Ideas that Matter (from the book Reading the World, 3rd edition, by Michael Austin

Student’s Name:
Instructor’s Name:
Course:
Date:
Reading the World: Ideas that Matter by Michael Austin
The first part of the “Reading the World: Ideas that Matter,” an anthology by different writers, features the Education chapter where the editor, Michael Austin, discusses various individuals that had insightful ideas on education. Austin uses assertions by different personalities to elucidate the issue of education and its importance in the society. Through the ideas of John Henry Newman, the first part of the chapter argues that education is not literal as most people take it. It is a process that is not only intended to generate knowledge but also foster understanding thereby affecting other important parts of life, “It had to teach the body of knowledge and set of skills that while, not immediately applicable to any kind of work, were vital to the growth and development of human being” (Austin 3). The idea is particularly true even from my personal experience as the higher education I get meant to equip me to handle life challenges in general and not prepare me for any kind of job.
Further, through the assertions of Seneca, Austin argues that any study should aim at generating knowledge and not money, “I have no respect for any study whatsoever if its end is the making of money”(Austin 14) A form of education that people undertake should ultimately be based on generating important knowledge. Subsequently, the knowledge can assist its beneficiaries in various aspects of life including the social and economic ones.

Education holds a sentimental value to me. I find that studying is important as it has a wholesome effect on the individual. It generates important intercommunication skills, etiquette, influences decision making as well as installs the skills that one needs to cope with different situations. Considering such factors, the author is right to assert that main education purpose is not economic gain.
The chapter also argues that the process of education is not desirable at all times. For instance, he uses the arguments of prominent individuals including Frederick Douglass, Rabindranath Tagore, and Richard Feynman to develop his argument that education should be objective for it to argue its objectives. Tagore particularly argues that non-objective education is not helpful to the students and only plunges them into misery “… the child’s life is plunged to the education factory, lifeless, colorless, dissociated from the context of universe…” (Martin 40). Therefore the teachers should ensure that they teach only the relevant information to students and package it in an interesting way to entice the beneficiaries. From a personal experience, I know that studying can be boring if not packaged in a way that will interest the students. For instance, at some points in life, lectures may be a punishment instead of an opportunity to learn helpful information. For this reason, teachers should package the learning information in such a way that it will trigger interest among the students.
Works Cited
Austin, Michael. Reading The World: Ideas That Matter / [Edited By] Michael Austin. n.p.: New York: W.W. Norton & Co., c2007, 2007. Harvard Library Bibliographic Dataset. Web. 21 Dec. 2016.