What is education?

The last Monday, the 17th of November was International Student day. It has been so on every 17th November since 1939. For more details, check Wikipedia!

There was a small discussion, of which, I happened to be part of. The topic of discussion was "What can be done to improve our education system". The discussion, being a discussion, wasn't exactly the most productive use of time, for the hour and a half that it lasted. But there was a question at the very beginning of the discussion, that got me pondering over its answer. The question,  as I'm sure that every educated one reading this would have guessed, was "What is education?".

What was a bit surprising was that none of those present in the discussion, came up with an answer to this question. And for a change, I am included in the "none of those".

A day before the discussion, while I was traveling to the test center of an exam I was supposed to give, I met this guy in the bus. I didn't really notice him until I was trying to pronounce the name of the stop in Malayalam, I was to get down at. That was when this guy sitting next to me, helped me tell the bus conductor where I wanted to go. I bought my ticket, and the friendly chap that I am, this guy and I started a friendly chat. He asked me about my education, what I study, and stuff like that. I ranted all the stuff he asked me about. I inquired the same details about him. This guy was a bit embarrassed to tell me about himself, for some reason. So I prodded a little further. The guy happened to be a cook. He trained people to cook. Middle-East-Asian food was his specialty, apparently. I just happen to be interested in cooking, so our conversations hit all the right notes, or so I think. This chap had done virtually everything I wanted to, all except getting into an engineering college. But he did bear a grudge against his fate for not having gotten a formal education, given the financial status of his family at the time he was supposed to be in school. I am probably naive enough to think that he hasn't exactly missed a lot, specially since I have the privilege of belonging to a well off household. I was just mesmerized by the fact that he drives all kinds of vehicles, except for planes. More so by the fact that he started riding bikes at age 13. This hurts a little, considering that I was sent to a driving school, and my dad was made to pay a chunk of money to get me to learn how to steer a car. And the fact that I still haven't learned how to ride a geared bike, makes me feel like my life stinks. This is all despite that right now, I feel my life absolutely rocks!

So, again, back to this guy. He blatantly felt bad  about he not getting a shot at completing his education, whereas now that his family is slightly better off, his younger brother is studying. According to him, education make you capable of speaking when you are in a group of people, discussing something. He said, it lets you understand the world better. And maybe, even deal with a situation better. At the time we, he and I were having this conversation, I brazenly shrugged at all his complaints with his life. But now, when I think of it, maybe he was right about what he is missing. I obviously don't know if that's the case, for I don't have a time machine to go back in time, stop my education, live a life without an education, get back into a time machine, go back in time, do everything I have done in my present life, so that I could get back to writing this post. Even if I had a time machine, I don't think I'd go through all that much trouble, just to clarify my little doubt. Besides, what if I go back in time, stop my education, live an uneducated life, where I don't know what the hell a time machine is? I'd be so screwed!

All that yap hasn't yet helped me answer the question "What is education?".

And so, I shall do what I do best. I'm going to write about a beautiful lady! Nah, just kidding. Let's see what education is NOT. That will leave us with fewer options to choose from. 

I'm pretty sure that one's education is not the grades one gets in school and college. Grades, I believe, are just an indication of compliance to the requisites of a system. This is, again, in no way an attempt to mitigate the efforts of those who excel at their craft of getting more "MARKS", so to say. I guess, that sounded a little sarcastic. Never mind!

Education is also not the number of degrees one possesses. Maybe that is the aspect of ones education one can brag about in their matrimonial ad, but one can have 3 degrees, that he/she spent 15 years to obtain, and still be dumber than a postman who has lived 4 decades of his life delivering letters within a city.

What education is, is probably everything that makes you in charge of your life, and keeps you feeling that way. It is the realization, as Steve Jobs said, that everything around you, is created by people who are no smarter than you, and that you can go build your own things that other people can use. Here's the exact quote. Education is what you make of all of your experiences, be it inside. or outside the confines of a class room. What use is it to know that sound doesn't travel in vacuum, when you go to watch a sci-fi movie, where you can hear the exhaust noise of a spacecraft in the middle of outer space? Specially if you are an observer outside the spacecraft?

What good is acing a test in a subject, when any, if not all practical applications of that subject seem like rocket science? That is of course, given that the subject you aced was not Rocket Science. If the subject you aced was rocket science, and if the practical application of this subject looks like ANYTHING other than Rocket Science, then......

And I feel I am yet to arrive at an answer to my question.