Why Do We Educate?

When you have a business of which the primary product or service is education, you spend a lot of time thinking about the importance of education. I am a big believer in the “why”, and when you start a business you hit a lot of gut-check moments that require a strong understanding of why what you are building is important.

So why is education important? What is the true purpose of education?

In today’s society, many people associate the need for education with the need to obtain a good and profitable career. The reason a profitable career is important is because we associate it with happiness. The reason we associate a profitable career with happiness is because the more money someone has the more freedom they feel when making life decisions. Therefore, more money equals more freedom.

Under this context, the “why” behind education becomes:

You should become educated in a specific field that will allow you to obtain a highly profitable career.

This argument makes good, logical sense. If you follow the path to become an engineer, lawyer, accountant, or doctor, you will most likely find yourself on the path to a great career. That career will most likely provide a solid income. That solid income will most likely provide great comfort in life through financial freedom. Therefore, education will most likely provide much value and lead to great happiness.

It seems so simple…which is why it is wrong.

The problem is that this logic is void of consideration for the many nuances of human character and human spirit. It is wrong to place job attainment and financial freedom ahead of passion, joy, and purpose. It is wrong to suggest that those things are only byproducts of a job and money.

If it is wrong to imply that the purpose of education is to get a good job and make good money, what is the “why” of education?

The purpose of education is to provide the frame of mind an individual needs to derive purpose from life.

I feel that there is a large difference between this line of the thinking and the first. In the first, society, educators, and parents have already defined what is valuable for the student. In the second, we leave it up to the student to define what is valuable for herself.

Many students are headed down a path that has been decided for them. They never have the chance to reflect and think about what they really care about or enjoy. Very few students are told that everyone has the ability to build and create things that can change the world, and very few are equipped with the skills to do so in traditional education.

Note: I don’t think that traditional education is incapable of providing these types of skills, but I do think that traditional education is in need of a serious overhaul in order to do so.

By enabling students to define purpose we put the ownership of education back onto the students. It gives them power in their educational choices. It implies that education is there to serve them on their path rather than force them down a path.

Education should give students the ability to discover their purpose rather than follow the instructions for predefined success.

In our classes, students choose the projects they want to work on and learn at their own pace. Students are in classes with their age group (7–12 and 13–18) where they learn many skills anywhere from beginner intro coding games to coding & programming languages such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript and Python.

Learn more on southbendcodeschool.com.