Literate Vs. Educated

A literate person cannot hold a white-collar job. It’s literally the Literate Vs. Educated. I’ll tell you how. Reading, writing and arithmetic makes you literate. But, you need more comprehension skills to become educated.

Let me explain. I know a Chemistry Graduate Medical Representative, who told everybody that I wrote journals for students! I had only told him that I am a journalist. This wrong comprehension makes him a literate but uneducated person. There are some others, who have bagged several degrees but can use only a few words in different permutations and combinations.

Only one line comes to my mind about these people – Half knowledge is worse than ignorance. We know of a family, whose 10^th std. failure son was working in a medical store. He just picked up the names of a few medicines and their generic names. When his mother had a heart attack, he gave her a paracetamol! Nevertheless, the woman died in a few minutes. Who is to blame for this death?

A truly educated person will go beyond their half knowledge and try to find more information about the topics that they are ignorant about. Today’s school education has the capacity to inculcate the comprehension required for this kind of knowledge. I for one am a double post-graduate and could reach that level only due to what my teachers had ingrained in me and the support of my Mom.

But, today’s students are careless and the teachers are not given enough time with them for this activity. This activity can only be accomplished with the cooperation of parents, teachers, school management and students.