Role of Education and Learning

This is a serious question and I am truly interested in your honest answers.

What role does Eduction (formal & informal) play in your life?

When do you seek more knowledge through eduction or mentoring.

What role does the state, parents, religious bodies play in your education? That of your children?

What is the value of education? Personal, professional, social?

What basic education should everyone have? And who should provide it?

I had a discussion with a friend who is in school right now and hoping it will help with a major promotion. He said that he would have wasted his time (and money) if he didn't get the promotion at work. I've never seen education in those terms and find it an everyday part of who I am. Hence the questions... I was taught that education wasn't about making money but about enjoying life and have found that to be true.

I realized that others may not think or value education either formal or informal in the same way and have trouble imagining a good life without curiosity and challenge.

So help me understand...please

a reply to: FyreByrd

Education is to teach a trade or skill.

Business, accounting, repair work, etc.

However, currently our 'education' system is more indoctrination.

You don't need universities to read a book.

Educate yourself.

originally posted by: Metallicus
a reply to: FyreByrd

Education is to teach a trade or skill.

Business, accounting, repair work, etc.

However, currently our 'education' system is more indoctrination.

You don't need universities to read a book.

Educate yourself.

I'll agree with all of that.

Education is simple the comprehension of the knowledge that is already within you through whatever means is available. But no, the government has no role in education, formally or informally.

a reply to: FyreByrd

Education comes from parents, and life in general.

Schooling, and job-training is not education. It is: instruction.

Instruction is about the right way to do things, the way others want you to perform.

Education: is about understanding: yourself, others, and the world around you.

Today? It's 1984, it's pure assimilation. We're becoming the borg!

I can't say I have heard a better explanation then this one in the vid

a reply to: FyreByrd

What role does Eduction (formal & informal) play in your life?

Formal education, as in post-secondary education, plays absolutely no role in my life as far as a career and making $ is concerned. I dropped out of high school at age 18 midway through my last year and started a business which I sold at the age of 25 to a bigger company. IMO, trivium is all one needs from schooling—and even that seems to be lacking within the institution of education these days. Also, the education system does not teach common sense, vision, faith and a willingness to take risk or make mistakes—nor does it nurture creativity and imagination—which to me is the crux of manifesting what one truly desires.

Informal education for me comes from travelling the world and immersing myself in different cultures and from weighing things out empirically. I learn from reading about philosophy, following my passions, meditating, contemplating, having conversations with people, and silently listening and paying attention to others—along with listening to my intuition. I learn as I go. I learn from mistakes and failures as well. I learn from my successes too.

When do you seek more knowledge through eduction or mentoring.

I have a few mentors in my life. I have metaphysical mentors, business mentors, philosophical mentors, culinary mentors, fitness mentors, etc. I have friends I can bounce ideas off of.

What role does the state, parents, religious bodies play in your education? That of your children?

None. I just turned 30 last month. I have no children. I grew up in a foster home. I don't subscribe to any religion other than the path of 'Know Thyself'.

I had a discussion with a friend who is in school right now and hoping it will help with a major promotion. He said that he would have wasted his time (and money) if he didn't get the promotion at work.

IMO, all formal education is a waste of time unless your goal is become a daily commuter with nothing much to show for your time, energy, and effort except a pay-cheque—or a promotion. I have always been repulsed at the thought of being grown adult who has to ask another grown adult for *permission* to take a day off or a week off—I refuse to live my life in a submissive role if I can avoid it. In my eyes—formal education are for those who unconsciously don't believe in their highest dreams—so they settle by choosing a life of security over chasing their dreams and taking risk. Common paths lead to common destinations...

However, your friend has the right to choose his own life path, such as formal education in the hopes of getting a promotion, and learn from this experience. If he doesn't get the promotion then he will certainly learn from the experience. If he does get the promotion, he will also learn from the experience. To each their own.

I've never seen education in those terms and find it an everyday part of who I am. Hence the questions... I was taught that education wasn't about making money but about enjoying life and have found that to be true.

