The term “student” is a common word to many of us. The term is regularly used by every household around the world. The term generally refers to an individual who is involved in the acquisition of knowledge from learning institutions: schools, colleges, and universities. However, the meaning of the term student has attracted debates all over the world. The American Heritage Dictionary defines the term as “one who is enrolled or attends classes at school, college, or university”. Different people, societies, and countries define the term differently. There are many current denotations and connotations about the meaning of the term student. The denotation for a student is any person attending or enrolled in class at learning institutions. The other denotation for a student is any person who studies something. The first connotation of the term student is someone who is attentively observing something. The term student may also connote a person who investigates, examines, or studies something thoughtfully. Notably, the denotations and connotations for the term students all suggest that the individual involved is trying to learn something. By studying, examining, and observing something, an individual’s main motive is to learn. A student is, therefore, a person who keenly and passionately pays interests to something with the main aim of learning or acquiring knowledge about it.
Background/history
Traditionally, the word student referred to a person whose aim was to acquire knowledge on a particular thing. The main reason why someone is termed a student is because they wish to acquire knowledge about something. Traditionally, these persons attended learning institutions to acquire an informal education. Informal education is any type of learning that happens outside the classroom setting. For instance, people stayed with blacksmiths to learn about ironwork. People who interacted with goldsmiths came out with knowledge about making gold objects while those who regularly interacted with alchemists were equipped with skills of alchemy. This type of education is considered informal because students learn as they work. Formal education on the other hand expects students to stay in classrooms for long durations before they are allowed to put theory into practice. It is important to note that these students not only interacted with these experts to learn about their professional skills but also attentively observed their works. In this context, the term student referred to a person who watched and listened to other people (experts) to acquire similar knowledge. The term student was not only used to refer to people learning handiworks like goldsmiths, blacksmiths, and alchemists. It was also used to refer to people who learned philosophy. For instance, Aristotle, the Greek scientist and philosopher, is always regarded as a student of Plato, another Greek philosopher. Plato, on the other hand, is known as a student of Socrates. Students in these regards were people who learned about the teachings of others.
The current meaning of the term student has slightly changed from the traditional meaning. The current meaning of the term student is associated with people who attend learning institutions to acquire knowledge and formal education. While the traditional meaning was associated with informal education (e.g. metalwork, carpentry, and alchemy, etc.), the current meaning is majorly associated with formal education like (advanced medicine, commerce, and technology, etc). In formal education, teachers are expected to follow a strict curriculum when teaching whereas informal education allows “teachers” to be flexible with their contents. Currently, a student is associated with formal learning institutions like schools, colleges, and universities.
Main points supporting my thesis
From the background of the term student, it is clear that the ancient and contemporary meaning of the term student both describe a person who enthusiastically pays interests to something with the main aim of learning or acquiring knowledge about it. To be regarded as a student, an individual must pay attention to the thing he or she wishes to learn. The reason why a person should pay attention to something he or she is learning is to enable him or her grasp the knowledge quickly and accurately. For instance, a student who is learning to be a blacksmith from an expert blacksmith must always pay attention to the techniques his master is applying. The student must pay attention so that he can learn the degree to which the iron must be forged before it is molded into desired shapes and cooled. The current student must also pay attention to what he is being taught in learning institutions to grasps the concepts. For instance, a medical student must pay attention to learn the human anatomy and the working of medicine in humans. A student must also have passion about the subject matter. This implies that a student must have the desire to learn. Having passion in a subject matter will also play in motivating a person to learn about a particular subject matter.
Conclusion
The traditional and modern meaning of the term student all describes a person who learns about something. The term student has been used differently by different societies. For instance, the North American and Australian society describe students as persons attending learning institutions to acquire formal education. On the other hand, the United Kingdom and many Asian societies describe a student as an individual attending higher learning institutions like colleges and universities for higher learning education. In the UK and Asia, persons attending schools are referred to as pupils. The Cambridge Online Dictionary categoricallydefines the term student as a person learning at “a university or college” while the Merriam-Webster Dictionary attributes the word to a person “attending school, college or university”. However, despite the contrasts in these societies, the term still refers to people with an urge of learning something new. A traditional student, a modern student, or a pupil all meansthe same thing: someone learning or acquiring knowledge about something.
