Using the themes in `Educating Rita`analize`education`.How do you define it?What does it mean to you?What does it mean to be a student or an educator?

In our modern world there are issues which are usually thought of as problems to be solved internationally , like wars , diseases , poverty . But among those problematic issues there is one whose importance is hard to overestimate and on successful solution of which may depend solution of many other problems . This issue is a problem of education , because in the 21st century many developing countries have almost uneducated populations , so it is naive to expect those countries to be effective in fighting poverty and diseases and in maintaining stability without first educating their

people . However , even developed countries are far from perfection in this regard . So , the problem of education seems truly universal - people must learn to be effective , comfortable and safe in modern society with its dynamic changes in politics , economy , technology and other spheres of life . Making it so is one of the main tasks of education . Let us then consider what are the essential characteristics of education as such . For this purpose it may be helpful to use themes from the movie "Educating Rita

One of the main traits of modernity is the complexity and interdependency of phenomena that surround us , be they social , economic cultural or physical in nature . Thus , a person who aims to understand the world around must outfit himself or herself with a proper methodology for integrating existing and new information - often controversial and defying simple explanation - that one continuously encounters . Such a methodology will help one to avoid simplistic views of complex processes and to find many interconnections between things in our life that are hidden from superficial attention . In this light education endows us with an important skill of systematic and rational thinking that enables us to make conscious choices among numerous possible options

Building on this , there emerges another quality of education which is related to person`s social involvement and his or her interaction with the cultural context of a given society . In this regard , education enables an educated person to avoid intrusive influence of manipulative technologies which may be used for instance by alleged leaders (like in cases of suicidal religious sects , or even sometimes politicians , to manipulate our consciousness according to their interests . To a certain degree this is a normal occurrence as we all are liable to persuasion but it is an important task of education to teach us to develop beliefs and accept dogmas on basis of our own rational thinking . In this way , we become active members of society and , perhaps most importantly , can be free to find ourselves by learning and promoting our own views , values and preferences in life

Speaking more generally , an educated person is capable of putting things in perspective . This means having an ability to see - on ground of one`s own experience , knowledge and rational thinking skills - general patterns in events of our everyday life and tendencies in global developments . This ability helps to adequately choose our own strategy in fact giving us better control of our life . Personally , I feel...