Education and Training


Education and training are not to be confused with as each hold a different meaning as the other, and neither of the two serves the same functions for either corporate or academic use. While both use communication to convey a message, being educated is quite different from being trained as far as what you get out of the activity. Let us look at the meaning of each.

 

What is “education” and what is it for?

Education is concerned with the intellect, with the development of the mind. It stimulates the mind to think and process information, it builds knowledge that may or may not be used for economic gains. Therefore, one may construe education as more of a personal activity with the main objective to enhance the mind to think, process information, and stock knowledge for later use.

 

What is “training” and why are individuals trained?

Training is an activity that teaches an individual specific skills used to forward an industry or company to its targeted gains. Usually, a certain training is using visual aids, powerpoint and the like to convey the messages very well. Most of the time, organisations train their constituents to become efficient machineries in their respective functions, and perform their tasks accurately. Trainings are given in many different ways, typically hands-on after the trainees have been given education.

 

If there is one thing that cannot progress, it is training with no theoretical background. Thus, education first, and then training for the latter cannot proceed when the trainees do not have theoretical background about the infrastructure or machinery or process they need to learn to do.

 

So the question of which is more effective: education versus training is not even a question– both go hand-in-hand. Rather, the question should have been: which should come first and which one can stand alone. Education, for the purpose of accumulating information for personal gains, such as to build more knowledge, can definitely suffice for its own purpose.

 

Training, meanwhile, requires theoretical background and instruction in order for participants to grasp the process they should learn prior to working on it.

 

Although some schools wave the banner “training”, it is essentially a form of education. “To be trained” means “to be educated” about something through inculcating in the mind a set of instructions and theories, and being shown how to operate something or carry out a task.