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S~~
FOR
17
~l
STUDENTS
ct1~~
AND
EDUCATORS
by
Michael A. Snyder
W
HAT DOES
it mean to be
educated and successful in
today's world?
Do you consider yourself
educated? Are you on the way to success?
The fact that you read this far shows that you are
part of a select group with potential for real success.
Perhaps you did not know that nearly
one billion
human beings today cannot read or comprehend this
or any other written sentence. And many more have
barely mastered the basic skills of reading and
writing. They are lacking real potential for success
in this present life.
Does this mean that these people are inferior by
nature? Absolutely not! What it does mean is that
people wbo cannot, or have t rouble, reading and
writing, are at a distinct disadvantage. T he ability to
communicate in written form is an essentiaJ key to
success and to t rue education.
The fact that so many are unable to read points
up a major ftaw in this world's educational systems.
But it's only one symptom of a major crisis-a crisis
largely ignored worldwide-in modero cducation.
Today' s Si tuatlon
The 20th century has experienced a virtual
knowledge explosion. Witbin the span of a single
human generation, men and women have gone from
horse and buggy transportation to interplanetary
exploration. Communication cables line the ocean
floor; microchips pul vast computer technology at
the fingertips of the common man; and complex
probes from both the U.S. and the Soviet Union
plunge deep into the solar system.
But, at the same time, starvation and squalor grip
vast areas of the earth. Through sophisticated
television networks, people in the developed
countries can watch contemporary continuing crises
in Southeast Asia, Latín Amer ica, the Persian Gulf
Aprll 1982
and many other areas.
But
wh.y
this contrast between man's scientific
achievements and his moral and social failures?
There must be a cause for
every
effect.
And the cause is wrong, misgu ided education!
When is education, education? And when is
education faulty and erroneous indoctrination?
Unfor tunately, the word
education
has lost its
meaning in today's world . You hear of "receiving an
education," or the place wbere one "gets" an
education .
Neitber definition is true. Richard Franko
Goldman, in an address at the Peabody Institute in
Read widely with
understanding;
don't limit yourself
to one field.
11/ustrsted by Terry Smith
Baltimore, Md., said :
"It
is cer tainly
not
possible to
mass-produce educated men and women.
They have
to produce themse/ves,
and this is a concept highly
unpopular in our times. Education is not something
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