What is Education?
Charlie's Angels, Uncategorized 1 CommentIn German, there are two words for education. The first is erziehung and refers to the education that a parent helps instill in a child…sit when you eat, say please and thank you, and generally know how to function in the world. We might call this type of education manners. The second is bildung, which refers to the formal education that a person receives in school. This type of education also takes experiences into account in addition to the traditional classroom setting.
In English, we only have one word for education. While teachers in the US and in Germany deal with many challenges in our attempt to educate in the classroom setting, perhaps it is fair to say that American teachers might need to deal more with erziehung while trying to impart bildung- while German teachers may have less erziehung to impart since there appears to be a more general consensus on what erziehung means in Germany.
Regardless of semantics, I think that all nationalities can agree that without education, we cease to have a functioning society. But, what constitutes a good education? We need all of it. We need manners, we need to learn to say please and thank you. We must be humble and kind. We need to think of those to the left and to the right of us. We need to listen and value others’ opinions.
We also need formal learning situations in which we are given information by those that have more knowledge than we might. We need time to collaborate with colleagues and those with differing opinions.
We also need moments of reflection. We need time to travel, to experience other cultures and people. We need time to explore and to get lost in a new place; to try new food and drink, to experience all of the many nuances that go into making a culture what it is. I might argue that this type of education has the potential to be the most rewarding – but only if it is grounded in formal educational experiences.
We have had the privilege this week of an exceptional educational experience that combines all elements of education – and most importantly, one in which we have been challenged to see and make connections for ourselves individually.
What does education mean to you?
Tiffany Nieves
Kara, you explored all aspects of education in your post. It was interesting to see the differences in the terms used for education in Germany versus the United States. I agree that there is more to education than our traditional school setting. Having real world experiences and getting to know others is a form of education, even if we may not formally recognize it as such in the United States. I think these different facets are partly why it is so difficult to put a definition to the term education. Education can have many connotations for different people depending on their educational experiences.