Building a
Life
14
What does it mean to be an educated person?
By Lee Lewis ‘00
education has shifted its emphasis toward
vocational training to the detriment of the
humanities. History, literature, languages
and philosophy may not be essential to
“making a living,” but they are essential to
living an informed and conscious life.
Being well-informed and possessing a
sense of perspective is requisite to
believe that to be truly educated, one
must be adequately equipped to function as effectively as possible as a contributing member of our society. That is, to
have sufficient information about a broad
range of subjects to form a knowledgeable
opinion about a given issue; to act on that
opinion based on one’s convictions; and to
have developed a personal philosophy on
which those convictions are based.
Supporting oneself is, without a doubt,
an important outcome of becoming
educated, but I would hope it is not the
only one. In our “bottom line” economy,
If we are to understand the complex
problems facing contemporary society, we
must first understand how we, as a society,
have led ourselves to this particular set of
circumstances. To do so, we must recognize
the fundamental ideas and working
principles that are the basis for Western
thought. Such lessons can only be learned
from an examination of the issues as found
in higher education.
Lee Lewis ponders the role of education in life.
Self-understanding may be the ultimat B