Education has been the key, along with my parents, that has enabled me to be where I am today.  I was fortunate to take AP classes in high school to get me into a great college, Virginia Tech.  With 4 solid years of undergraduate hard work I was able to move forward and go to one of the best graduate schools in the country. With my degrees my career horizon is limitless.  I was able to get a good job as soon as I got out of school and have no worries about my future endeavors. Without my education ladder - my opportunities would already be tapped and I would have no chance of steady upward mobility. I know this now and firmly believe education is everyone's key to success. Every child should have this oppotunity - it's a basic right.

I guess I feel differently that the others who have responded.  In fact, I can barely remember any specifics from college classes, names of professors, classmates, etc.  I tend to agree with Einstein: "Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school."  The things I think I got out of school were less specific.  A few include:

• There are lots of people who are smarter than I am.
• There are lots of things that are hard to understand and you have to work hard to understand them.
• Most problems that you might encounter have already been considered by others - use their learning to further your own.
• Most people don't agree with you about any particular topic, but you can still be their friend.
• Almost all people don't know enough to be sure about all the things they are sure about.

You get the idea.

Most importantly, my education opened my mind to all of the interesting things in the world.  There are too many for 1000 lifetimes.

Most of the specifics that I have needed for success in my job have been learned while working.  In fact, much of what I do couldn't have been learned when I was in school - it didn't exist at that time.

On the downside, I think that we too often equate a degree for learning.  Certifications, the contraints of everyday living, and the misconceptions of many make it difficult for people -- even well-educated people -- to try lots of different endeavors in their lives.  Those that have the opportunity are truly blessed.

Great discussions by all.  While I very much agree with Andrew and his summary, I've also realized the importance of having some "key facts" that help me be grounded in my reading, thinking, and discussions of other things.  Things like the Conservation of Energy and an awareness that, as hard as some people try to convince me, work takes energy and energy has to come from somewhere (there is no perpetual motion).

Which brings about some great discussions about education in general -- should educators see education as "the building of a cathedral" or "the lighting of a fire"?  The cathedral approach means that knowledge builds on foundations.  You need to learn how to add whole numbers before you learn how to add fractions.  You need to learn the letters of the alphabet before you begin spelling words.  The cathedral approach is one that focus on design and the building of strong foundations before you reach the spires.  The fire-lighting approach says basically "get people interested in learning -- provide the spark -- and they will learn whatever they need to know to achieve the end goal."  So if a class of students is really interested in building a car that runs from golf-cart batteries, they will learn about electrical loads, center of gravity, charging and discharging, welding and tire balancing – whatever they need to learn to get their car to run and to make it run competitively.  They will build their own foundations and fill in their own missing information, as long as they have the motivation and desire to accomplish a task.

I think, in reality, education in the US is somewhere in between these two models.  Yes, we have curriculum designs and learning objectives (the cathedral blue prints), but we also have project-based learning and Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs that help light a fire for student learning.  Maybe some additional "common sense" will help us achieve a balance that appeals to the widest range of students.

Message was edited by: Todd Clark