It is perhaps easier to begin with a brief exploration of what education is not. First, I would like to note that educationis not the same as training, even though training may be one of the ingredients of education. A person who has been taught to repair refrigerators, drive an automobile, or play basketball can be said to have received training, but such training per se does not constitute education. Similarly, even though learning is a necessary ingredient of education, not all forms of learning lead to education. Monkeys, birds, and rats can learn from experience, and they can even be trained, but we would not say they can be educated. This is probably because they lack the form of intelligence unique to human beings that is crucial for learning the kinds of things that are central to "educatedness".

In The Human Brain, Isaac Asimov sums up the distinction between humans and animals as follows:

"Man … has certain attributes that no animal has. He has the capability to remember the past in great detail, to foresee possible futures in almost equal detail, to imagine alternatives, to weigh and judge in the light of past experience, to deduce consequences from premises – and to base his behavior upon all of this by an act of 'free will'..." (p. 318)

In Asimov's Guide to Science: The Biological Sciences, Asimov sums up the essence of human thinking as follows:

"What remains of thinking, then, that cannot be acquired by the machine? We are left finally with creativity and the ability of the human mind to cope with the unknown: its intuition, judgment, weighing of a situation and the possible consequences …"(p. 437)

Extending the substance of Asimov's remarks to education, we may hold that:

Education is the process of actualizing what is unique to the human mental potential.

If we use the word intelligence to refer to the mental capability that one develops on the basis of experience (as opposed to the raw intelligence potential that an individual is born with), we may say that education is the process of learning that enhances human intelligence.

Why should education enhance the mental capability of learners? A possible answer is that we regard education as a preparation for future life, and a good way of preparing individuals for future life is to enhance their mental capability so that they can cope with the challenges of life more effectively.

What should a person be able to do in order to deserve the title "educated"? As the first step, we may give the following answer:

To be considered educated, a person should have undergone a process of learning that results in enhanced mental capability to function effectively in familiar situations in personal and intellectual life, as well as to adapt to novel situations.

Let us now turn to what an educated person should have learnt in order to "function effectively in familiar situations and to adapt to novel situations".