I am convinced that what society labels as educated is wrong. I am writing this essay based upon reading Alfie Kohn’s article ‘What does it mean to be well- educated?’ One of his first points that I agree with speaks about deciding what exactly constitutes an educated person. Is it the people who eagerly hung on every word they were taught in school and succeeded or failed in life, or the ones who barely got through the classes and succeeded or failed? Even if they received a ‘perfect’ education, there are those who have not gone on to fulfill the potential they had, while those who were considered to be less intelligent even have done very well. I personally have seen examples in my own life of people that I love dearly who have not even graduated high school or obtained a GED who are incredibly intelligent, and have more experience and knowledge than many who’ve graduated from college. I honestly believe it’s repulsive to think the way this society does in regards to who is educated and who is not. This is merely my opinion but the more I read the more I am adamant about it.
I agreed wholeheartedly with Mr. Kohn as he wrote about test scores being an indicator of ability in the future. I personally am one of those who had mostly very good grades in high school but now is hard for me to work an algebra problem without needing a refresher course in it. I also was one of the ones he speaks about who could memorize long lists or pages from a book, or whatever was required of me. But, now I probably couldn’t do the same. Honestly, Im not sure how people can think memorization and high test scores can attribute to future success when there are so many people as living proof that it doesn’t necessarily make any difference.
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