Education is a process. It can be a destination too.
Education can be a path, a way, a process, or even a result.
In each of the above formats, education serves different purposes. Therefore, the objective of investigating and identifying avatars of education explains why a person is pursuing education.
Though education is such a broad aspect, multilayered, and means various things to different audiences, I would like to streamline them through 3 significant factors by the manner how they serve each of them:
1. Education Brings Knowledge:
Education in its purest form is understood to bring knowledge. Raw data will be processed into information that will be served to students through different education systems and styles. Processed information becomes knowledge of the student. When again processed, knowledge becomes wisdom and towards the end of the value chain, and only if the student becomes super-lucky do they develop insight.
2. Education Builds A Career:
Education can also be turned towards skill earning. Professional education often takes this format of skill imparting and enhancement. Here, students undergo educational processes to build and enhance skill sets and enable them towards particular professions. Even for purely academic educational courses, well-designed, planned, and conducted certification/diploma courses exist that will bridge them towards intended jobs. These skills are the building blocks of a career. In modern times, society perceives, parents insist, and students aspire to education to be a ‘career making’ affair. And, education institutions are working in war mode every year to bring placement opportunities to their campuses and transform as many students as possible to be employees toward the end of that education process!
3. Education Facilitates Decision Making:
Decision-making is an exciting format of education. However, deep-broad-wide thinking will allow the real purpose of education to unleash itself to its true essence, that is, facilitators of decision-making. Very critical, but not limited to, decision making involves three essential elements:
- Preparation: Ability to investigate, gather, collect and organize knowledge from various sources and awareness of different options.
- Guidance: Competency to find and seek advice from apt sources for making a decision.
- Empowerment: Confidence and courage to listen to others’ opinions. And decide by themselves.
The education system is supposed to train the student community to graduate in all three essential decision-making elements. In this way, and by earning relevant and suitable education, students become eligible to decide what will result in positive and meaningful outcomes.
Over the decades, sadly, education has scored decently in the two of the above objectives, that is, knowledge and career aspects. Or, at least they aspire and invest their efforts to win big in them. But we are observing a lack of awareness and deployment of resources towards achieving the 3rd spot.
And the result? Knowledged, career-oriented individuals with the minimum capacity to make decisions that matter to them!
Mujeeb Patla 