What are the qualities of a good education?

Thanks for A2A. Good education is useful education. If you spend time, effort and money on learning something, there should be a tangible return on your investment. Compare two people, for instance. One can learn to speak a language by him/herself in just a few months. The other one spent a few years and a few thousand dollars on learning a language without making much progress. Most education is self-tought, I agree. The main task of teachers/educators is guide the students in their self-learning process and make the learning more effective.

To offer up an analogy, it is often said that a good teacher opens doors. I do not entirely agree with this statement and would instead argue that a good teacher holds the door open that the student has chosen to go through. It is one of the fundamental principals of human life that we want to learn things. Every one of us seeks out education in some capacity and it is the job of an educator (teacher, mentor, etc.) to guide, nurture and develop this drive to learn. It is not the role of a teacher or an education system to determine what and how a person should learn. Mikhail says that "good education is useful education" and he is absolutely right! There are three main things that count as useful: Practical knowledge such as learning how to cook or do basic maths. Relevant and important aspects of life. I believe that people should at least have a reasonable grasp on the current affairs of their country. The fact that the student finds that topic engaging/interesting/want-to-know-more-and-explore. (This is the important one). Useful certainly does not mean whatever some education minister/department thinks might be good for students to know. Useful certainly certainly definitely absolutely does not mean the relevant facts to churn out in order to pass an exam.