MUSINGS OF THE WANDERER: WHO IS THE EDUCATED PERSON?
SUNIA FUKAFUKO
Abstract
What does it mean to be educated? The meaning of educated differs in different
cultural settings with the Western education as just one of the definition. To be educated is
more than a completion of a program of studies; more than possessing a collection of
knowledge, beliefs, personality attributes, and skills; more than the ability to see the
connectedness of things;; more than the command of all of a person’s ability to use;; more than the trappings of new identity; and it is more than the steward of societal knowledge.
Defining the ingredients of the educated person differs from each person and each culture. In
general, for the person to be educated, learning must be painted with the various textures and
colours in a society.
Key words: education, educated
Introduction
To be a wanderer is to move about at random without thought to destination or
purpose. To be a wanderer implies that movement is free and not regulated nor restricted. To
be a wanderer suggests that there is restlessness to travel, to seek, and to move. To be a
wanderer is to proceed at an irregular pace without thought to rhythm. To be a wanderer
sometimes refers to the fact of loosing clarity or coherence of thought or expression. In the
purest sense of the word, to be a wanderer is to lose one’s self in the wonder that is being explored at leisure.
Education has been the pathway that many philosophers’ have travelled through bringing their reflections as they return (if they do return). I too, even though not a
philosopher has wandered down this pathway and have returned, ironically, with questions
rather than answers. It is important to note that answers limit the possibilities that the
questions explores. Gordon (2007) challenges us to live the questions and embrace
uncertainty as opposed to the quest for certainty in education. It is human to require certainty
and control for it give us security in the knowledge of the familiar. To live the question is to
become a wanderer in the truest sense of the word—for we are not restricting ourselves to
parameters—but are allowing for uncertainty and the inherent risks it brings in the search for
the truth.
If there ever was a challenging question in the field of education it is: what constitutes
the educated person? It is a fundamental question of education and many a philosopher has
dedicated deliberations to it through the ages but the debate shows no sign of abating. It is
toward this question that I seek to wander through. Such a question does not require an
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answer for the question itself—to me—may be the answer—the educated person is one that
struggles with the criteria of what constitutes ‘educations’! Campbell (2009;; p. 379) may have been correct when she asserted that “Ultimately, while I see the articles contributing to the ongoing discussion of the tensions implicit in trying to define the educated person, I
recognize that the question of what it means to be educated has not been answered—perhaps
it never fully can be”. Hence, I chose to wander through this question and add my voice to the chorus not to increase the volume but to add another dimension to the discussion.
In discussing the concept of the ‘educated person’ we must recognize that the world we are living in is evolving and thus the response to these changes must be recognized. If
ever there was a report that brought about immediate consternation from the west—it would
be A Nation at Risk: “Our once unchallenged pre-eminence in commerce, industry, science
and technological innovation is being overtaken by competitors around the world…What was unimaginable a generation ago has begun to occur—others are matching and surpassing our
educational attainment” (A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform. 1983, p.
5).
Twenty years after this report was published, George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind
Act of 2001 was enacted where he wrote the foreword to the act:
In a constantly changing world that is demanding increasingly complex skills
from its workforce, children are literally left behind…[this]…blueprint will serve as a framework from which we can all work together…to build the mind and character of ever child, from every background in every part of America.
(No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Foreword by President George W. Bush, p.
1)
In terms of education, it would appear that the playing field has been flattened. Now
countries who were ahead in every sense of the word are realizing that the rest of the world is
catching up. Hence, they respond by drastic measures because the essence of the society is
summarized by the quality of persons that they produce. Thus, the fact that the world is
becoming globalized means that the concept of the educated person is subject to change.
These changes led Campbell (2009) to believe Mulcahy’s (2009;; p. 379) stark conclusions about the educated person: the ideal that liberal education brings about in the understanding
of the educated person and the clarity attached to its educational purpose is gone. “Some say this is a good thing, others would lament their passing, and yet others would question if [the
educated person] truly existed”.
