Judging A Book By It's Cover, By J. Kohn

Judging a book by it's cover, or comparing someone's education by one certain criteria, I believe is a mistake. We are all different, individuals have various strengths and weaknesses. Many people enjoy book smarts and good test taking skills, while others are more suitable in common sense and decision making situations. Kohn's example, in his opening paragraph concerning his ex-wife shows a great illustration of this. I agree with Kohn that we can't attempt to fit the masses into a single system to judge our education level. Consequently, for this reason, I believe we should look at one's strengths and weaknesses, rather than trying to generalize the whole together. With that being said, Kohn poses a strong question "does she offer an invitation …show more content…
One of my favorite statements of this piece by Kohn is "I’d argue that certain attributes are either insufficient (possessing them isn’t enough to make one well-educated) or unnecessary (one can be well-educated without possessing them) — or both." I remember sitting through what seemed endless classes and seminars as I was trying to obtain my ministerial license with a certain organization. Not saying I learned nothing in the process, but very little with most of it. It was not the numerous hours I had invested, but rather a sudden personal determination to succeed that pushed me to the finish line. Another poor definition Kohn mentions is test scores, test scores may inflate or underestimate the intellectual prowess of a individual. Far more attention is paid to standardized testing than should be. Personally I was always on the side of being a good test taker, often I would be able to pass a test and yet not have a good handle on the curriculum. However it works in reverse for others, as they can understand the content but score poorly on the test. I concur with Kohn when he says "In any case, no single test is sufficiently valid, reliable, or meaningful that it can be treated as a marker for academic success." In addition to the thought of poor definitions of well educated, I see eye to eye with Kohn on the issue of Memorization of facts being synonymous with well educated. What is the difference of memorizing fact or learning them after the fact, it's still there at your disposal. I have experience many situation where a quick information search got me up to speed with the rest of the crowd. Many of these meager definitions of well educated are holding us back as a society.
What does it mean to be well educated? As Kohn discusses there are manifold variables that play into being well educated. In the word of Dewy "To be well-educated, then, is to have the