Napoleon Hill on who is an educated man?

 
    Many people are of the mindset that an educated man is someone who has gone through the walls of an institution and basked out with commendable grades. Although, there is nothing wrong with this thinking, but been an educated man is way beyond this mere definition. You will recall that many of the richest men in today's world never saw the four walls of a school building and many of them were half-way drop outs. The likes of Bill Gates, Thomas Eddison ,Jack Ma are but few modern examples of this paradigm.

Sadly though, in this our secular world and especially in this Nigeria environment, it is a norm and a tradition for one to be classified as uneducated, ignorant and old schooled simply because one does not have a degree. This been right is invariably wrong otherwise.

The question however still remains, Who is an educated man?

The word "education" is derived from the Latin word "educo", meaning to educe, to draw out, to DEVELOP FROM WITHIN.
An educated man is not necessarily one who has an abundance of general or specialized knowledge. An educated man is one who has so developed the faculties of his mind that he may acquire anything he wants, or its equivalent, without violating the right of others. This is an educated man!

You must have notice that most people who have a degree in certain fields that still behaves like small children, their thinking faculty is s low, that you will be pushed to ask "This one sef go school"? This is to tell you that education is not gotten by mere attending or been present in an institution. It is a process that is develop within oneself. Even so, most of our Nigeria musicians would have been called uneducated, simply for not attending an institution, but yet they still does good music. Take 2face Idibia or Timaya as excerpts, they are simply doing good in their musical career without a degree. This brings me to say that the Nigeria society needs to be restructured too, many people will do best if a proper skill is been handled to them, than a mere written degree, that will be dumped somewhere in a cupboard.

When the icon Nelson Mandela shouted that "Education is the best weapon for fighting oppression", he was not talking about packing a set of people, putting them in a confined schooling and giving them some unwanted lectures prepared in a curriculum. He was talking about people educating themselves from within, that is from their mindset, which is the first bedrock to education.

Nigeria needs to place more focus on giving its citizens skills, rather than unconsciously forcing everyone to attending schools and universities.