What is the makeup of the educated person? Levinson, Foley and Holland (1996; p, 3)
assert that the "educated person" is culturally specific, "[allowing] us to appreciate the
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historical and cultural particularities of the 'products' of education and thus provides a
framework for understanding conflicts around different kinds of schooling". But if the
educated person is culturally specific, this implies that each culture has its own take of what it
means to be an ‘educated person.’ As such, schools will be understood to reproduce their culture’s concept of the ‘educated person’ because at the end of the process, students will become ‘educated!’ With regards to the cultural aspects—I must add that in order to
understand the educated person in one’s culture—one must use the lenses of his/her own
culture to sift through society’s persons for the educated. Harris (2002) asserts that teaching about indigenous culture from an indigenous perspective in a Western education system
involves irresolvable contradictions. One of the main contradictions she points out is that the
Western Model of knowledge production—objectivity, empiricism, and reductionism—is
rejected when we look at non-western ways of knowledge acquisition. Hence, by definition,
we cannot use Western education as the basis for defining the educated person in a cultural
setting and vice versa. What is important to note is that the concept of the educated person
differs between societies and must be seen through the lenses of that society to be understood
why he/she is considered the ‘educated person.’
Kolcaba (1998) believes that there are three overlapping senses of the term ‘educated person’. In the first sense, an ‘educated person must complete program of studies regardless of the discipline. It is important to note that this implies that the learning is not what qualifies
the person as educated. It is the completion of the learning that qualifies the person to be
educated. The second sense is that it implies a person’s characteristics: “The diversity of educational institutions indicates that being educated could involve possessing one of a
number of differing collections of knowledge, beliefs, personality attributes, and skills” (p. 1). This second sense begs yet another question: do educated persons share common traits?
The third sense Kolcaba asserts is that there is “the regulative ideal of being an educated person.” The difficulty with this sense is that the ideal is hazy because the understanding of the doctrinal commitments, orientations in educational theory and traditions are shaped
differently. Moreover, whenever we discuss ideals—we are looking at attainment of these
ideals. An ideal by definition should not attainable hence there would be—in the truest sense
of the word—no ‘educated person’.
Mohanan (2005) describes four essential ingredients that characterize an educated
person: knowledge, the ability to think; the ability to learn, and the ability to use language.
Mohanan believes that these four ingredients are the core to the educated person because an
educated person must have knowledge, can think, can learn and is able to use language to
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transfer the knowledge and/or learning that he/she has achieved. Mohanan also includes
elusive qualities to this make up such as the awareness of the uncertainty and fallibility of
knowledge, openness of mind, willingness and ability to doubt and question, personal
involvement in knowledge, intellectual curiosity and the joy of learning. What Mohanan adds
to the discussion through this elusive qualities are characteristics that supplement the other
four i.e. our knowledge is not absolute; our ability to think and learn is recognized through
our maturity to acknowledge that the learning and the knowledge is fallible, hence we must
leave our minds open to dialogue about doubts and questions involved with the acquisition,
production, and uses of the knowledge itself. Mohanan describes the mental makeup of the
educated person but does this imply that a person who is skilful as a labourer is not an
educated person? Does certification of the skilled professional (such as a brick-layer) not
qualify a person to become an educated person?
Boyer (1996) contends that a person is deemed educated when he/she has the ability
to see the connectedness of things. Boyer determined eight experiences that are common
throughout humans regardless of where they originated from: The life-cycle; Language; The
arts; Time and space; Groups and institutions; Work; Natural world; Search for meaning. He
believes that a person is educated when he sees the connectedness of these experiences. He
asserts that the curriculum should not be discipline-bound but founded on these common
experiences because these experiences are what make us different from all other species.
Hence Boyer suggests that a person is educated—even when he/she is learning—when he/she
can see the forest rather than the trees.
