Sometimes you just need to look through a telescope

By Lethbridge Herald on March 28, 2026.

MORNING JOE-Joe Manio, Lethbridge Herald

There’s a certain type of pedant who will proudly tell you where they went to school within the first five minutes of meeting them… as if the institution itself were a personality.

Good for them.

But let’s be honest… a diploma is not a personality. And it certainly isn’t proof of being “educated.”

We’ve all met people with impressive credentials who couldn’t think their way out of a paper bag; and others, with no formal pedigree, who are curious, thoughtful, and capable of real conversation.

So what actually makes a person educated? It’s not the paper. It’s the pursuit.

Because if a diploma were the deciding factor, we’d have to explain-away people like Steve Jobs, Mark Twain, and Henry Ford. Not exactly the résumé of people who were “uneducated”… just not educated in the way we tend to measure it.

An educated person seeks knowledge, knows where to find it, and knows how to use it. Because knowledge is not power. It’s potential power. It only becomes useful when applied… in the right direction.

Otherwise, it’s just trivia with good branding.

This is where things get messy… because we live in a time where access to information has never been easier, and misinformation has never been louder. The modern charlatan doesn’t need a soapbox. They need a Wi-Fi connection and a ring light.

And social media has given them exactly that… and an audience willing to follow them off a cliff.

Which is why being “educated” has less to do with what you know, and more to do with how you think.

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson once outlined a simple framework: question authority, think for yourself, test ideas against evidence.

Simple. Not easy.

Science and education shouldn’t be political. They are methods for testing ideas against reality. But we live in a time where facts feel partisan and evidence gets filtered through identity.

And embedded in those principles is something many struggle with… humility. Real learning requires the possibility that you might be wrong.

There’s also a difference between an open mind and being gullible. It’s admirable to stand your ground… but blind certainty usually means you’ve stopped asking questions.

I’ve learned that the hard way.

Since returning to journalism as a community reporter, I’ve had moments where facts didn’t line up with what I thought I knew. You walk in with assumptions, talk to people, dig deeper… and the neat version of the world starts to fall apart.

In some cases, I’ve softened my views. In others, I’ve changed them entirely. It wasn’t easy. It was uncomfortable… sometimes painful. But that’s the job—and I say facts… not opinions.

That, in a very real sense, is education. Not lecture halls, but the “school of hard knocks,” where mistakes aren’t just possible, they’re guaranteed. A truly educated person doesn’t just collect knowledge; they adjust their thinking because of experience.

History offers a warning. When Galileo Galilei pointed his telescope skyward and challenged accepted belief, a high-ranking church official reportedly refused to look through it. Not because he couldn’t… but because he wouldn’t.

It’s hard to change your mind when you’ve already decided you’re right.

And that, more than anything, is the line between education and ignorance.

An educated person understands that knowledge is provisional. Even the greatest minds got things wrong. Evidence matters more than ego. And changing your mind in light of new information isn’t weakness… it’s the point.

Intelligence is knowing what to say. Wisdom is knowing when to say it… or when to stay silent.

And social media has given us daily proof those two things don’t always align.

An educated person is working toward both.

They are curious. They ask questions. They sit with uncertainty instead of rushing to easy answers.

They don’t just collect information… they evaluate it.

And they are willing to admit when they were wrong; because refusing to do so isn’t conviction. It’s denial. At best. At worst, it’s ignorance.

So no, you don’t need a diploma to be educated. You need curiosity. You need skepticism. You need a willingness to learn, unlearn, and relearn. It is a lifelong process.

And every now and then… you need the courage to look through the telescope.