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Education

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Education is a term which encompasses the teaching of specific skills, and also something less tangible but more profound: the imparting of knowledge, good judgement and wisdom.

Education begins the minute a baby is born and is life-long. For some, the struggles and triumphs of daily life are far more instructive than formal schooling (Thus Mark Twain: "I never let school interfere with my education.") Family members have an educational effect which is quite profound -- often more profound than they realize -- though family teaching techniques may be highly informal.

Formal education occurs when society makes a commitment to educate people, usually the young. Formal education has the advantage of being fairly systematic and thorough; but critics have always noted that whoever sponsors formal education, be it a church, the state or some other group, that group will almost always seek to shape its impressionable scholars in that image.

In recent years, life-long education has become far more widespread, and many adults have given up their notion that only children belong in school. However - the recent years of technology developments with portable computing devices may change some of the classical places where we do learn - OR where we find knowledge. In some places the learning can happen in real time as we need the knowledge itself. This is the computer based / networked learning stucture, where people contribute to each other's education.

Categories
Classical Education -- Reading -- Math -- Language -- Science -- Ethics -- Physical education -- Religious education
Formal education
Elementary education -- Secondary education -- Vocational education -- College education -- Graduate education -- Colleges and universities -- School choice
Educational policy
Literacy -- Standardized testing -- Education reform -- School choice
Informal education
Early instruction -- Home schooling
Theory and Methodology
Philosophy of education--Teaching method -- Instructional theory-- Learning theory -- Learning disability -- Instructional technology
Biographies
F. Matthias Alexander
John Dewey
Hermann Ebbinghaus
Maria Montessori
Ivan Pavlov
Plato
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
B.F. Skinner

What are our priorities for writing in this area? To help develop a list of the most basic topics in Education, please see Education basic topics.