Insights and Self-Perceptions: Education
Human beings come into the world devoid of the various features of the world they are bound to live throughout their lives. The adaptation to the environment is crucial for every living organism’s survival in the world. This requires the assimilation into the cultures and realization of the strengths and weaknesses a person possesses. The requisite skills and knowledge for survival and success necessitate an increase of information one has. Education proceeds for a whole lifetime to create an optimally functioning and knowing human who is aware of hordes of information necessary, to make it in life. As per Frank Conroy’s “Think about it: Ways We Know, and Don’t”, the main character, Conroy himself, explains how he came to understand the workings of his own mind as a piano. The curiosity that arises within people as they grow up, eager to grasp whatever knowledge and skills they can, makes one increase his education incessantly. The skills and knowledge one learns and comprehends extensively lead to the conclusion that one has been educated. The numerous aspects which education can assume in its definition bring up the issue on the meaning of education. Education is the continuous accumulation of skills and information throughout life in systematic or random order capable of making sense to an individual, to make an optimally adapting person and satisfy curiosity.
Language is a form of education that one learns at an early age, to help in communication, and it advances in vocabulary and span over lifetime. Conroy explains that life as a hot dog vendor made him make acquaintance with two Puerto Rican men who could not speak English. Notwithstanding, they found a way to communicate despite the language barrier showing that some learning had taken place over the course of time to enable the two factions to communicate. The adaptability to various circumstances with the utilization of the various senses, humans are endowed with, enabled one to survive. The education that took place between the Puerto Rican and Conroy explains the accumulation of skills and information over time to function optimally.
The development of cognitive or logical thinking in the early childhood that progresses to abstract thinking in later times of life enables one to become increasingly intelligent. Education enables one to relate deeply with various issues in life. Conroy tells of how he could not relate to the perspective of the black shoe shiners as they talked to him. Their words seemed to bear much weight, and their mindset was in another place altogether. Conroy tried hard to understand the workings of the minds of these two individuals all to no avail. This elucidates how logical thinking that develops earlier in life does not appeal to the emotion and experience one has been through, making things incomprehensible for people who cannot think deeply. The experiences of a young person are not significant enough to make them to the various emotional cues that turn up in a conversation. The interaction of Conroy with Jazz artists and other intellectuals opened his eyes to the culture and workings of the minds of people who lived in the ghetto. These people led to the development of his abstract ideologies that made him have a handle on what the two shoe shiners had in their mind. The introduction of the author to the culture of the people he could not understand previously enabled him to learn what he never knew. This is the essence of education; matching new experiences to old ones that never made sense. The synchronization of all the information one has in mind leads to the generalization of knowledge making one able apply it in various fields. This shows how education is an accumulation of skills and information that need to be integrated to optimize the adaptability and intelligence of a person.
The integration of information in a systematic manner or a random manner, in order to develop the sense in all the education one receives in life, makes one optimally capable of performing duties. Education is all around the place giving people a chance to blend with nature in order to heighten their potential and finally realize it. In his piano playing, Conroy learnt one of the most crucial skills in his carrier from a Red Garland who tipped him. The information that he got from Garland did not ring a bell the first time he got it, but with time, he understood what he had been told by Garland that made him such an awesome piano player. Furthermore, his curiosity led to his eagerness to ask Garland on how he played the piano so well. Education being continuous led to the integration of the information that Garland gave to Conroy and the playing of the piano by Conroy. This led to the successful learning of a concept that made Conroy a good pianist. Therefore, education is continuous and also it satisfies the curiosity of a person following this revelation.
Education involves the satisfying of curiosities even if only a part of it is explained
Conroy’s encounters with Justice Douglas and Judge Hand show a controversial issue in which one needs an answer that is not satisfactory, despite the comprehension of the whole subject matter. The arguing parties both advocate for their opinion strongly with facts leaving the learner to choose a side. Such information needs analysis from the learner and, furthermore, it does not offer a resolution of any kind. Thus, education comes randomly and accumulates, allowing adaptation of curiosities to the controversial subjects.
In conclusion, education involves the accumulation of information in either random or systematic manners. The synchronization of this information with skills or other pieces of information brings about comprehension. Comprehension is the sole purpose of education that leads to the satisfaction of curiosity and adaptation to circumstances one faces in life. Therefore, the essay elucidates education as being the accumulation of information and skills in a systematic or random order that enables comprehension to satisfy curiosity or to enable adapting to various life circumstances.
