Critical Thinking on 'Lifelong Learning is a Good Thing' Essay

Critical Thinking on 'Lifelong Learning is a Good Thing' - Essay Example The Jones’s article entitled â€Å"The Educated Person† is all about a guy who became inspired of developing a career in college teaching when the commencement speaker’s speech said that â€Å"For those of us planning to continue on in academic life as college faculty, the speaker emphasized that the educated person question should be at the centre of our profession lives† (Jones, 2009, pp. 11 – 12). For some time, the question about becoming an educated person made the author think about the importance of pursuing higher education right after graduating from college. Eventually, Jones (2009) realized that the educated people are actually pertaining to those individuals who managed to develop a habit of going through the process of continuous learning. In the field of education, the real meaning of lifelong learning can be trivial in the sense that the students who managed to graduate from colleges and universities are expected to join the workforce . For the purpose of continuous or lifelong learning, it is not possible for each person to stay in school all the time. In general, the cognitive aspect of learning is more focused on each person’s knowledge, skills, special abilities, and critical thinking. However, Knapper and Cropley (2000, p. 46) explained that lifelong learning is not only about the cognitive aspect of learning but more on â€Å"motivation, attitude, values, self-image, and other similar non-cognitive factors†. To avoid facing trivial issues behind lifelong learning, it is possible to define lifelong learning as a person’s readiness and willingness to learn on their own. With regards to the significance of continuous learning in our daily lives, this study aims to prove that pursuing a lifelong learning is a good thing. To give the readers a better understanding about this topic, it is necessary to avoid coming up with a bias conclusion about the significance of lifelong learning in each p erson’s lives. To be able to provide a balanced argument with regards to the growing importance of lifelong learning, reasons why lifelong learning may or may not be a good thing will first be tackled followed by justifying the reasons why lifelong learning is indeed a good thing. As part of going through the main discussion, real-life examples on how lifelong learning can be applied in the professional growth of each person will be provided in details. Proposition: ‘Lifelong Learning† is a Good Thing According to Aspin and Chapman (2001, pp. 39 – 40), three of the most common arguments why lifelong learning should be considered as a good thing includes the need to continuously improve one’s own knowledge and skills for â€Å"economic progress and development†, for â€Å"personal development and fulfilment†, and for â€Å"social inclusiveness and democratic understanding and activity†. The argument made by Aspin and Chapman (2001 ) sounds reasonable since most of us have already experienced the truth behind the idea that the employment opportunity of each individual is highly dependent on their existing knowledge and skills of each person. It means that the expertise we gain from our current and previous job(s) increases our opportunity to find a better employer. However, it is necessary for each individual to continuously improve their knowledge and skills to avoid being stagnant in their current job (Jarvis, 2000). Over the past few decades, the