How to know if you are educated - that is well-educated. It simply doesn't mean you have a degree in something.
1. You know earth is round.
It is so simple and obvious, but I don't think many people feel it in their bones. For example, How would you tell a kid that earth is round?
I was taught the example of approaching ship. When it approaches we would see its bottom part first instead of mast. As I hadn't seen a ship approaching, I had no way of knowing whether it is true. I could simply accept either statement as true!
One illustration I can think of is you can fly to USA from India in two different directions say through Tokyo or through London. It will be possible only if earth is around.
Another is when it is day in say India it is night in USA. It can't happen if earth is flat. All the earth will get sunlight at same time.
Another is all the satellites rotate the earth and in particular some as geo-synchronous. This makes sense only if earth is round and rotating in its axis.
2. You know earth orbits sun and not the other way around.
It is very hard to get an intuitive feel of this. Particularly because earth hardly seems to be moving [except when there are earthquakes!]. Here you need a good education to help you.
Many people would think that seasons occur because of earth's orbit. No - it is actually because of earth's tilt of 23 degrees. In fact most of the northern hemisphere is farthest from sun in summer.
One way to see this is [if we assume earth is moving] if we were not rotating we will fly away [or towards] from sun and it should get colder over years. So only option left is to orbit. Of course we could be standing still. Why that is not an option with sun around is our point 3)
3. You know Newton's theory of Gravity.
That every thing attracts every thing else [not just girls attract boys or vice versa]. It is the reason we feel pressure on us when sit or stand. That's the reason it hurts when we fall. In fact it is the reason we fall at all.
If earth were to stand still sun would simply attract it and earth would have collided with sun.
Once we understand gravity it is the easiest of all to grasp as we feel it all the time.
4. You know Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection.
You understand all species once shared a common ancestor and evolved into different species due to natural selection.
This one is hard to swallow because it hurts our pride. We have to come to the realization that we are only special to the extend every other species are special as far as earth is concerned.
But all that shared DNA code, chimpanzee and kangaroo loudly proclaims its truth. We are not well-educated we don't understand evolution.
5. Common courtesy
If we don't have basic respect for people then all our education hasn't really done anything for us after all. It simply didn't have the intended effect - to make us civilized.
1. You know earth is round.
It is so simple and obvious, but I don't think many people feel it in their bones. For example, How would you tell a kid that earth is round?
I was taught the example of approaching ship. When it approaches we would see its bottom part first instead of mast. As I hadn't seen a ship approaching, I had no way of knowing whether it is true. I could simply accept either statement as true!
One illustration I can think of is you can fly to USA from India in two different directions say through Tokyo or through London. It will be possible only if earth is around.
Another is when it is day in say India it is night in USA. It can't happen if earth is flat. All the earth will get sunlight at same time.
Another is all the satellites rotate the earth and in particular some as geo-synchronous. This makes sense only if earth is round and rotating in its axis.
2. You know earth orbits sun and not the other way around.
It is very hard to get an intuitive feel of this. Particularly because earth hardly seems to be moving [except when there are earthquakes!]. Here you need a good education to help you.
Many people would think that seasons occur because of earth's orbit. No - it is actually because of earth's tilt of 23 degrees. In fact most of the northern hemisphere is farthest from sun in summer.
One way to see this is [if we assume earth is moving] if we were not rotating we will fly away [or towards] from sun and it should get colder over years. So only option left is to orbit. Of course we could be standing still. Why that is not an option with sun around is our point 3)
3. You know Newton's theory of Gravity.
That every thing attracts every thing else [not just girls attract boys or vice versa]. It is the reason we feel pressure on us when sit or stand. That's the reason it hurts when we fall. In fact it is the reason we fall at all.
If earth were to stand still sun would simply attract it and earth would have collided with sun.
Once we understand gravity it is the easiest of all to grasp as we feel it all the time.
4. You know Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection.
You understand all species once shared a common ancestor and evolved into different species due to natural selection.
This one is hard to swallow because it hurts our pride. We have to come to the realization that we are only special to the extend every other species are special as far as earth is concerned.
But all that shared DNA code, chimpanzee and kangaroo loudly proclaims its truth. We are not well-educated we don't understand evolution.
5. Common courtesy
If we don't have basic respect for people then all our education hasn't really done anything for us after all. It simply didn't have the intended effect - to make us civilized.
