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Damani Hoffman
Ms. Alapin
English 220
2 May 2014

Education Manifesto

Introduction
I learned at an early age that education was an important part of life. However, I never
considered that education could be anything more than what was found in books until I was
much older. The best way to describe my education is found in Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau,
stating, [e]ach of us is thus formed by three kinds of masters. The disciple in whom their
various lessons are at odds with one another is badly raised and will never be in agreement with
himself. He alone in whom they all coincide at the same points and tend to the same ends reaches
his goal and lives consistently. He alone is well raised (Rousseau 38). In other words, Rousseau
also believes that ones education must be equally balanced and in accordance in order for the
education to be of any use. As I grew up, I too realized that true education was more than just
book-learning; it is a delicate balance of experience, teachers and self. I also realized that, if I
truly wanted an education, I would have to go beyond the bookshelves and school walls.

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Structure
In order to clearly explain the balance needed to obtain a well-rounded education, I have
broken up the topic into the three aforementioned components of education: experience, teachers
and self. In Personal Experience, I explain how venturing outside of a regular curriculum can
be beneficial to a students understanding of life. In Teachers: A Description and Duties, I
rationalize that teachers are not only found in schools, but also outside of the classroom and can
play an important role in the lives of their students. In Self-actualization I show that, through
the reactions students have through interacting with the world around them, they begin to
develop an understanding of what education means to them individually and form their own
ideas of what path to follow in education.
As I go through this paper I will show that, the keys to a balanced and meaningful
education, are personal experience, teachers, and self-actualization. In my conclusion I will
explain how each of the components also coincides with each other to form a cohesive education
as in Rousseaus description of education.
Personal Experience
Francis Bacon in his essay, To Travel, once said, [t]ravel, in the younger sort, is a part
of education; in the elder, a part of experience (Bacon 113). In essence, Bacon is saying that
traveling and experiencing the world is also a major part of learning. I have also found this to be
true in my own education.
As a child growing up in England, I was a straight A honors student, but that was all
that I was. I could recite textbooks left and right, but I had no real idea of the world until the
summer after sixth grade when I was invited to Italy by a schoolmate. There, with little to no
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supervision, maps, guides, or textbooks, I learned more about history and culture than I ever had
sitting in a stuffy room listening to a teacher. From then on, I have made it a point to travel to
many places, such as Australia, where I have worked as a farmer, lived as a student, swam in the
Great Barrier Reef, and was introduced to the Sydney Opera House society. I have also had
amazing experiences traveling close to home in Washington D.C., where I have talked with
President Obama, chatted with Senators and sat in on Congress. Through all of these
experiences, I believe I have learned more than I ever could have from a textbook.
In a perfectly educated world, this type of hands on learning would be a pivotal part of
education, as there are some things children can only learn by going out into the world. The best
part of this education is that it does not have to travel far from home, as I did, but can simply stay
put and explore the world around them. In fact, the very first examples of personal experience
every student has starts at home.
Once a child is born, one of the first things they learn consciously is how to walk and talk
by watching and mimicking those around them. This type of pro-active learning carries on
throughout the life of a student, branching out into the student learning to socialize with peers
and adults, what morals are used in society, and how to play a sport or an instrument. However,
this is not to discredit the utilization of books, schools, and teachers, as they is also a major part
of the human experience.
Teachers: A Description and Duties
While allowing children to explore the world around them is essential, there are many
things in the world, such as math, and science, that are imperative to the modern day world we
live in and can only be taught by those with more experience.
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Parents are a good example of this. Although not teachers in the professional sense, as
Gandhi says, [a]fter birth the child imitates the parents, and for a considerable number of years
entirely depends on them for its growth (Gandhi 156), making them an essential part of a
childs initial education. Though exploration is a valued part of education, an equally valued role
is ensuring that children have a balance between natural discovery, and controlled learning.
Although it may not always be natural, this controlled learning is necessary for the shaping of a
child. Throughout the life of a child, it is the parents who guide it, developing the beginnings of
their moral compass and a childs sense of direction.
Conversely, there is only so much a parent can do in the lives of a youngster. While a
parent may teach a child life lessons and morality until they are no longer with them, many
parents are at a loss when it comes to teaching subjects such as biology or astrophysics. Once a
parent has reached the limit of what they can pass on, it becomes time for another to take their
place. In Platos The Allegory of the Cave, while telling an allegory of prisoners being held in a
cave, Socrates says to Glaucon, Now look: what if they could be freed from their bonds and
