Oscar Countdown: Does "An Education" educate?

“An Education” is a fine title for what this coming-of-age tale gives to teen girls.

Based on Lyn Barber’s autobiographical memoir, the film follows a school girl, Jenny Miller, with a promising future as she makes life choices that send her on a downward slope. She enters a relationship with an older man, which eventually leads her to getting engaged and dropping out of high school. He takes her to clubs and on trips to Paris, and even introduces her to cigarettes. Little does she know, her soon-to-be -husband has many dark secrets, which includes making a living by moving black families into white neighborhoods so that the property value can go down and he can buy houses cheaply.

While the title can be understood as a metaphor for the “education” Jenny gets from her life lessons, the movie also confronts an age old debate -- which is more valuable: formal academic education or informal education gained in the outside world. Jenny drops out thinking she will learn more by experiencing life rather than sitting in a classroom.