What's a good thesis for an essay about "what does it mean to be educated?"

Essay: Many great people throughout history have claimed to be educated. But what does it mean to be educated? Being educated cannot be determined by whether one came from an Ivy League school, has a 4.0, or any means of standardized tests. Education is not knowledge, although commonly confused as such. Education is not something that can be measured. One simply is or is not. To be educated is having the ability to listen carefully, think critically, and explore viewpoints different than one’s own. This being said, the majority of the men and women who run the government that sets laws and restrictions on its people are not educated. Not to say that government officials are not qualified to hold their positions, but a majority of these men and women do not meet the criteria to be categorized as educated.

A huge part of education is the consumption of knowledge. One cannot form opinions on a matter if that person does not know about that matter. The ability to listen carefully is the most effective way to absorb information on a subject. One cannot simply sit in on a conference and listen to someone speak and expect to absorb what they are saying. A listener must adamantly listen to each sentence, extract the idea within, ponder it, and chose to believe it or not. Many times, by actually listening to someone speaking, it will create more questions than you had before. The more one learns, the more one will realize that they know nothing. By asking questions one can better understand and solidify what they are learning.

After obtaining the information, one should not just store it away for later use, but treat it as a muscle. If you ponder and think critically upon that idea, it will strengthen and grow. But similar to a muscle, if one does not work it out often, it will begin to atrophy. A perfect example of such is a television show called “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?” Many of the adults brought onto this show are “educated” with doctorates and masters. And yet, they are out-smarted on such simple matters by children. This is because these children are continuing to learn these problems while the prestigious members of society have not thought about such things in many years or even decades. One must periodically ponder their knowledge so as to protect it from atrophy and help them gain a better understanding on many topics and ideas.

Once one has a solid understanding on an idea, he or she must form a viewpoint on such idea. Many ideas are controversial and have strong arguments on both sides. This is why it is important to be well learned on these ideas so that they can create their own viewpoint on these ideas and be firm upon that. And yet, one must avoid being too firm upon their viewpoints and shutting out the ideas of others. One must be humble and able to listen to other viewpoints and asses them. If it is determined after much contemplation that that latter viewpoint is more valid than the previous, one must accept their shortcomings and learn from them. It is in this where many political figures fall short.

Political parties are a major reason why political figures are so stubborn. Many politicians are controlled by their parties and do not make decisions on their own. They take sides on political ideas that agree with their political parties and not just their personal thoughts. Those who are striving to please the general public often base their ideas as such that would please those who would put them in office and not on their own collaboration. Once their ideas are made know, they often never change them so as not to be seen as wishy-washy or easily corrupted. Because of these reasons, one will never know if a political figure is faking it and not living by his or her own ideas, or if they are one of the very few who truly speak what they believe.

The misconception between knowledge and education is very common. Knowledge is being learned of many things, where as education is having an understanding of many things. There are many similarities, but in order to claim an education, one must make sure that he or she is worthy of such a title as educated. A Greek philosopher called Socrates went to the many educated of Athens to ask of their professions. In doing so he came to the realization that himself and those who claimed a vast education actually knew nothing. By realizing this, Socrates himself became educated. The first step to becoming educated is to humble oneself to learn that they do not know.

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