cured of their unreason by some natural happening like this? One is released and suddenly forced
to stand up, turn his head, walk and look into the fire? (Plato 176). This natural happening
Socrates refers to is what I would consider a teacher figure. In this context one can narrow
down the word teacher to one commonly found in schools and universities, for they are the
ones that, most commonly, teach students what friends and family cannot. This part of the
balance is essential as this is where simplistic learning fades out, and students are exposed to
higher, more complex forms of thinking and learning.
For many students, this new, more engaging form of education is exciting and they are
curious to learn. As time wears on however, like the prisoners in the cave, so many children,
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especially teenagers, often believe they know all there is to know about the world and become
complacent. In a world of perfect education, teachers would be willing to help motivate
complacent students. However, the process of motivation cannot be left up to the teacher alone.
The student should also take the initiative to further their own education.
Self-Actualization
After my initial trip to Italy, I was eager to find another way to gain that kind of
experience again. Over the next few years I actively joined groups such as People to People
International, Girls State and Girls Nation, in hopes of furthering my own education of the world
around me. With each of my travels, I found myself becoming much braver, and more involved
in deciding what I wanted from my education. From this transformation from a straight A
student that let others decide what education was, to a student that was confident in creating a
version of education that best suited me, I discovered the final piece of the balancing act.
Ultimately I have found that parents and teachers can try for years to force the child to
learn, the only way a child could ever receive a perfect education is if a student truly wants, and
seeks after it. In a perfect world, students would meet teachers half way and take the initiative in
furthering their education. While it is the teachers job to lead children, once the kids are left to
their own devices, especially once they reach puberty, it is up to them to complete their own
education through their reactions to the world. This style of learning is best characterized by
Italian physician and educator Montessori, who says, [a] child gains experience through
exercise and movement. He coordinates his own movements and records the emotions he
experiences in coming into contact with the external world (Montessori 194). In other words,
Montessori believes that children not only learn by exploring and moving about in the world, but
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also by analyzing the emotions generated from these experiences and relating them to their
education. The process is much like the example of learning to walk in the Personal
Experience portion, however, instead of learning just through watching and doing, students add
another layer of understanding and application. This part of the balance is self. Though it
seems to be another branch of experience, under the education of self, instead of going out and
discovering the world, young adults, through their interactions with the world, find out who they
are as people. Once this process has started, it becomes easier for the student to narrow down
exactly what kind of education they want to pursue, thus taking the initiative to shape
themselves.
This self-education is described in another line of Platos Allegory of the Cave, when
Socrates states, "...we musn't believe that education is as some people proclaim: that the soul has
no knowledge and the put it in, like sight in blind eyes That is what they say." "But our
argument indicates that the power of learning inheres in everyone's soul. It's as if we couldn't
turn our eye from the dark to the bright without turning our whole body around; so here we must
turn the whole soul and its organ of learning away from becoming until it faces being..." (Plato
518). The point Plato makes here is that every student has the ability to learn if they have the
will. Undeniably, in a perfect world, if a student has begun to narrow down their education into
one that best suits their needs, then the education given to them should also be one that is
centered on what the student needs to accomplish these to accomplish their educational goals.
Sadly, that is not always the case in the fast paced, modern day world. It is only once a student is
determined not to get lost in the shuffle and further their learning, that they become truly
independent, and in control of their own education.

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Conclusion
Throughout my life I have come to realize that education is more than what one gets in
school. I have learned that true education is built upon a tight balance of experience, teachers and
self and that one cannot acquire true education unless they actively search for it. If there was one
thing that I would encourage the educators of tomorrow to take up, is to let children put down the
books, and let them discover the world around them, and in turn, themselves in between times of
controlled learning. It is only then that students can develop a full, well-rounded education both
inside, and outside of the bookshelves and school walls.











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Works Cited
Bacon, Francis, and John Pitcher. The Essays. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin,
1985. Print.
Gandhi, , and Mahadev H. Desai. Gandhi's Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with
Truth. Washington, D.C: Public Affairs Press, 1948. Print.
Montessori, Maria, and M J. Costelloe. The Secret of Childhood. New York: Ballantine Books,
1972. Print.
Plato, , and Raymond Larson. The Republic. Arlington Heights, Ill: AHM Pub. corp, 1979. Print.
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. Emile: Or, on Education. New York: Basic Books, 1979. Print.