a)Kind of a two for one deal, huh Aphrodite? Great! I luv a bargain!

To be or become educated??? Thats simple enough.....you know what your talking about OR you know what the hell they're talking about....YOU GOT IT!!

b)What is the nature of 'study'???

ohhhhhhhhh, now we get a bit deep ( and I don't even know how to swim, Yikes! )
I would say that the nature of 'study' is to have the self-dertmination to apply 'discipline' to an endeavour.It's easy enough to spout an opinion on any topic (perfect example: this post) BUT to bring a rational interpretation to the table one must take the trouble to learn what has come before and then to develope a 'pallate' for the endeavour. No matter how much you like violin cocerto's you can't just pick up a violin and play like Itzak Pearlman without a hell of a lot of work. This is true in art, philosophy, math, politics, cooking, sales.....just about anything.
The nature of 'study' is self-disciple.