Well, I don't generally associate the word "education" with "compulsion" - except in the phrase "compulsory education". However, isn't the phrase "compsulsory schooling" more common, at least in Britain? How about "pupil" for "educatee"?

There are many, many things that affect motivation ...
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My main concern in this thread was with the "state" of "being educated" - what I've referred to "educatedness" and its key charcteristics, its hallmarks as it were, rather than the actual proces of education. It seems to me that the question of the processes by which one becomes an "educated person", though very interesting, are really another matter.

Oddly enough, in my own life, I found school stimulating, especially between about ages 13 and 18. On the other hand, I found my undergraduate years a waste of time (apart from the funny bit of paper at the end). So, personal development is subject to strange and unexpected twists and turns, like so much else.
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As one of the moderators for this forum, I'm intrigued by the very high proportion of posts in relation to the number of 'views'. Just before entering to add this post I noticed that the thread had been viewed 325 times and that there were 24 'replies'. Is this a record?

Edited to add minor clarification.

Some of the best-educated people I know are almost complete autodidacts... several never finished college.

A writer... believe his name was Daniel Goleman... wrote a book a few years ago about "Emotional Intelligence." I think there is such a thing, and that it is quantifiable.
I think Bloomsby makes a good point... true breadth of knowledge necessarily includes knowing one's self as well, and the emotional illiterates, so to speak, often (always?) have that glaring gap.

But here is a bit which seems to encompass the matter for me... I came across it quite by chance in a marvelous new book entitled The Rape of the Masters: How Political Correctness Sabotages Art, by Roger Kimball. It is an enlightening and uproariously funny read, but here is what I think is relevant to what's being kicked around here. This is from a lecture given Oxford students, at the beginning of the term, in 1914, by one John Alexander Smith, a prof of "Moral and Metaphysical Philosphy" at that institution:

Quote:

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Gentlemen, you are now about to embark upon a course of studies which will occupy you for two years. Together, they form a noble adventure. But I would like to remind you of an important point. Some of you, when you go down from the University, will go the Church, or to the Bar, or to the House of Commons, or to the Home Civil Service, or the Indian or Colonial Services, or into various professions. Some may go into the Army, some into industry and commerce; some may become country gentlemen. A few -- I hope a very few -- will become teachers or dons. Let me make this clear to you. Except for those in that last category, nothing that you will learn in your studies will be of the slightest possible use to you in after life -- save only this -- that if you work hard and intelligently you should be able to detect when a man is talking rot,, and that, in my view, is the main, if not the sole, purpose of education.

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(p. 162).

By my lights, the SOB nailed it in under 200 words.

Yes, Cool, an excellent and highly apposite quotation!

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PS. That lecture course started in April, 1914. It's sad that so many of those students perished in WWI and had little opportunity to benefit ...

It is good of someone to have thought of this topic.
I consider the pastoral nomadic Fulani cattle rearers of Nigeria to be among the best-educated people I have met, because they can survive without fear of interest rates and budget deficits. With their knowledge of geography, they go round the whole country with their cows.
I wonder if Gypsies are nowadays appreciated in Europe?

Well, technically Bloomsby, my psychology is partly self taught, I had it as my preferred degree subject but as I didn't get the grades I ended up taking law. The psychology was something I learnt out of interest and half an A level course, and was then touched on as part of my counselling courses after my degree. So my knowledge of psychological theories is pretty basic, ours being a more practical than theoretical course, and was mainly based on universal personal problems and ways to undo them.

I'd certainly also welcome a new thread on genius, as I find my personal awareness of both educated people and genius tends to be far more intuitive than based on actual achievements. And one link between the two would probably be understanding, as though an enquiring mind opens an individual to seek education, those with a natural understanding will be more likely to tell their teachers things, and often 'just know' all sorts of things without knowing where they picked them up. That would probably be behind genius as well, combined with outstanding practical ability in any area or areas. It also often ends up in social isolation as it's very easy for a genius to be both misunderstood and lack a connection to 'regular' people, as they find it so hard to fit in.

Cool's quote is accurate for some subjects, and I find the only time I need many facts I had to learn at school is in quizzes. But some subjects I took particularly in the sciences are so useful in everyday life I also find many educated people who avoided them at school have little understanding of things like simple human biology, nutrition, health and other areas we all need to know about for our optimum survival. The more obscure stuff I did such as the lifecycles of fungi, worms and certain insects did seem more of a mental training exercise, as unless I became a biologist I could never actually put any of this information into any practical use. I did ask my father once why the civil service didn't care what subjects its officers took as long as they had degrees. He said quite simply it means they have shown they have organised minds. This relates to being able to tell when others are talking rubbish, as logic is an essential in any advanced study, and is knocked into you every time you make a mistake in an essay. Then of course you are far more likely to spot the sort of 'emotional' 'careless' or 'self promoting' statements people make in arguments that can sound very convincing but once picked apart make very little sense. To return to law, both my parents met on their law degree, and the tough regime of logic and record keeping that's imposed on you during one means you will end up with pretty good logic, organisation and arguing skills, and each mistake is pounced on instantly by the tutors and the error of your ways is explained in great detail, and you won't survive long if you don't pick it up. I can't really speak for other subjects, but feel law is one way to train the mind generally regardless of whether you go on to practice, but of course, I would say that...

Thanks! A new thread - on genius - up and running.
It's puzzling that we haven't, as far as I can tell, have a thread on the subject before. That said, the topic has been raised from time to time in other threads, for example, that on intelligence.

Incidentally, I had a suggestion that one or other of the moderators should start a challening, thought-provoking thread a week. My own hunch is that it's better _not_ to institutionalize it. I don't want to end playing something akin to the role of a pastor conducting some discussion group of other every Sunday! Moreover, past experience suggests that it wouldn't work well.

I'll try to respond to your two points, OnimisibiB. Thanks for mentioing the Fulani. I think the concept of "educatedness" needs to be adapted for non-Western cultures.

As far as the Gypsies in Europe are concerned, I usually hear nothing but prejudice. For example, "bother" about "Gypsy" encampments makes the headlines on the local TV news surprisingly often. There's also a lot of ignorance about them, it seems, and that in turn feeds the prejudice. I've also noticed prejudice against Gypsies in Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary, too.
However, in these countries they are often appreciated for their music.

Hello Satguru,
Since I am just back from my Telecommunications training program in Blandford,Dorset County, this is the right thread to start off from. I observerd that my tutors were all ex-Army. In the Civil Service where I came from, there is a lot of emphasis on the Degree. This has led to a mass-production of certificates. I had a degree in Electrical engineering and all I was given to learn on telecoms was partial differential equations(p.d.e). I was assured that my mind was being organised, but I think I should have acquired useful skills during that period; skills that can expand economic capacity I do not doubt the usefulness of p.d.e's in a research center, perhaps.
Part-time law degree programs had to be scrapped because people were too desperate for them.