Why Do We Need Education - Essay Example

Despite its cruel, torturous, and stressful ways of ruining freedom, leisure, and an ideal existence of an individual altogether, every single child in the world wants to be educated. No parent would be against his or her children’s education. No child does not hate his school and yet would not want to be deprived of one either. So the question here is why is education so desirable? When asked in a survey, most people said that education, for them, is a way to make money. Parents who struggle hard for their kids’ education do so in the hope of a financially brighter future and upward mobility. Children who spend all their childhood and adolescence period in studying do so, to attain a social standing, where they can enjoy a better standard of life.

Thus, education is merely a way to become rich and make money (Eames, 1977). As simple as the statement sounds, there are a few loopholes in the argument. First, if education is the best possible way to earn money as proven by its popularity, then why do facts show that the richest people on the planet are either illiterate or high school dropouts? Bill Gates, who dropped out of high school, remained the “richest man of the world for ten consecutive years” (Dewey, 1998). Secondly, history shows that the system of education was not invented to help people make more money (Dewey, 1998).

The idea of education leading to upward financial mobility emerged at the onset of capitalism when all processes and social phenomena were commodified for the powerful to outdo the powerless, which is principally the Marxist perspective on capitalism. One now asks, if it is possible to become as rich as anyone can without going to school and the process does not even accredit its alleged purpose, then why bother? What is the ultimate edge that an educated man has over the uneducated one?

The answer lies in the quote of Dr. Martin Luther King, "The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education" (Warren, 2001, 27). Education, in its true essence, is supposed to build character. Its primary aim is to hone the thinking capabilities of an individual so that he reaches his true potential and finds a drive to achieve what he wants. An educated man learns to distinguish right from wrong, good from bad.

He learns to accept people with their contradictory opinions and beliefs. He learns that without ethics and a strong character, a man is nothing but an animal. In conclusion, many people question the utility of a college education and contend that it does not guarantee a brighter future.