5 Tips on How to Become an Educated Person in Today’s World

To function as an educated person in today's world, you need to acquire some level of skill in the following areas: Reading, writing, calculating, thinking, and computing.

Perhaps the most basic skill that any educated person has is the ability to read. Most are very good readers. By good readers, I mean that they are active readers. They don't just imbibe everything they read like a sponge. On the contrary, they engage in an active interaction with the author of a work. They ask whether the author has her facts straight. They check to see that the author has sufficient evidence to back up the points that she makes. They question whether the writer's arguments are logically (i.e. do they make sense). You, too, if you are to become a sophisticated reader, must learn to do the same thing. You must not become a human sponge for all of the information that is thrown your way. Rather you must turn yourself into a human filtering device that lets in only solid data and blocks out questionable information.

Another basic skill that an educated person has is the ability to write. Educated persons know how to get their point or message across unobtrusively. Their readers should be able to comprehend what they are saying without having to second guess them. The writing is full of clarity and brevity. Grammatical mistakes don't get in the way of the message. Neither long windedness nor run-on sentences take the reader on a reading excursion of no return. The author's piece is both inviting and relaxing to the reader. It is not frustrating or upsetting to the point that the reader says that enough is enough and throws in the towel. If you are to be an educated person, your writing, too, must be clear, concise, grammatically correct, plus inviting and relaxing.

Still another skill that an educated person has is the ability to calculate. Educated people know how to do basic arithmetic. They are skilled in practical math (i.e. math that they need to know in order to buy goods and services). Sure, many of them might not know how to do algebra, trigonometry, statistics, or calculus, but they do know how to do the math that need to use in everyday life. To put it bluntly, they know how to add and subtract, multiply and divide, and do fractions and percentages. You, too, must make these arithmetic skills part of your mathematical arsenal because you will need to use them throughout your life.

A fourth skill that an educated person has is the ability to think critically. They know how to think for themselves. They know whether or not something makes sense. In today's world all kinds of information is out there on the Internet. Some of it is good and a lot of it is bad. Being critical thinkers, educated people know what to add and what not to add to their knowledge reservoir. They screen out that which is questionable and save only that which has a basis in fact. You, too, must learn to do the same thing. You must learn to scrutinize all the information that comes your way, and add only that information to your database that is rooted in reality.

Finally, a fifth and last skill that an educated person has is the ability to use a computer. They know how to use a word process to create or save a document. They know how to use email to communicate electronically. And they know how to use the Internet to surf the Web for the information that they are looking for online. Let's face it: We live in an information world. More and more of that information is coming to us by the World Wide Web. The computer is the paper and pencil of today. If you are to become an educated person in today's world, you need to start learn to use it today. Learn Word, Windows, Internet Explorer, and Email.

To reiterate: To become an educated person in today's world, you must do the following: Learn to read. Learn to write. Learn to calculate. Learn to think and learn to compute.