Essay: The purpose of education

Education is defined as the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally ofpreparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life or the act or process of imparting or acquiring particular knowledge orskills, as for a profession. Chomsky, as we saw in the video, thinks there are different kinds of education, generally two of them.

            He distinguishes between the traditional education, the one which highest goal is to create, to promote imagination and self-study with the teacher as only a helper.  It is the one that helps people to discover what they love, what they want to do and on what they are better. The levels are not very important here, just the discover. The other one is called indoctrination that is it, a framework created for all the people, no matter what they love or what they like. If you do not adjust  like this framework orders you to, you are considered no valid. That is not fair; you can be very good at maths but maybe you are not good at painting and so on. I do not think that indoctrination is the perfect way to educate.

            Another matter is use of technology in education nowadays. Technology, as Chomsky said, is neutral. You can give a person thousands of books, but if you do not what to use them for, it is not valuable. Same happens with internet, computers and other new technologies. If we do not know what to use them for, they are worthless. In my opinion, there are very powerful tools, but we have to learn how to use them and when is the appropriate moment to use them. Otherwise, they are not valuable, and even harmful.

            I have the same point of view as Chomsky: education is an investment. It is a valuable tool because it helps to create better human beings, which derives, perhaps, into a better society, more advanced and which will value more than us the importance of education. Maybe it do not seem fair to pay schools and university if we do not attend, but maybe your children are, or your little neighbor, who want to be a doctor to save lives someday.

            Another matter are tests. Nowadays we live with fear, fear of fail the exam, fail of being again at the same course. Tests can be a very useful tool for teachers and students; teachers can see what can be wrong with the class, what are the weakest points where he or she should focus the effort, and students can also see where they fail or what the weakest points are also. But if we turn the exams and tests as a way to pass only if we know perfectly the matter, something is wrong. They can be useful, but without paying to much attention.

            Overall, education is a way to create a better society. If we educate little children, when they grow up they can appreciate the value of education, making it fundamental for the society. There are a few things wrong in the educational system, but the first step is recognizing something is wrong. Luckily, we realize, and it is in our hands to change that.