IV Education and Behavior

James (1899/1962) uses this time to explain that being educated simply means that you have acquired manners of conduct and behavior that can help you in any situation.  He provides two examples of Germany and England to illustrate how education forms habits in the pupils. 

While I do not agree that the above definition is the sole purpose of education, I do think it is an important aspect that unfortunately was often left out of my own education.  The statement that “one who is educated is able practically to extricate himself, by means of the examples with which he has acquired, from circumstances in which he never was placed before” (James, 1899/1962, p. 15) is a great ideal for education that I wish was more frequently realized.  However, I know from my own experience that I felt I was not always prepared for what was to come in life.  My school did not teach much at all about becoming an adult, paying bills, signing a lease or contract, or dealing with conflict or stress.   Most everything I ever learned about how to function in the “real world” was learned from my parents or experience.  Maybe an additional facet of this problem is that schools often do not seem to teach the ability to think critically, recognize patterns, or solve problems.  Perhaps if these kinds of thinking were more fully taught in public schools, along with some practical information about our society, economy, and workforce, then students would be able to know what to do in a situation in which they had never before been placed.  One question that could be asked based on this belief is: is it even the responsibility of public school systems to teach this kind of material?