Pamela Evans sent the following letter (response sent from mail@cartalk.com).

Perhaps I should preface this by saying that my doctoral
degree is in--better sit down for this one--dance.

Dear Click & Clack,

On today's show you asked for a definition of an educated person. I too am a student of education--actually I have been a student, in the formal sense of attending a school, for most of my life.

I am currently a doctoral candidate--yes, go ahead with the rampage on the idiocy of calling yourself a "doctor" when you are only a Ph.D. Although I have not reached that most esteemed title as of yet (since my dissertation is not finished), my feeling is that the medical doctors actually stole our title, rather than the other way around. Since all those academicians who received doctoral degrees in philosophy, education, electrical engineering and even art history share the "doctor" title quite amicably, and it is the M.D.s who feel they are separate from the rest of us, then they should be required to come up with a new title.

Like for instance, "medic." That seems to have a good ring to it and would be easy to yell in the case of an emergency--it worked on M.A.S.H.for years. Plus, any confusion when yelling out, "Medic," at an emergency would still result in the response of a medical professional, say a nurse or an E.O.M. These people would still be quite qualified to deal with the poor soul (any podiatrists who answered and then couldn't deal with the emergency, well, that's their own fault for not wanting to do the real time in med school), and all of those Ph.D.s could just sit by and thank their lucky stars that no one was bleeding on them.

But I digress. I have a definition for you of an educated person. Perhaps I should preface this by saying that my doctoral degree is in--better sit down for this one--dance. All right, you can stop laughing now. We are a small crowd but quite proud, and besides we can pirouette circles around you! Personally my work is with children, specifically implementing dance back into the public schools, and I am entering my 19th year of teaching.

Over the years I have thought long and hard about how to define education, how to improve as a teacher, and how to best reach the students. My belief is that an educated person is one who has been taught and prepared to become a productive member of their society. One who has an understanding of how they personally learn, and hopefully a love for learning that will last their lifetime. I disagree strongly with the woman who said that to be educated one must be well read. What a very Eurocentric way of looking at the world. And what of those people who are not gifted with an ability to learn linguistically but are perhaps instead musically or kinesthetically astute? Whatever is required of a person in one's society is what education should address.

In my opinion our society needs a compassionate and thoughtful populous who can accept and work with the many cultures which live together in our country. For the children just entering kindergarten this year, we cannot be so arrogant as to assume that we know the specific skills they will need to perform their occupations as they enter the working world in 20 years, but we can teach them to think, and to reason, and to learn, and to make the world meaningful to themselves and those around them.

I want to make one last comment in defense of parents. The world we live in now is a violent place. Most parents attempt to raise caring and educated children. But in order to raise children to survive in a world filled with hate, you must prepare them for what they will encounter. I do not mean that they should teach them to hate, but to be careful and wise. Perhaps it is this larger concept of society which is to blame for the breakdown of the educational system. Does our society actually value education? Do we value children? Do we show this through our commitment to improve as a people rather than simply to blame each other for what is breaking down?

Thanks for the time, and sorry about the length, but you know us Ph.D. candidates: verbose, verbose, verbose.

Sincerely with leaps and turns,

Pam
Mountain View, CA

Back to Tommy's Education Forum Part II

[ Previous Letter | Letters Index | Next Letter ]