4 marks of an educated person

A few years ago, there was an article in The Rotarian written by Grayson Kirk titled, “The Four Marks Of An Educated Person.”

Those of you who are regular readers of this column know that the merits of a good education are very important to me. Sometimes we fail to realize, however, that our real education begins after we leave school.

There are some people in our communities presently who have a B.A., a M.A. and a Ph.D., but unfortunately do not have a job. As you think about your own life and where you are now, may I pass along to you the “The Four Marks Of An Educated Person.”

First, the educated person speaks and writes clearly and precisely no matter how much information they may have stored away in their brain. A person is not educated until they learn to use their tongue with grace, precision and clarity.

Secondly, the educated person has a set of values and the courage to defend them. Knowledge and experience have given them the capacity to discriminate not only between right and wrong but also between the trivial and the significant, between that which is cheap and that which has integrity.

Thirdly, the educated person tries to understand their society and how it differs from other societies. They view the differences with compassion and respect, where the uneducated person sees them as evidence of their own superiority and regard the customs of others with condensation or contempt.

Fourthly, the educated person looks squarely at the world and all of its problems but always has hope for better days ahead. They neither fear nor reject the trials and tribulations of modern life but accept as their responsibility the task of making some sort of order out of complexity and opportunity out of danger.

There are always exceptions to the rule, but not very many people come to my mind who are educated who do not possess these four qualities. There is a lot of food for the thought in these four things mentioned above. Give yourself a checkup from time to time and see where you are.

Rutherford B. Hayes once said, “Learn to know yourself to the end that you may improve your powers, your conduct, your character. This is the same aim of education and the best of all education is self-education.”

In my opinion, the three most important professions are preachers, doctors and teachers. The order they come in could vary in some of your minds, but if we do not have good preachers, good doctors and good teachers in all of our communities, we need to do all we can to see that we do.

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