David Van Netta sent the following letter (response sent from mail@cartalk.com).

In regards to what is an educated person,

First of all, I believe that the educational system in America today is spending its time teaching all the things that young people will never need to know in their futures and none of the things that they must know to survive life after Mommy and Daddy. I decided that every high school student must pass a course I call "Real Life 101" before they can graduate. This course would include, among other things:

How to balance a checkbook.

What credit is, why it is important and how you maintain it.

Living, if not within, at least in the same geographical area of your means. How to make a budget.

The automobile--how to buy, how to pay for, how to maintain and why it is important to check your oil and to say something to someone when that little red light has been on for three days. How to change a flat tire.

Insurance--what, why and how - car, home, life, health. What life is really going to be like when parenthood is thrust on you, and how are you going to pay for it.

Plus many other wonderful adventures of adulthood that the educators of today don't warn you about, because they know you already have it easier than they did and they want you to share the pain.

My second point is that an educated person is not a person who knows a lot of stuff, but rather a person who knows how and where to find the things he needs to know. For example you don't need to know everybody's telephone number--you just need to know where the phone book is, which at times can be a challenge. Most young adults don't know where the library is, much less how to use it. Millions of people with computers can tell you where all the dirty pictures of Pamela Anderson Lee are on the Internet but have no clue to the tremendous amount of information about every subject in the world that is readily available to them. I don't know a lot about cars, but I know that you two guys know everything there is to know about cars and if you don't, you'll make something up.

The downside of being an educated person is that people who feel that you are more educated than they are will invariably seek your advice. There is a great deal of responsibility involved in advice-giving, as I am sure you are well aware. So I like to give people the same advice that my parents gave me: "Go look it up in the dictionary."

Back to Tommy's Education Forum Part II

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