Wagner's Question 1: To Be an Educated Adult

In The Global Achievement Gap, Tony Wagner asks:
In light of the fundamental changes that have taken place in our society in the last twenty-five years, what does it mean to be an educated adult in the twenty-first century?

I'm working on an in-depth response to this question, but first, I would like to explore the phrase "educated adult." Maybe we need a new term.

My Oxford dictionary says educate means "give intellectual, moral, and social instruction to (someone, esp. a child), typically at a school or university." Educated simply means "having had education," which is defined as both "systematic instruction" and "the knowledge gained from this" (systematic instruction).

Claiming to be an educated adult means, "I received good systematic instruction." In other words: "Someone (educators) gave something to me." The problem I see with this is threefold:

1) It suggests that I was a passive recipient of knowledge and that my only responsibility was to be a compliant receiver of knowledge, a sponge. (I used to feel complimented by that praise.) Although the term comes from the Latin educat- ‘led out,’ from the verb educare, related to educere ‘lead out’, I feel that meaning has been sacrificed so that we might serve the education system we have created.

2) It suggests the process is pretty much over. I may need some minor updates and maintenance of key knowledge and skills to keep my "educated" status. But I graduated, so I am educated.

3) Also, there is the implication that knowledge is a commodity that rests solely within the province of a select few. In other words, "I know the instruction I was given was good because the people responsible for this instruction have been officially designated as qualified educators."

I haven't come up with a viable alternative yet, but here is a working definition: An educated adult is an active learner who has demonstrated that he or she is prepared to assume increasing levels of responsibility within a domain of knowledge, is continually deepening his or her understanding in a range of domains, and is continually exploring new domains with a spirit of inquiry.