Quora Answer: Do You Need to be Well-Educated to become a Good Public Speaker?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “As far as public speaking is concerned, one needs to be well educated in order to become a good speaker, do you agree?” 

Education may be an advantage, but education is not commensurate with knowledge or experience.  A good public speaker has something to say.  You do not need formal education, let alone a good one, to have an opinion.  Education only tells us you are good at passing examinations, not what you actually understand. 

To be a good public speaker begins with having an opinion.  That opinion is shaped into a cogent, coherent argument for or against a position.  That is when it becomes a speech.  When that speech is able to reach out and influence people, then it becomes a good speech.  That requires practice, thought, and vision.  From there, we apply the rules of rhetoric.  Education is a small part of that equation.