Once As A Blank Slate Analysis

Once as a Blank Slate...
Horace Mann, a nineteenth century education reformer, once said, “A human being is not attaining his full heights until he is educated”(Mann, Horace). Education gives delight to anyone who obtains it, and holds a value that far surpasses wealth. But this makes us wonder, how is a human being to know when he or she are truly educated? Many people have an opinion about what a well-educated person is. Many may say that a well-educated person is someone who knows many things and can be put to the test at any moment and pass. This is one who is generally book-smart; one who went to school and obtained a high level degree to help in one’s profession. However, others may say, a well-educated person is someone who is successful…show more content…
We know nothing, and we rely on our parents for everything. Then as we age, we begin to learn and understand the knowledge that surrounds us, such as the knowledge of how to walk or talk, and even play. As a student at Oxford University, John Locke expressed that the human mind mimics a blank slate (125). He believed we obtain knowledge from experience through sensation or reflection. Then the slate would no longer be blank, but it would have inscriptions, along with bumps and bruises. It would no longer be clean and innocent; the slate would be experienced and…show more content…
Our in Father in Heaven is the only person who fully knows everything, and an educated person knows how to trust Him in everything. All people can be a well-educated, they just need to have the desire and understanding that they will not know everything in this life; but they could try. Trying is better than nothing, and this is what makes an educated man. Just as Horace Mann expressed, “a human being has not attained his fullest until he is educated” ( Mann).

Works Cited
Locke, John. “Of Ideas in general, and their Original.” 2010. Reading the World: Ideas That Matter. 2nd Edition. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. 125-127. Print.
Mann, Horace. NNPD: Tracking the World. Solvent Communications, 2011. Web. 1 October 2011
Seneca. “On Liberal and Vocational Studies.” 2010. Reading the World: Ideas That Matter. 2nd Edition. New York: W.W. Norton &Company. 16-21. Print.
Tzu, Hsun. “Encouraging Learning.” 2010. Reading the World: Ideas That Matter. 2nd Edition. New York: W.W. Norton &Company, 2007. 8-14.