Does Education Have an Age?

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Does Education have an age? Most people would say, you are educated if you have obtained a college degree. What does it mean to be educated? The Webster Dictionary defines educated as; giving evidence of training or practice, skilled (2). Mortimer J. Adler, author of Adult Education, believes one cannot be educated with only formal schooling. He contends a person must have life experiences to mature them. He believes education is a combination of formal schooling, life experience and maturity. Although I agree with Adler's general concept, I do not agree with his all encompassing notion no child can have any of these experiences. Significant life events can happen to us at any age, a person does not have to be old to have life experiences. According to Adler, "The young cannot be educated" (Adler, par 7). He believes a person must have life experiences and no child has lived enough to meet his standard. Some would argue Mr. Adler is incorrect for the simple fact a person can't say "everyone" is anything, and be correct. There are over seven billion people in the world (5). 315 million of those people reside in the United States (4). There is a person born every eight seconds (5). Taking those facts into consideration, think about all those people, all the ideas, all the opinions. It would be impossible to make an absolute statement and have it accurately describe all 7 billion people in the world. I would have probably agreed with the statement, "Much of our youth is not educated" or "much of our youth is immature". The article, Adult Education, was published in 1952. I do not believe Adler's views applied to his generation and are more so not applicable to present day. Had Mr. Adler made more of a general statement regarding our youth's education and experience, he would have hit the nail on the head. Mr. Adler states "We all know, and
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