What Does it Mean to Be Educated
Just like a passport is a pre-requisite to travel the world, similarly, a good education is a pre-requisite to lead a meaningful life confidently. Whom, then, do I call educated? The following is the definition of education given by Socrates approximately two thousand years ago.
First, those who manage well the circumstances which they encounter day by day; and those who can judge situations appropriately as they arise and rarely miss the suitable course of action.
Next, those who are honorable in their dealings with all men, bearing easily what is unpleasant or offensive in others and being as reasonable with their associates as is humanly possible.
Furthermore, those who hold their pleasures always under control and are not unduly overcome by their misfortunes, bearing up under them bravely and in a manner worthy of our common nature.
Most important of all, those who are not spoiled by their successes, who do not desert their true selves, but hold their ground steadfastly as wise and sober-minded men, rejoicing no more in the good things that have come to them through chance than in those which through their own nature and intelligence are theirs since birth.
Those who have a character which is in accord, not with one of these things, but with all of them, these are educated— possessed of all the virtues. – Socrates (470-399 B.C)
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