thing. the 'growth' variety, i call true education. the 'training' variety, i simply call training.
to my mind, you can be well-trained, and far from educated. ...one may be trained in highly specialized skills - but this does not an education make, in my view.
education leaves a mark. education will necessarily change you and broaden your perspective of the world around you. training need not leave any trace. training can keep you utterly ignorant whilst imparting skills. education is simultaneously a destructive and edifying process: parts of you must die that ever-larger parts of you can begin to live. training cares not if you remain small of mind and heart. education will break you wide open as it opens you to the world.
if you are not uncomfortable, you are not being educated. if you are not watching pieces of who you thought you were fall at your feet, you are not being educated.
if your toil at midnight has you memorizing facts, figures, timelines, and formulas, you are being trained. if the problems you solve lead only to money, fame, or position and never solve anything of great consequence in your own life and the life of your people, you are being trained.
if your toil at midnight has you questioning this world and your place in it in light of the information you are receiving... well then, you may just be in the midst of being educated. If the problems you solve lead you to a greater understanding of yourself and by extension others and by extension your world and by extension All That Is, and you find yourself solving seemingly intractable issues with an inexplicable elegance and bringing yourself and your people into greater senses of mastery in their lived experiences... this is education worthy of the name.
"Craft (1984) noted that there are two different Latin roots of the English word "education." They are "educare," which means to train or to mold, and "educere," meaning to lead out. While the two meanings are quite different, they are both represented in the word "education." Thus, there is an etymological basis for many of the vociferous debates about education today... One calls for rote memorization and becoming good workers. The other requires questioning, thinking, and creating." ~Bass, Randall V.; Good, J. W. Educational Forum, The, v68 n2 p161-168 Win 2004
The current Western educational systems are set up with a conservative agenda to maintain the oppressive, unequal power relations inherent in imperialist capitalism & dominator culture.
As the prophets Marcus Garvey & Bob Marley have said, "None but ourselves can free our minds."
Educate yourself.
Education: the original way to "#GetOut."
