The people I talk with most are what many would call educated. Virtually of them have a bachelor’s degree, most have more than that.

I’m tight enough to some that I can, thankfully, discuss politics without gambling harm to our friendship. Sometimes we’ll discuss inequity, other times racial tensions, worker rights, or something else. Our talks often start with defining the problem and then move to how to fix it..

It’s never long before someone suggests that all wouldbe solved if only others were more “educated”. Our degreed selves usually then nod in agreement. Often there isn’t any other explanation, just… “educated”.

It seems we may be conflating education with wisdom. The two appear close, but they aren’t. For example, most would feel very comfortable claiming superiority of their knowledge (which is the end of education) over that of the ancient Greeks, yet far fewer of us would feel equally confident in claiming an advantage in wisdom over say, Socrates, Plato, or Aristotle.

And yet we speak with authority on topics outside of or domain. What is more strange is that, I suspect, if any of us were asked directly whether or not we knew best how to run a state, we would answer an emphatic “maybe”. Yet when we speak casually there seems to be an air of authority that comes from being “educated”.

I’m not the one to put a fine point on the definitions of “education” and “wisdom”, but as a rough approximation I say that to be educated is to have acquired enough knowledge to be considered skilled in an art or science and to be wise is to have acquired the knowledge of how people, all people, can live a good life.

With that in mind, I suspect we’d all be better off if those skilled in machine learning, carpentry, child care, engineering, and other arts considered each other on equal footing when it comes to proposing solutions for society’s ills.

What is the right sort of education for a young man?

As I write this opart my sons are 15, 11, and 9. I am convinced that their education—in the most liberal sense—is the most important thing I can think on. If someone were to offer me $5m today on the condition I give up considering their raising I wouldn’t do it. Nor would I do it for a greater sum.

A young man being sent out into the world ought to be able to fend for himself. He ought to have a skill that he can earn at least a meagre living from, and a disposition that lets keeps him in good cheer when his possessions are low.

He ought to know viscerally that hard work guarantees nothing but is a prerequisite for everything.

He ought to consider risks and take those well-considered.

He ought to work towards material comforts, but never lose sight of the life of the mind.

He ought not be ashamed or proud of things out of his control. He ought to be ashamed for bad things in his control.

Cha

2026-06-13

What do we mean when we say someone is “educated”. I suppose the common understanding is to say that they have a college degree and so have gone through the “educational” system of their day.

If we meant “educated” as a short-hand to mean only that someone spent a few years taking some classes, that would be fine. The problem is that education still carries a connotation of high-mindedness. We think it represents a more elevated human being, which is why we see education as a universal good.

That connotation doesn’t make too much sense from the bottom up. What does an electrical engineering program do to elevate you? Sure, it teaches you how to work with electronics, but is does that elevate a person over their neighbor who learns plumbing? In earnings, maybe, but in anything high-minded.

I see an educated person is someone who approaches a state of recognizing what is worth wanting in life. Who understands Why it’s what’s worth wanting and how to get it in a world made up of people. He must therefore understand how people work and how to work with them. He must understand how the world works and how it got here from where it used to be.

These are the sort of things that make someone a credit to any endeavor they pursue. They form the core of the person.