In the book This Earth of Mankind what is the implication of education. How important was it?

Education is a major theme of this novel. The best way to be educated is constantly debated in the novel. In particular, the traditional learning gained in a traditional European secondary school is contrasted with both self-education and life education. Nyai is a perfect example of a self-educated person, although even she has a European teacher in Herman Mellema. However she shows that she has taken the education he taught her and then used her own knowledge and her life experiences to further her education. She exemplifies continuous learning. Minke is contrasted as the school-educated character. Much of the time he is prideful of his education at an elite high school, but he gradually learns that this has not taught him all he needs to know. He is educated in other ways by Nyai, as well as by his life experiences over the course of the novel. In the end, he emerges as a more fully educated person because he has added to his book learning with life learning.