Education prepares the mind to acquire common sense

Often, we hear that degrees are not required for the jobs people do. May be this is true. A degree is a certificate; education is a process. Formal credentials may not be necessary, but competence is.

Education is learning to observe and revise one’s understanding. When people dismiss degrees, they reject certification, not the learning. Common sense cannot emerge in the absence of learning.

Common sense is built through accumulated experience. It does not arise spontaneously. They are learned, sometimes in classrooms, often outside them, but always through engagement with reality.

Education has to come from somewhere. Without learning, one cannot even meaningfully claim that degrees are useless. One may reject degrees, but one cannot reject the discipline of learning.

Education prepares the mind to acquire common sense. Understanding failure is part of it. Self-assessment and self-revision are part of it.