What does it mean to be educated? To answer that question begs another, deeper question, namely: What is the purpose of education? In essence, I see it as the means to a productive career, not an end in itself. To be educated means to have the knowledge needed to satisfy one’s own needs as a human being by engaging in self-sustaining, self-generated action as a productive member of a free society.
Moreover, I do not see education as some sort of static state. In other words, one is never truly “educated” in a finished sort of sense, but rather engages in “active learning” all the time to the best of his ability. I have learned a great deal of value since the end of my “formal” schooling based on my own curiosity, reading, seminars, on the job training, life experiences, and so forth.
