Education Pt 1

Of all the topics that could challenge a new life, the one I find the hardest to deal with is Education. As a practice it is widely adopted and recognized for its value, however, there is hardly one that could be as easily contested in terms of approach taken. If we consider healthcare and shelter, the outcomes that are sought could be easily factorized and ranked in terms of criticality. For education it is more difficult, what is the benefit realized in being able to structure an essay or identify different types of triangles.

I'm working class. Education has been taught to me as a means of getting a job: something that pays well and makes your life more secure. But what if I was from a wealthy family? Would education be more of a game or a means of enhancing social status? Would I focus more on the arts and creative endeavors moreover training for a lucrative function? Or is there something more than even that.

In some places, education institutes hold a prestige that works to stratify society. Its not so much about what you learnt than it is about where you studied, and that it turn tells the who you are. So at the end of education, the real purpose (in many societies) is that you've obtained a certificate that will later make you more eligible for employment. The investment of your time and entry into debt allows you to commence a career where you generally then only start to learn how to do your job.

On this note, Laos is a little bit different. Its actually written in their laws that an employer must teach and provide education to their employments in order for them to do their job. Now that doesnt mean an employee can't be selective when they are hiring; however, the extent interviewing and testing candidates is fairly limited anyways. I think its demonstrates a different mindset . An expectation that employers have crucial role to play in the continued education of the people. 

On a cultural note, the Lao have been criticized by many foreigners from french occupation times to today as rather laissez faire or even lazy. I'm one that think anyone that takes the viewpoint of the later has failed to grasp the true ethos, and could spend a year tending to a rice paddy to put things in perspective. I myself, found my time there to be more of an education in life than any other I had experienced. So it goes back to what is the purpose of education? Is it training? Is it to develop generic skills? Is it for qualification? What about language skills, analytical thinking, computer skills? What about older trades like farming, fishing, rearing livestock or woodwork? Or even the contemporary technological advancements in those areas.What about life skills and knowing people and their motivations, when to recognize people that would rather take advantage of you? What about the artists?

The problem that even Laos doesn't escape are those of the dis-empowered. And education can both reverse it and enhance that detrimental condition. If I had to nominate a purpose for education, it would be to empower people to be the best they can be. To supercharge their creativity. To provide them the keys to access boundless sources of information. To give them the means to quickly develop and master new skills both from others and independently. To allow them to communicate their ingenuity and ideas in way that others could really understand. To appreciate the rich tapestry which is their universe and respect the wonderful machine that exists between their ears. 

Outcomes like that would be fantastic anywhere; combined with the good-hearted Lao, it would be a inspirational force of learning of historic proportion.