Sealion II

"Education" is often equated to "job preparation" in contemporary thought. The reader will probably have already realized that I do not much like this definition.

"To get a job" ranks high--in my opinion, probably highest*--on the list of answers to "Why did you go to college?" There is nothing wrong with learning a skill and becoming more employable (quite the contrary); but "getting a job" and "getting an education" are quite different, and a institution which is dedicated to the first most, of necessity, put less emphasis on the second. There was a time when one prepared for a career as a lawyer by working as a law clerk, learning the practicalities of legal practice, then becoming a barrister or solicitor, and finally (if desired) a judge. To become a naval officer, one went to sea at twelve; if one were to be a skilled laborer (a blacksmith, for example) the plan was more or less the same.

We now use "school" for all these things, at a much later point in the person's life, and consider it a part of "getting an education", whereas before it would have been considering "apprenticeship" and "learning a trade." The conflation of the two is not necessarily pernicious, but it does tend to obscure the difference between "schooling" and "apprenticeship" and make it more difficult to understand what education is.

EDIT: *Here I meant to say that "I think a plurality of people would give this answer", not that this is the best answer to the question!