An equivocation is when a term is being used differently by two people (or even by one person). This leads, often, to misunderstanding or bad arguments and decisions. Equivocations can be helpful in the short term by providing language that can satisfy two parties in a dispute, but usually equivocations lead to problems (Roberts, John; Supreme Court "tax" v. "penalty").
Anyway, an interesting equivocation is coming to our culture concerning the word "education". You can and should read about this in the Glenn Harlan Reynolds booklet "The College Bubble". He mentions the facts--and they are hard to consider. College prices are skyrocketing. They have skyrocketed because of cheap government subsidy for college borrowing. This borrowing (in economic terms) has outstripped its value by a lot. Many students are accruing debt in order to obtain degrees that can never be paid off. Said plainly, a student with a English degree (who is not named J.K. Rowling) and $100k of student loan debt should seriously consider faking their death. Bankruptcy cannot absolve student loan debt (btw). It just gets worse. The state (both at the federal and state level) is going broke, so it is decreasing its funding of education at all levels causing greater pressure to increase tuition at colleges and university. Add to this the troubling fact that it seems that people are learning less and less while paying more and more. (One recent sets of tests purports to have evidence that many students actually learn nothing that can be verified during their time in college.
But all of this is just a prelude to the "education equivocation." Out of the ruins of the present system new options are beginning to arise. Some of these are online options like the famous University of Phoenix (we assuming that rising from ashes was always in their mission and vision). Some are looking more like skill and tech training. There will be many more. Some theorize (Reynolds sounds like this) that these new training facilities will replace colleges and train better at a lower cost. This could happen, but there is a big reason why something is being lost in the equation...or in the equivocation. Most of these new training organizations do not mean what a school has traditionally meant when they say "education". They mean "job training". I am not against job training. It is not, however, an education. An education prepares students--not for a job--but for life in a free society. Without this sort of "education" we will all eventually be slaves. We might be well paid and well fed slave, but we will be slave nonetheless.
Colleges have been the main culprits in their demise. They have misused and abused the word "education". They have made piles of money selling debased goods (a sub par education) at an incredible rate. The destruction of many of these charlatans is just and the judge is at the door. The best colleges or the most effective ones will survive and maybe thrive when reality sets in.
We, in classical education, must fight for the word "education". We must battle for the transmission of a cultural heritage full of broad skill (how to think and how to communicate). Without this word and what it means, we will cease to be free. If we can (as we are in classical Christian schools) turn the hearts of children back their fathers, our freedom can be established.
