Tuesday, January 08, 2008

The Educated Man

You can define an educated person in a number of different ways. An education person could be someone that has completed some level of formal schooling. An educated person could also be someone that has specific knowledge in a particular area. How one defines an educated person is going to depend greatly on context and experience.

My definition an education person is someone that is cognizant of what they do not know. I do not view a person with decades of schooling pontificating on areas outside their areas of expertise to be well educated, but the humble farmer that can speak confidently about the quality of soil, but defers to others on topics outside his experience to be well educated.

I believe that a well educated person understand that the world is an immensely complicated place that is unable to be comprehended by a single person. An educated person is comfortable saying I don’t know or I am not sure.

Most importantly an educated person acknowledges that the world is an uncertain place and feels comfortable admitting that they may be wrong, even on their firmest held beliefs.

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