One
of the primary aims of an educational system is to change
the way that its students behave and interact with the rest
of the world, even at the elementary school level. As one
moves further up through school, perhaps even moving on
to the graduate level of studying a particular academic
discipline, there is no doubt that the world itself has
not changed, but the way that the educated person views
the world has become vastly different. If this were not
so, there would be little reason for a person to pursue
higher learning.
To
begin with, let's take the example of the study of a relatively
simple academic discipline such as marketing. The scholar
studies all aspects of marketing, such as marketing research,
marketing communications and marketing management. Over
a period of three to four years or more, the student learns
all about how people, organizations, corporations and governments
all use marketing to persuade the general public to believe
in a particular idea, campaign, product or political belief.
From the very first marketing class, the student becomes
aware that marketing is engaged in the process of manipulating
people. The world will never look the same to that individual
as he sees the tremendous amount of information available
to the world in an entirely different (and most likely more
cynical) light. For instance, as a specific example, the
student learns that most products and brands featured in
television and movies are placed there deliberately, with
a large fee paid to the producers by the company that sells
the product. It will be difficult for the marketing scholar
to watch almost any movie or program without looking through
his or her new frame of reference, noticing practically
every brand name and product that is featured in a television
program or theatrical release.
Furthermore,
the more intensive the education, the more that person's
view of the world will change. Nuclear physicists cannot
look at an object without noting on some level its subatomic
components and construction. Astronomers with a PhD cannot
be expected to simply gaze at a starlit sky in the same
manner as a pair of young lovers out on a date. Physicians
cannot help but see the human body in a much more clinical
manner than most other people - after all, they have most
likely thoroughly analyzed a human body before, both inside
and out. A lawyer will never be able to perceive the world
in the same way again after law school or especially after
practicing law for several years. The study of law will
instill in the law student a critical method of analyzing
facts and situations. It is only natural that this training
will spill over into other aspects of the lawyer's life,
not just when dealing with legal facts. It is not possible
to "think" in more than one way once your mind
has been trained at critical analysis. Additionally, after
the lawyer has practiced for several years, he or she will
likely have seen both the good sides and the bad sides of
humanity in a society. Even when meeting new people, the
experienced lawyer will have a predisposed opinion of how
he or she perceives this person based on their own paradigm,
looking through the biased lenses of legal training.
The
study of an academic discipline does not in and of itself
make the world different, although the application of those
studies can certainly change the course of human events.
But the perceptions of the world and the way that it works
are forever altered for the individual that pursues a higher
education, as his or her "eyes" will never "look"
the same way again.
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words)
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