Mark Hounsell: Education matters

As I was growing up in the 1950s and ’60s, education, learning, discovery, questioning and debating (arguing without meanness) were part of my upbringing. My grandfather had a long and successful career as a student, teacher and school administrator, and he retired as a superintendent of schools. His wife, my grandmother, was a public high school English teacher. Yet the ever-present pulse of faith and spirituality was also consistently and honestly exemplified in my family. Regular Sunday church attendance was as consistent as Saturday night beans and hot dogs.

The best definition of education I have ever heard is this: “Education is the process of learning how to learn.” Adding understanding to what has been learned is the next step. Applying wisdom to understanding helps to cultivate the mind and the spirit in a positive and uplifting way.