Educated Illiterates

Affixed to the corner of a lonely enclosure,
pondering really hard on the reason why the
so-called educated figures at times behave,
reason and exhibit as though they are typical
village farmers who have never heard the
dictating voice of a formal teacher. Then why
should we refer to them as “Educated” when
they can’t demonstrate it in every
considerable aspect of life. Maybe we should
just juxtapose the two terms “educated” and
“illiterate” and refer to them by the one
keyword “EDUCATED ILLITERATES”.
First of all, giving a clear-cut distinction
about who is said to be educated. The
question of what really defines an educated
person isn’t necessarily easy to answer but
rather important to try.
An Educated person, according to an average
countryman, is someone who has undergone
a process of learning either in a school or a
form of structured training that results in an
enhanced mental capability to function
effectively and intellectually in novel and
familiar real world situations. Though
according to Harvard School Of Education,
“being educated is different from being
schooled, schooling only gives the cognition
of writing, reading and getting examined
which rarely exceed the long narrow corridors
of the classrooms”.
Also quoting from the words of Napoleon Hill
in his book entitled “Think And Grow Rich”,
“the term Education was derived from the
Latin word “educo” which means to educe, to
draw out, to fathom, and to develop
something out of abundance of knowledge.
An Educated man is one who has so much
developed the faculties of his mind that he
may acquire any knowledge he wants or its
equivalent without violating the rights of
others.
He is that man who knows how and where to
get knowledge when needed and has the
ability to organize and execute it into definite
and reasonable plans of action.”
Not to leave out the term “Illiterate” in the
grey area; According to a layman, an
illiterate is someone who lacks formal
education and thereby unable to read and
write which makes such person limited in
terms of knowledge about what he could
have known by reading written writings.
He is that someone who demonstrates and
have little or no formal education and
thereby, marked with low self-esteem and
inferiority to an expected standard of
familiarity with formal languages and
literature.
Obviously, whenever a vocal cord vibrates
and the word “illiteracy” is voiced, “inability
to read and write” is the first and virtually
the only conclusion that comes into our mind
which often makes us look down on the such
called illiterates as tykes and illiteracy as a
bane of the society. This kind of mentality
needs some changes, its hydra-headed
branches need some cutting, the flooring
needs some scrubbing and new pillars of true
aufklarung needs erecting. Because there is
more to illiteracy than we might really think
it is. According to Alvin Toffler, “the illiterate
of the these days is not someone who cannot
read and write but someone who can not
learn, unlearn and relearn”.
I’ll rather say an illiterate is a man who due
to some unfavourable conditions, fails to
know the fundamentals of a given branch of
knowledge or doesn’t have the basic ideas or
necessary know-how of a particular subject
matter.
Now thinking widely and loudly,what do we
call a renowned lawyer who lacks the ability
to use computers at a somewhat basic level ?
He’s educated,YES!, but a computer illiterate.
What do we also call a Professor Of
Literature in a degree-awarding tertiary
institution who lacks the basic arithmetic and
numerical skills that are required in day-to-
day life and even unable to solve a cheap
quadratic equation to a bearably defendable
minimum? Isn’t that Arithmetical Illiteracy?
What about a doctorate degree holder who
lacks familiarity with his own culture, he
misunderstands common cultural sayings
and goes off track when references are made
to folklores and tales about his own
fatherland ? Obviously an educated cultural
illiterate.
Furthermore,let’s take a look at a man,well
known to be educated but has that mentality
of “the media never lie”.He interprets every
information he gets through the media as
‘true’ and therefore starts spreading it with
the most sincere tone he knows how to
inculcate,one of the reasons why we always
have rumours flying all around ,I suppose
that is media illiteracy.
Yet to be convinced? then thumb through the
mentality of an educated football fan who
says; “the referee was against our team
purposefully because we’re black”,he holds
incorrect and illusional beliefs about races
and tends to spit out damaging stereotypical
sentences like “All northerners are bombers”,
“All white men are rich” and “All chinese can
fight kungfu”, to be brief.These are
expressions of not only prejudice or
ignorance but of sheer racial illiteracy.
Come to think of it, an educated health
worker who out of his non-challant
attitude,throws the wrapper of a just-
consumed snack on the road despite the
knowledge that there are trashcans
conspicously sitting by the road side.The
action seems illiterate and affirmatively,it is!
Lastly, let’s take a look at a man who is
blessed with fancy educational degrees and
materialistic luxuries but the nucleus of his
mind is nothing better than that of a rural
fisherman with tones of electrons of illiteracy
revolving round it.
There are ‘n’ number of such instances that
get us perplexed and tip us into a coma of
enigma if really such people,despite their
formal dexterity and educational
prowess,should be termed “educated”.
This is where the oxymoron “EDUCATED
ILLITERATE” comes handy as the question of
Who,Why and Where they are have just been
given a clearer view of observation which
should settle the wambling in our ever-
inquisitive minds.
Educated illiterates are those who are said to
be educated (schooled) but somehow turn
out to be illiterates when it comes to certain
fields of knowledge,wisdom and subject
matters.
The extreme and absolute limit of education
might be reached by a man, he can never go
beyond the tremendously illimitable and
inimitable buoyancy of illiteracy.
Therefore, standing by laid-down facts,every
single body who claims to be educated must
be an illiterate when it comes to other
aspects of life,be it physical, cultural, critical,
religious or emotional, to mention a few.
So, I think it’s high time we started nodding
to the saying of John Donne that goes like
“no man is an island on his own” and the
words of Socrates,the greek philosopher
which says “the only true wisdom is not the
wisdom that you can’t know or can’t be
everything but the wisdom that you know and
you are virtually nothing”.
Conclusively, it is wholly impossible for a
man to be referred to as totally educated
without a pinch of illiteracy in times of
diversity,well I think I shouldn’t have drawn
my conclusion that fast ,who knows,the great
ones they say,are yet to be born.Perhaps we
might still see that man who will stand so
exclusively out of the crowd and be extolled
by not being referred to as an “Educated
Illiterate” . But tell that man to be prepared
to have “the intelligence of Albert Eistein, the
business prowess of Donald Trump,the
creativity of Walt Disney, the scientific
knowledge of Robert Hooke, the physique of
Arnold Schwarzenegger, the wealth of Bill
Gates, the athletic ability of Michael Jordan,
the social grace of Jackie Kennedy, the
kungfu moves of Jet Li, the human rights
mentality of Nelson Mandela and the heart of
Mother Theresa” all combined in him. Sounds
impossible right? That’s the nerve which is
so much closer to the truth than we would
like to admit.
Finally, extracting a quote from H.G Well’s
diary, I think this is for all and sundry
“Anyone can be learned, everyone is in some
ways analphabetic .We must be intolerant
and cautious of ignorance, but we must have
the understanding of illiteracy as one of
those day-to-day norms we can never boycott
no matter the level of education”.

Credit: Eduregard