Dewey (1929; p, 17) believes that: All education proceeds by the participation of the
individual in the social consciousness of the race. This process begins… almost at birth, and is continually shaping the individual’s powers, saturating his consciousness, forming his habits, training his ideas, and arousing his feelings and emotions.
So if education began outside of the classroom—should we define the educated
person within the confines of our formal education? Dewey (1929, p. 17) asserts that “This educational process has two sides, one psychological and one sociological and neither can be
subordinated to the other…of these two sides, the psychological is the basis”. In his assertion comes a clear distinction between the psychological as well as the sociological. In order to
fully attain the promise an individual has—the psychological side must be trained. As such,
Dewy implies that the ‘educated person’ would be:
[In full] command of himself…full and ready use of all his capacities that his
eye and ear and hand may be tools ready to command, that his judgment may
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be capable of grasping the conditions under which it has to work, and the
executive forces be retained to act economically and efficiently…it is impossible to reach this sort of adjustment… [If]…education is continually converted into psychological terms (Dewey, 1929; p. 18).
To Dewey, a person is educated when he is in command of all that is in his ability to
use. This cannot only be done by following through psychological terms alone—it must have
the sociological component for the person to become truly educated. The psychological
component role is to find out the social equivalent of the child’s capacities, interests, and habits in order to use them in the society. But there is a need for discipline, self-control, and
critical thinking that goes beyond the interests of the individual. This leads me to another
question: is being educated the same as being competent?
Fitzpatrick (2009) posits that in the past, schools that graduated nurses from
accredited programs passing all required licensing were deemed to be competent. Hence, we
assumed they were safe practitioners until the discovery that “the systems in which they worked did not always facilitate safe behaviour.” She suggests that: Perhaps it is the change in the complexity of those we care for that has led us to
question our basic understanding of competency…we continue to find ourselves seriously defining competencies for nursing practice…and describing competency-based education in nursing. The good news is that we are not
alone…the discipline of education [is] also struggling with competency-based
education…is the competency of the teacher and the pupil best judged by the conventional outcomes of test scores or grades? Of course, this is an easier
measure than societal productivity (Fitzpatrick, 2009; p.1).
If we were to take Dewey at his word and look at the educated as both an intellectual
as well as a social being that is doing well what he is capable of—then do we assume that an
educated person can put theory to practice? If so, then, we have to deal with the real difficulty
of trying to measure the ‘societal productivity’ of the educated person. Who qualifies a person as educated? Is it the individual who travels education’s pathway? Is it the society which he lives in? Is it the institution that his learning comes from?
Is it the powerful in society? The problem with the first is that individuals have their own
benchmarks and would look at their learning to prove that they are educated. The problem
with the second is that society looks more at the individual’s capabilities rather than the intellectual capacity or knowledge. As such, the longer a person travels down the education
pathway, the higher the expectation of his capabilities. The problem with the third is that
graduates are awarded degrees based on intellectual capacities and even more problematic is
that sometimes school programs are disassociated with societal needs—the laboratory as
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opposed to real life. The problem with the fourth is that we might end up with another Hitler
crisis on our hands. It is problematic to define who is an educated person because each has
their own perception of what the educated person is. So who/what defines a person as
educated?
As I have wandered through the various viewpoints on the educated person and the
question itself, I am struck by the seeming variability in the answers. May I suggest a few
pointers before I add my voice to the litany? Each of the above voices is the opinion of the
philosopher subject to their learning, circumstances and experiences. Each of the answers is a
reflection of what is important to their hearts. As such, the diversity of qualifications for what
constitutes the educated person would seem to have no end because no learning,
circumstances, or experiences of two individuals will be the same. As I have wandered
through these definitions, it seems unwise to try and define the constitution of the educated
person. Perhaps it is better to draw up the criteria of how we recognize the educated person. I
posit that though our cultures are diverse and our ingredients may be different on what
constitutes the educated person—our treatment of the educated person—is to a very large
extent—similar. I will pursue this course of thinking for the rest of the paper.
