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It is commonly believed in the United States that school iswhere people go to get an education. Nevertheless, it hasbeen said that today children interrupt their education to goto school. The distinction between schooling and education implied by thisremark is important. Education ismuch more open-ended and all-inclusive than schooling. Education knows nobounds. It can take place anywhere, whether in the shower or in the job,whether in a kitchen or on a tractor. It includes both theformal learning that takes place in schools and the whole universe ofinformal learning. The agents of education can range from a revered grandparentto the people debating politics on the radio, from a child to a distinguishedscientist. Whereasschooling has a certain predictability, education quite often producessurprises. A chance conversation with a stranger may lead a person todiscover how little is known of other religions. People are engagedin education from infancy on. Education, then, is a verybroad, inclusive term. It is a lifelong process, a process that startslong before the start of school, and one that should be an integral part of ones entire life. Schooling, onthe other hand, is a specific, formalized process, whose general pattern varieslittle from one setting to the next. Throughout a country, children arrive at school at approximatelythe same time, take assigned seats, are taught by an adult, use similartextbooks, do homework, take exams, and so on. The slices of reality thatare to be learned, whether they are the alphabet or an understanding of theworkings of government, have usually been limited by the boundaries of the | 
