What does education mean?

To be educated is a passive verb, to learn is active. One thing is done for you, the other you do for yourself...

Not sure, you can make a definite decision to educate yourself.

Education gives you choices.

Yes that’s true. It gives you choices but also the confidence to explore those choices.

keepingquiet

To be educated is a passive verb, to learn is active. One thing is done for you, the other you do for yourself...

That's a good point.

You could be sitting somewhere on a hillside and notice all the sights, sounds and smells which aren't part of your usual life. You might notice that you feel more relaxed than usual. That's learning.

What you might want to do is find out the names of the trees and the birds you see or the geology of the hillside you've been sitting on, which might lead on to finding out about the lives of the people who've shaped the landscape in the past. You're going to need to do some research - that's being educated.

PS. I was just thinking about a weekend I had in Derbyshire a couple of months ago.

love0c and woodenspoon Good points too.

Offering choices underpins the current school system. Children have their eyes opened to worlds they might not have known existed, if they had only ever experienced their own close family.

Yes education and learning is about more than books in my opinion. It’s about options, life skills, learning to socialise from an early age. Opening your eyes to what’s out there.

When my kids went to university and lived away from home I emphasised to them it wasn’t just about getting their degree it was about learning to cope and be independent albeit with us as a backup.

Curiosity --about the world around you, the people you observe or meet, and curiosity about ideas -is necessary for learning anything at all, even the best way to sweep a floor is worth being curious about.

“Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad”

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There is also a difference between learning and understanding. You can learn something and just repeat it but still not understand it.