The educated person—in any society—is extremely mobile! When one is labelled
educated, he/she stakes a claim to a new identity (Baxter & Britton, 2001). The educated
person relinquishes the trappings of the old identity and moves on towards the trappings of
the new identity. The new identity is not discovered in the same social status—it is identified
within the new status which is an upward climb in society’s status ladder. The mobility of the
educated person can be seen more clearly in the breaking down of class societies (Tonga) and
caste societies (India) whereby ‘commoners’ are entering social status hitherto unknown to them. Education has broken down the barriers erected by the elite allowing mobility through
various social ladders and perhaps could be one of the reasons for the ever-expanding middle
class we are experiencing in the world today.
The educated person—in any society—is shrouded by an aura of accomplishment and
achievability. An educated person is expected to accomplish tasks set out before him because
he has achieved a recognized milestone in his life. As such, society has placed the educated
person on a pedestal until proven otherwise. This aura is not a reflection of what the
schooling has done for the person but is the reflection of what society expects the school to
have equipped the person with. Pollack (2007) believes that there are three interrelated things
about society’s treatment of education. The second of these three treatments advanced by
Pollack is that society has special needs owing to its complexities which require individuals
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that are capable of meeting those needs. As such “education is the means by which rulers and soldiers are produced.” Rafuse (2009) believes that institutions of higher learning (citing West Point Academy) are not isolated or insulated from American society—political and
cultural life—but recognizes that these institutions were in fact very much in tune with
developments in the larger society they served. In other words, these institutions supply
society with the kind of men/women who deal with society’s complex needs. As such, society confers upon this person an aura of accomplishment and achievability.
The educated person—in any society—is a steward of societal knowledge. Thiessen
(2007) believes that the curriculum response to change is to construct students to understand
who we are, who we have been, and who we will become—the educated person will know
where we will come from, where we have been, and what we will become. Freire (as cited in
Harris, 2002) contends that the education is a ‘tool of submersion’ whereby one is acquainted with the existing power relationships within the society—the educated person will know the
balance of power within the society. Fallace (2009) believes that Dewey’s concept of knowledge is not a duplication of history but is defined as knowledge as long as it is useful in
solving present and future problems—the educated person will know what knowledge is
worthwhile for now and the future. Battiste, Bell and Findlay (2002) believes that the destiny
of a people is inexplicably intertwined with how its children are educated because education
provides the transmission of the ‘cultural DNA’ from one generation to the next—the
educated person will be the caretaker of society’s culture its norms and values and in due time, will pass it on to the next generation. The educated person looks after society’s knowledge of most worth—he becomes a steward in that sense.
The educated person—in any society—is considered a prophet. A prophet in the
biblical sense provides predictions, practical advice, performs miracles for the people and
speaks on behalf of God. John White (as cited in De Ruyter, 2007) was correct in asserting
that education should bring about a class of reliable judges about the nature of personal wellbeing and its values in themselves and others Mann (2000) believes that the educational
experience will encourage the student to develop the ability to analyse, think critically and
formulate reasoned conclusions and represent views and ideas coherently. General education
is intended to assist students on how to live productively as well as “serve meaningfully in a modern and multicultural society” (Mann, 2000, p. 83).As educated people, we are expected to use our skills and learning to solve problems (regardless of the field the problem is in) that
members within the society have; to judge wisely; and to do work that the less educated
cannot do.
