Dewey’s suggested that “an educated person is one who has gained the power of reflective attention, the power to hold problems, questions, before the mind” (Kohn, 3). I agree, do you? I believe that we all start learning from the moment of our birth. The foundations we build throughout our school life prepare us for our future in the real world. We apply, create, and analyze our mastered knowledge into real life situations. My definition of “well-educated” is lifelong learning; learning is continuous through life.
We all start learning from the moment of our birth. We cry for attention. This is innate in us that do not need to be taught. It is a skill that we are born with. Before we learn how to use our words, using sounds is the other way out to express our thoughts and our wants. We use our hands to grab what we want. Babies can be taught in action to grab their bottles tight when they are drinking milk. They then slowly learned that their hands are for them to hold on to things. We learn to speak from demonstrations on different media. When parents talk to their babies, they hear them and try to imitate them slowly. When the babies are watching educational videos, like on YouTube, they slowly follow what the person says on the screen. Starting from birth to the toddler age around 3 to 4 years old, we learn the basic of how to communicate using gestures and speech, plus emotions as well. This part of the learning teaches us how to build our interpersonal communication skill, which will be applied to school life and work life. weing from the moment of our birth. Some might argue that we might have started the learning proces

The foundations we build throughout our school life prepare us for our future in the real world. In elementary schools, we learn our alphabets and number systems, along with shapes, colors, and basic social skills. We learn how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide. We also learn how to read and comprehend fictions and non-fictions. In middle schools, we apply those fundamental academic skills into more complexed subject areas. We use what we have learned in math and apply to algebra math. We use what we have learned in reading and writing to read more intense stories, conduct research, and write essays. In high schools, we enhance our learned knowledge and experiences into more practical activities and studies. We are expected to use what we have accumulated, knowledge-wise, and perform high level tasks, such as science experiments in Biology, Physics, and Chemistry. We are also expected to read complex texts and create research papers and quality essays. With proper education as we grow through our school life, we can definitely become “well-educated”.

We apply, create, and analyze our learned knowledge into real life situations. In our society nowadays, we are expected to have proper manners towards others. When we see an elderly or a pregnant person, we let them sit or open the door for them. In other words, courtesy calls. We are also expected to apply our critical thinking skills at our workplace. If we don’t know how to add when completing a bookkeeping file, then use a calculator or the format function in Excel, as long as we can complete the tasks. We are expected to perform our problem solving skills impromptu situations in life. When there is a misunderstanding at work, the manager has to come up with a plan to solve the issue right the way. No one is going to wait for us to go look into the work manual and find out how to solve the problem. These are skills that we accumulated through our learning in schools and at work. To me, “well-educated” means to have a thorough understanding of what we know and apply to solve the problems ahead.

To me, to be “well-educated” means to have a complete knowledge bank from birth to death. This is a life-long process, from birth, to schools, to the real world – society. My theory of “well-educated” does not mean we have to know everything that was taught to us, but to know how to use what we know and solve problems. For example, just like Kohn’s wife who is a very successful physician, but freezes up with basic multiplication. If she can find a way to solve the math weakness, she can still be successful. That is why we have calculators, times tables, and different strategies to multiply, such as adding in groups. I know the fact is that no one is perfect, but it’s a matter of how we utilize what we have in our knowledge bank and apply it wisely in life.