I feel you. However, personally speaking, I have found that enjoying life for me is about having the freedom to follow my bliss, spending quality time with loved ones, pursuing my passions such as travelling, reading, partying, being of service to others, investing in business ventures, etc; on my own terms.

What I mean is: financial abundance allows one the freedom to NOT be a daily commuting employee unless they choose to do so. It allows one the *freedom* to wake up when they choose; go to bed when they choose; and to do whatever they choose in between those times.

I realized that others may not think or value education either formal or informal in the same way and have trouble imagining a good life without curiosity and challenge.

So help me understand...please

I hope this short video helps:



p.s - My grammar and punctuation sucks, but it has never been an obstacle towards manifesting.

a reply to: FyreByrd

Contrary to popular conventional wisdom education does not make you stupid. I was repairing my bathroom. And I never did molding before. I look at 3 or 4 videos on google and found the exact video that had what I needed to learn. I watched the video 5 times and I became an expert. I was able to do the molding perfectly. It took a long time until I got good at it. But I was able to do something I was never able to do before and saved a ton of money paying someone else to do it.

My college education has paid off very well. I worked two jobs out of college for 3 years to pay off all my school loans. Since I graduated the difference in the amount of money I make versus if I did not have a degree has paid off the amount I spent many times over. Plus I have a much more interesting job with my college degree. Again, popular wisdom and it may be true for a lot of people is college just gives you lots of debt. That is true but I've made good money also.

In terms of High School, I has six really outstanding teachers in my life. In 7th grade I wasn't really good at math. But my math teacher saw I had ability. She encouraged me by taking some to work with me on my math. She also requested me to be in her 8th grade more advanced class. By the end of 8th grade I became so good at math I understood it instantly as the teacher spoke it. Had she not spend the little extra time to work with me I would never have studied science in college. My problem wasn't aptitude and it wasn't attitude. My father never went to college and my mother could not do math for anything. My 7th grade teacher just spent some extra time to figure out what would turn me on to math. And it worked.

I had a really good calculus teacher in High School. And a really good advanced physics teacher too. Overall, I thought the education I got from my public schools in New Jersey was excellent. Not perfect but good enough to get me through college.

I think education is very important. Learning by doing or writing about something is very good. Learning by teaching gives you the best knowledge and understanding on any subject.

We need more education on education:

Dan Meyer: Math class needs a makeover

This site Above Top Secret is really cool because it talks about extraterrestrials. I've heard it said many times if we ever met extraterrestrials we would never stand a chance because they would most likely be more advanced by a million years. Just for moment imagine what our education system would be like if we took the long road. What if what our education system were designed for a million year technological innovation. What if teaching the physics of spring theory actually was so well designed, measured, and tested, that students minds could be programmed on how to learn spring theory in the least amount of time proven my scientific study. We think about education the wrong way. It's not meant to get a job. It's meant to evolve our species over the next million years.

a reply to: the2ofusr1

Absolutely a terrific video! A great contribution to this thread!

originally posted by: WUNK22
Today? It's 1984, it's pure assimilation. We're becoming the borg!

Maybe if you spend some time educating yourself you would not feel that way!

a reply to: Metallicus

What is wrong with you? Take a look at the video from the2ofusr1's post. Honestly, this mentality cannot be more wrong. You don't go to school to learn a particular topic. YOU GO TO SCHOOL TO LEARN HOW TO LEARN!!!!

That's why they call it higher learning because most people do not see the purpose of it.

Mental Models: How Intelligent People Solve Unsolvable Problems

Kaplan’s law is similar to a common proverb you have likely heard before: “If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” If you only have one framework for thinking about the world, then you’ll try to fit every problem you face into that framework. When your set of mental models is limited, so is your potential for finding a solution.

Interestingly, this problem can become more pronounced as your expertise in a particular area grows. If you’re quite smart and talented in one area, you have a tendency to believe that your skill set is the answer to most problems you face. The more you master a single mental model, the more likely it becomes that this mental model will be your downfall because you’ll start applying it indiscriminately to every problem. Smart people can easily develop a confirmation bias that leaves them stumped in difficult situations.

