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Show I S9) I ! FOCUS: CONVOCATION __ '''''' 1 THE UNIVERSITY JOURNAL• SOUTHERN UTAH UNIVERSITY• WEDNESDAY, MAY 22, 1996 , How can you tell if you have become educated? As the year comes to a close and commencement approaches, SUU's clubs, honor societies, Greek fraternities and sororities, student government and other organizations sponsor a ventable plethora of banquets and awards ceremonies to reward their fellow students for a great year. One such event the annual Academic Awards Convocation, is sponsored every year by the Convocation lecture series. However, rather than giving awards for personality, looks or social contributions, the Academic Awards honor those who have excelled in academics. For wisdom in the philosophy of education we should tum to many sources-to the philosophers, scientists, scholars, artists, executives, educators, students, and laymen who have something important to say about the meaning, purpose, and value of education, according to Sterling McMurrin in an essay entitled "The Philosophy of Education." McMurrin's essay, along with several others, was published in the book On the Meaning of the University . The following is a selection of thoughts concerning education as said by some notable philosophers, scientis ts, scholars, artists, executives, educators, students and laymen. what it means to be educated and how you can tell if you have become educated. He began by quotmg ''a wise man" who once said "Education is a process, not a destination ... education is the process of moving from cocksure ignorance to thoughtful uncertainty." The remamdcr of Bell's address focused on a list of 10 questions students can use to determine how far they have already moved away from ignorance. Those questions arc as follows: • Do you have a salable, specialized skill you can use to earn a good living? Although a salable skill will not guaran tee a meaningful life, it 1s pretty important in the attainment of self-respect, selfconfidence and independence. A salable skill is broadly defined to mclude all useful wo!k, from that of the skilled craftsman to a very high order or service in one of our time honored professions. understood is vital to almost everything. • Have you developed a clear set of standards and ideals to guide your life and your dail)' living? A truly educated person must live by some abiding principles that arc important and personally satisfymg. A person must be inner-d1rLctcd, not always looking to the other person to set the tone or call the shot. • Have you learned how to disagree without being disagreeable? Do you respect the views of others? Do you have the maturity to hear your cherished views challenged without losing your cool? Have you rid yourself of prejudice? • Have you educated your feelings, your spirit and your inner soul? Have you learned to en joy fin e music, great art, good literature, and the sounds and sights of nature? A quality life calls for quality thoughts and feelings and an appreciation for the fine things around us. A quality life calls for a buoyant spirit, a somewhat happy and optimistic nature. An educated person, as I see it, must have learned how to live a deep and meaningful life-the kind of life that brings both serenity and joy to personality. • What is the state of your mcnt I health? Do you live with reality? • "It is by education I learn to do by Arc you positive in your th111king? choice, what other men do by the Is your outlook uplifting and constraint of fear." wholesomc1 Do you know how to -Aristotle be free and how to enjoy freedom? Some people live as pnsoncrs in a • "The developmen t of general free land because they are slaves to ability for independent thinking their habits, to their fea rs, and to a and judgment should always be tendency toward paranoia in their placed foremost, not the outlook. acquisition of special • Are you economically literate? knowledge.. .It is essential that the Many so-called educated persons student acquire an understanding have never learned that they can't of and a lively feeling for values. He spend more money than they have must acquire a vivid sense of the coming in each month. They For wisdom in the philosophy of education we should turn to many beautiful and of the morally good. haven't learned how to avoid sources-to the philosophers, scientists, scholars, artists, executives, Otherwise he-with his specialized personal economic disaster. An educators, students and laymen who have something important to say knowledge-more closely educated person must be about the meaning, purpose and value of educa tion. resembles a well-trained dog than a economically literate. He or she harmonious! y developed person." must know how to manage money -Albert Einstein as well as earn it. It's not so much the amount one earns as it is the • "The secret of education lies in difference between what one earns respecting the pupil." - Ralph Waldo Emerson We all need meaningful work to do each day. and what one spends that determines economic Whether we are poor or wealthy beyond the need independence. An educated person has learned the • " If a man empties his purse into his head, no man for any further income, we must have work to simple lessons of personal money management can take it away from him. An investment in find fulfillment in We. and how to apply them. knowledge always pays the best interest." • Have you learned how to learn? An educated • Do you know yourself? Can you apply what you -Benjamin Franklin person must keep on learning-mus t renew the know to maintain your physical health? Can you basic storehouse of knowledge and keep up with control your appetites and your passions? Without • "We must educate people today for a future in the times. An educated person must be able to good health, all else will seem of little use. lt is which the choices to be faced cannot be gain new knowledge from reading and from life important to apply what you know about anticipated by even the wisest now among us." experiences and apply that knowledge to problem preserving health. It is of no avail to be an solving. · - John Fitzgerald Kennedy intellectual giant and a physical slob. Most • Do you have a thirst for knowledge and a hunger knowledgeable persons know that exertise, proper • "The education of a man is never completed until for learning? It i s om: thing to know how to learn, nutrition, and adequate rest are essential to good he dies." -Robert E. Lee another to have developed intellectual curiosityhealth. In the fullest sense, an educated person • " An educated person must keep on learninga restlessness to know and to keep knowing. Do applies his or her knowledge i~ daily living. must renew the basic storehouse of knowledge you read for the sake of knowing? Do newspapers, and keep up with the times. An educa ted person news magazines, new ideas and reports in your Bell concluded the speech by saying " If we regard must be able to gain new knowledge from reading field stimulate your thinking? No one can truly be education as a pleasant road one travels on a never and from life experiences and apply that educated in the full sense without a quest to ending journey through life, we need not worry if .we knowledge to problem solving. An educated know, a driving curiosity. still lack the complete fulfillment of-these 10 keys to person must be able to think critically about what • Can you communicate? Arc you able to say what becoming full y educated. We should worry, however, he has read, experienced and learned. An educated you think-say it easily and understandably? Can if we are not moving in that direction. 11 person must be able to read directions and to you express your thoughts and ideas in writing so A wise philosopher wrote: 'A bad man is a man teach himself or herself." - T.H. Bell, United others can understand clearly? Can you listen to who, regardless of how good he is, is declining and States Commissioner of Educa tion others and understan d their thoughts clearly? 1n becoming less effective; and a good man is a man In a commencement speech at Edinboro State today's world we m ust be literate and verbally who, no matter how bad he 1s, is improving and College in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, Bell spoke on articulate. To express one's thinking and be becoming more effective'." I I |