While some people still stick to the point that education simply means going to school or certain universities, more and more people begin to view education as a lifelong process. In my eyes, education is nothing more than a means which people struggle all their lives to acquire to transfer themselves to modern adults.
After graduating from primary and secondary school, which family and schools domanate the first stage, a person has achieved some basic knowledges and common sense. He knows how to behave and deal with others and has the basic ability to judge. It is not until that time that he is admitted a member of society although it is not enough.
Then comes the second level. People dig more in certain aspects and be professional and proficient in them. This is the main purpose of higher education. First and foremost, students achieve a way of living in the future. That is why a better education secures a good job, as some people think. However, more significantly, higher education requires people to achieve the ability to learn things themselves rather than to fulfil some academic goals. It can explain why some great men such as Abraham Lincoln or Thomas Edison who contributed a lot to human society did not have a formal higher education background at all. They learnt certain skills out of school to have the capacity to develop themselves and lead a future life, which is the core of education.
From this point of view, modern adults are expected not to stop learning new thing even a process of self development and self-sufficiency until the last minute of their life, for it is such a high-pace and developed society to be faced with. It is through endless education that people reshape their views or outlooks and sometimes achieve rebirth.
