The difference between training and education has been discussed for countless years. If you consult a dictionary, you might see that training is the process of teaching or learning a skill or job. And you might see that the process of educating is the imparting and acquiring of knowledge through teaching and learning, especially at a school or similar institution.
However, when you consider this definition of education, you have to wonder if they are really that different. The key here is knowledge. Wouldn’t it be fair to argue that one acquires knowledge via training? That depends, what is “knowledge?”
Depending on which of the following definitions you perscribe, the difference between training and education varies.
- information in mind: general awareness or possession of information, facts, ideas, truths, or principles
- specific information: clear awareness or explicit information, e.g. of a situation or fact
- all that can be known: all the information, facts, truths, and principles learned throughout time
- learning through experience or study: familiarity or understanding gained through experience or study
What do you think?
Cindy McCourt 