However, if you develop a bigger toolbox of mental models, you'll improve your ability to solve problems because you'll have more options for getting to the right answer. This is one of the primary ways that truly brilliant people separate themselves from the masses of smart individuals out there. Brilliant people like Richard Feynman have more mental models at their disposal.

“My mathematical education was rather independent and idiosyncratic, where for a number of years I learned things on my own, developing personal mental models for how to think about mathematics. This has often been a big advantage for me in thinking about mathematics, because it's easy to pick up later the standard mental models shared by groups of mathematicians. This means that some concepts that I use freely and naturally in my personal thinking are foreign to most mathematicians I talk to.”

originally posted by: Nothin
a reply to: FyreByrd

Education comes from parents, and life in general.

Schooling, and job-training is not education. It is: instruction.

Instruction is about the right way to do things, the way others want you to perform.

Education: is about understanding: yourself, others, and the world around you.

I like the distinction you make between education and instruction.

So how do different experiences and influences effect your eduction?

originally posted by: Metallicus
a reply to: FyreByrd

Education is to teach a trade or skill.

Business, accounting, repair work, etc.

However, currently our 'education' system is more indoctrination.

You don't need universities to read a book.

Educate yourself.

Are you channeling Frank Zappa?



But I do like the distinction that Nothin makes between education and instruction.

I'm a big fan of self-education or autodidacticism; however I have experienced that when i rely on 'self-led' learning, I tend to miss important parts of a subject because they don't 'appear' interesting at the time. But those 'un-interesting' bits are many times the pieces of the puzzle that are, if not most, important at least important to a deep and thorough understanding. I find this true both with 'instruction' and 'education'.

I do also agree that most 'state-sponsored' education is little more then indoctrination, especially over the last forty years, and to take advantage of the 'instructional' aspects one needs to always question with an open-mind and have outside sources to fill in the picture.

How does education, life long education, fit into your daily life?

originally posted by: rickymouse

originally posted by: Metallicus
a reply to: FyreByrd

Education is to teach a trade or skill.

Business, accounting, repair work, etc.

However, currently our 'education' system is more indoctrination.

You don't need universities to read a book.

Educate yourself.

I'll agree with all of that.

As I asked Metallicus, above, how does education, learning fit into your daily life?

a reply to: Involutionist

You sound much like my daughter who 'learns something new everyday' no matter what and I applaud you for it.

The question I would ask is how do you find and fill in your blank spots. This, I have found as an adult, is the real help that formal instruction and/or education has been for me. It not only fills in the gaps but also forces me to argue my point of view to teachers that have made a subject their life's work.

I, too have found from experience, that nothing is so important to self-development, then travel and exposure, immersion into other cultures - that too helps me see my blind spots and hone my arguments.

a reply to: dfnj2015

You make an excellent point that education is about "learning to learn"; however, that is not often the case in public schools in the US during the last forty years where teachers are 'teaching to a test' and not teaching the basics of how to learn and use critical thinking in all areas of learning.

I too find videos helpful (especially for knitting) but have to do things several times myself before I consider myself competent.

a reply to: FyreByrd

Went to college for several years and learned a lot about the liberal collective educational philosophy and the other side of the coin at the opposite sort, a very conservative learning center. Both places teach you how to prop up the favored positions of each, the philosophical foundations of each. And that humans are full of sh*t and that both must be taught in isolation from the other. No such thing as a real liberal arts establishment exists. Liberal thinking draws some respect to itself with the trappings of academia much like what a big hog in a mud pit with tinker bells and a big blue ribbon looks like.

originally posted by: FyreByrd

originally posted by: rickymouse

originally posted by: Metallicus
a reply to: FyreByrd

Education is to teach a trade or skill.

Business, accounting, repair work, etc.

However, currently our 'education' system is more indoctrination.

You don't need universities to read a book.

Educate yourself.

I'll agree with all of that.

As I asked Metallicus, above, how does education, learning fit into your daily life?

I never quit learning, I learned long ago that school is far from the only way to learn. Since leaving College, I have learned so much that what I learned in high school and college seems so minute. When I quit learning is the day I die.