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An educated person—in any society—is a philosopher. Black (as cited in Schubert,
1986, p. 116) posited that “it might be a hard thing to expect educators to be philosophers, but can they be anything else?” Because an educated person is a philosopher—he/she will not be
content with the status quo. The educated person will learn and continually shift or adjust
his/her learning to align with societal needs as well as satisfy curiosity. The educated person
will publish the learning for he/she will not be content to hold these ideas within. Smith
(2005) acknowledges that such freedoms in education expose what the educator loves to
scrutiny and perhaps rejection but “to eliminate such vulnerability from education, I conclude, is to abandon education itself for a counterfeit!” The educated person’s opinions and/or theories regardless of what they may be, will be exposed to scrutiny and therein lies
the heart of philosophy—the building of understanding through subjecting of theories to
critical analysis. For this reason, Pollack (2007) defines schools as producing ‘philosopher kings’!
The educated person—in any society—is a critic and has the ability to see both side of
the coin and (hopefully) maintain his neutrality. With regard to the evolution/creationism
debate, George W. Bush (as cited in Pierce, 2007, p. 124) asserted that “Both sides ought to be properly taught so people can understand what the debate is about…part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought. You are asking me whether or not people ought
to be exposed to different ideas, and the answer is yes”. Pierce continues on to say that critical thinking within educational theory is a concept whose cultivation should be infused
with the values, norms and habits that work toward a society and culture’s idea of the good society. He believes that education should not only cultivate critical thinking but also a
reconfiguration of critical thinking based on the changes evident in the world today. As such,
an educated person should have the disposition to critique relevantly with due thought to the
social values and norms as well as the current circumstances.
The educated person—in any society—is the societal standard. Wheelan (2009; p. 66)
believes that there are major challenges to the current accreditation processes:
However the ultimate goal is to ensure that the United States retains its ability
to compete globally and that those who advance this goal are educated persons
with the skills and knowledge necessary to compete. [United States] powerful
global position can be attributed largely to our system of higher education.
Ivan (as cited in Battiste, Bell & Findlay, 2002, p. 83) believes that our institutions are
frequently an embodiment of our worldview:
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[The] power of institutions we have created, that they shape not only our
preferences, but actually our sense of possibilities…we have embodied our world view into our institutions and are now their prisoners” The educated person is arguably the ultimate product of any society. Thus it is not
surprising that the ‘No Child Left behind Act’ was created when the United States perceived that other cultures were getting ahead of their own in terms of academia as reported by the
Nation at Risk. Who wants to be deemed second?
The educated person—in any society—is treated the same when he/she is found
wanting. When a person is accorded the status of educated—he is also accorded privileges
and a special place of honour. King Solomon was correct in his thinking, “As dead flies
causes even a bottle of perfume to stink, so a little foolishness spoils great wisdom and
honour.” (Ecclesiastes 10:1) Societal expectations of the educated person are ridiculously high. The privileges and honour attached to the educated person are also ridiculously high.
Should society find out that their educated person is found wanting, he will become the object
of scorn, contempt, and mockery. Levinson, Foley and Holland say in that cultural production
help us to understand the interplay between the structural of institutions and aspects of
humanity. The educated person is fully aware of the requirements that society places upon
them and the constraints and reactions when they are found wanting in society’s weighing. Thus, many a society has ‘crucified’ their educated when he/she does not live up to society’s expectations of what he/she can and is supposed to do.
To conclude, my wanderings have made me realize that perhaps defining the
ingredients of the educated person is a futile exercise. The paradox here is that we need to
have a working definition for the educated person because the very foundation of our
educational system hinges upon this definition but because of the various definitions out
there, it is difficult to get a consensus about what constitutes ‘educatedness.’ I did not try to define the educated person—I tried to define the various ways in which our society treats the
educated person for therein lies the similarity of what the educated person is and how he/she
is treated. Cole (1994) compared a well-educated person to a great jazz musician. In the
analogy he describes that if a “Jazz musician [were] to play music without having it informed by the realities of people’s lives by a magnificent poem, by a stunning sunset, by a discovery
of yet another texture in that human sentiment called love music—without all or at least some
of that—would hardly be music at all.” Similarly, for the person to be educated—his learning
must be painted with the various textures and colours that society is imbued with for in the
end—isn’t the educated person drawn from society’s framework?
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