Beware Of "-tion" Words!

All through my life I hated school. I always excelled in my classes and could probably be accurately labeled a "teacher's pet". I adamantly resisted the idea of an academic life. I felt it was too sterile of an environment.  Life just wasn't lived that way. I couldn't really understand why I felt that way I just did.

I chose instead to learn from living and I have. Both learned and lived. To appreciate what you have it is good to have experienced the opposite extremes. I have worked at the most manual of jobs and been given up for dead. Still I am here and have benefited from my experiences.

Probably the most important axiom I have learned is to be suspicious of  "-tion" words. That is because they are just verbs who have sold their soul to become nouns. A journey to something they are not. If you can't see who you are how are you going to see anything else.

No where is my fears more appropriate than when it comes to education. I love learning, even being educated but despise the thought of an "education". Why is that? That's because as a noun the verb "to educate" seems to have evolved into a completed process. I am sure there are lost of people out there with fancy initials following their name who will put up an argument about the virtues of academia.

Sorry I won't be convinced. There is something artificial about an education. To instill excitement in our schooling we must ground our endeavors in reality and provide practical answers to today's problems. Our methods need to be retooled to better approximate the life we live.