So What's an Education For, Anyway?

Okay, this morning I really have my nose out of joint.

I asked a bunch of people what they saw as the purpose or intent of "education". I actually had to mull over this post before I could write it; the answers I got upset me.

"To prepare you for life" was one of the two main answers.

Whatever that means. In my experience people with no education can do okay at "life".

I know people who dropped out of school, mentally, around third grade. They knew they were only in school to obey the demands of the state. School was something intended to keep them from enjoying themselves until they were eighteen, and once they became adults the state would no longer have power over them and they would be free to do as they chose.

They're the ones who don't own a book, don't subscribe to any newspaper or magazine, have never applied for any library card. Most actually have a political view--that their side is the good side, and the other side is full of evil people who should be pushed off a cliff. But that's about as deep as they've ever examined any issues, and they gravitated toward their current political view because of its underlying assumption that if you're a good person, this is the correct side to be on. Well, at least they don't vote.

Their intellectual lives go no farther than getting drunk every Saturday night, plus once or twice a year they'll see a movie. The jobs they go into tend to be meaningless as far as their interests go. Often they just work until the bills are paid and they're fed up with the boredom at the workplace, at which time they'll quit, and after a few months of unemployment they'll look for another job. You'd be inclined to think most of them dull-witted but some are actually fairly intelligent.

The second popular answer was, "So you can get a better job."

Well sure, you need skills if you're going to be a wage slave. Your employers would like to have secretaries who can type a coherent letter, service people who can correctly fill out a purchase order. Even our college grads sometimes can't fill out a time sheet without screwing it up. And as it happens, most employers report that they're having to train the new hires because the schools didn't.

Sure, every school should have a metal shop, a car mechanics shop, a cooking class, an art class with graphics or CAD focus. Get rid of that old literature crud; you can't make a living off that, unless you teach. History is old and past and irrelevant to "your future life". We want the next generation to be prepared to repair our air conditioners and install new flooring.

I guess the concept of "education" as developing a higher mental function is dead and gone, except among a select few.