THE EDUCATED MAN
Jovito Salonga
What then, is the educated man? Is he the man who has read a lot? Partly yes, because his reading is serious and discriminate and uplifting. Is he the man who remembers many facts and events? Partly yes, because the training of memory is a wholesome discipline that requires effort and application, and because one cannot make a sound judgment without respect for remembered facts. Is the educated man, then one who because of his skills is able to provide for himself and his family? Partly yes, since education should teach us how to make a living. But there is one thing we should always remember and it is this - that far more important than the making of a living is the living of a life - a good life, a meaningful life, an abundant life.
Jovito Salonga
What then, is the educated man? Is he the man who has read a lot? Partly yes, because his reading is serious and discriminate and uplifting. Is he the man who remembers many facts and events? Partly yes, because the training of memory is a wholesome discipline that requires effort and application, and because one cannot make a sound judgment without respect for remembered facts. Is the educated man, then one who because of his skills is able to provide for himself and his family? Partly yes, since education should teach us how to make a living. But there is one thing we should always remember and it is this - that far more important than the making of a living is the living of a life - a good life, a meaningful life, an abundant life.
The educated man lives this kind of life because he has opened the windows of his mind to great thoughts and noble ideas, because he is not imprisoned by the printed page but chooses to make a relentless, rigorous analysis and evaluation of everything he reads; because he is less interested in the accumulation of degrees than the stimulation of his mind and the cultivation of a generous spirit; because his interest is less in knowing who is right more importantly in discerning what is right and defending it with all the resources at his command; because he is not awed by authority,but is humble enough to recognize that his best judgment is imperfect and may well be tainted by error or pride; because he has a deep reverence for the inherent worth and dignity of every human being as a creature of God; because he has health sense of values, a breadth of outlook, and the depth of compassion which a purposeful education generates; because whenever he talks about good government he is prepared and willing to sacrifice, himself for it; and because he lives a life of relevance to the world in which he lives, sharing in the problems of his time and doing whatever he can with intelligence and fairness and understanding.
