The core values that are important to me in defining education are providing a safe and empowering environment for children that nurtures them with opportunities for fulfillment. (See my curriculum page for the difference between opportunities for fulfillment versus judgment.)
The result of this set of priorities is the development of strong kids who are optimally capable of living a life that contributes to their family and community as well as being very resilient in the face of adversity.
This is a contrast with the values of some who believe that while an educational environment obviously needs to be safe the environment should make strengthening children's will and ability to withstand adversity a higher priority than nurturance.
The important test of whether a definition of education is one that is acceptable to me is how it is used to express the core values of safety and nurturance.
There are a variety of metaphors, such as education as gardening or a factory, and the test of their appropriateness is whether they can express the values I hold dear.
The factory metaphor definition of education inherently undermines the nurturance that is so important.
Education defined using a gardening metaphor is ambiguous since the majority cultivation of the plants today occurs on factory farms, but if the metaphor is painted as a personal relationship between the gardener and the plant, then it might work.
My definition of education reflects my values and my particular way of understanding education from the experiences I have had with both learning and teaching.
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