Education more than a means to an end

The learning process should be about more than acquiring practical skills

8:55 AM, Nov. 28, 2012  |  Comments
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Acting upon my good friend Ron Buchannan's advice (and gift), I watched "Spencer's Mountain" the other day. For those unfamiliar with this 1963 flick starring Henry Fonda, Maureen O'Hara and James MacArthur, the plot can be summarized in short order. To pay for his son's college education, hard-working, slightly mischievous Clay Spencer sacrifices the dream home he started building for his wife Olivia on a beautiful mountaintop overlooking the Snake River Valley in the Grand Tetons.

There's a lot more to the story, but the value of "an education" is made graphically clear. Reminds me of what Grandma used to say, "That's something they can't take away from you." Aside from whoever the anonymous "they" might be, Grandma's educational catechism was meant to reinforce the notion that learning for learning's sake was an "end" in itself - not just a means to achieve an "end."

Maybe I spend too much time thinking about such things, but it appears we may have strayed somewhat from valuing education as a lifelong endeavor. Is not the pursuit of knowledge a worthy undertaking in and of itself?

Often, "education" is viewed more like a verb than a noun. That is, we tend to think of "education" as an act of doing something to achieve a goal rather than the goal itself. If the information learned or the truth discovered does not have a practical application, it runs the risk of being considered of little value. If Latin is not spoken, why study it? If formal English is not used, why bother? Since our cell phones can calculate square root, why learn to interpolate? In truth, I can't remember the last time anybody asked me to demonstrate why the square root of 2 is irrational.

Using education to acquire a skill or learn a trade is fine. Too often, though, students drop out of community or junior colleges before completing their programs. En route, they land a job, so why study any further?

If life is a balance, maybe education, too, deserves some equilibrium. Learning one's way about a spreadsheet is important, but so is understanding the pros and cons of cash versus accrual accounting.

I miss my ole mentor who insisted I memorize the first 16 lines of the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales - in Middle English, to boot. According to Gus, "All truly educated persons can do it." Bet it won't come up in a job interview!


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