Define education, (like STANLEY FISH in Conspiracy Theories 101), Explain what the term is not

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Before anyone ever enters a school they should be forced to define education. This would give the new students a clearer sense of purpose and a direction that would steer them to a better understanding of why, and what, they were learning. Asking a hundred people for a definition of education would yield a hundred different answers, and if supplied multiple choice the answer would be 'all of the above'…


Though it defies description and is not easily defined, we know it when we see it as our imagination offers us a clue to its possibilities.
Our classical image of education and its definition falls short of the true meaning when it is applied to a lifetime of learning. Typically, an education has been thought of as a specified period of time in which certain subjects are learned to a pre-determined level. Education is sometimes mistaken for the Bachelor's or Master's degree that indicates we have attended school, but it is not an education. Albert Einstein once said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world". The spark that ignites our imagination is education. The subjects taught in pursuit of these goals give us information and provides us with a key to further learning, but this is not education. Learning to appreciate art, perform logical operations, or the history of rock and roll are interesting to know, but they do not qualify as education. All of these activities and endeavors are simply the tools required to begin to mine an education. ...
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