What's the Point?

My school is celebrating her 100th birthday, and I have been asked to write a "purpose of education" article for the celebration in April. As a process thinker/writer, I thought I'd blog as I brainstorm ideas for this article.

One of the most common questions that we get from students is “what’s the point?” It is usually followed by its ugly sister, “why do we have to study this?” While these questions may be annoying at times, they demonstrate that our students are really insightful, are thinking teleologically, and understand the importance of purpose and meaning in life. Unfortunately, we often do not respond with an answer that truly values these questions.

Teleology -- 

(from Greek telos, meaning end or purpose) 

is the philosophical study of nature by attempting 

to describe things in terms of their 

apparent purpose, directive principle, or goal.

So, what's the point? Let me begin with what is NOT the purpose of education.

1. The purpose of education is NOT to “get smart.” We are not just training students to have head knowledge so that they can do well on Jeopardy or dominate friends in Trivia Crack. Students in the 21st Century have every fact on their phone, ready to be “googled” at a moment’s notice. Although students in school will still memorize facts, acquiring knowledge and getting smart is not a purpose in education.  
2. The purpose of education is NOT to get wealthy. Often when asked about a school, parents respond: Johnny is getting a good education so that he can get into a good college. When pressed further with “what’s the point of getting into a good college?”, they respond with ... to get a good job (“good” being defined “as one with a high salary”). Thus, begins the cycle of education today … students go to a good school to get into a good college to get a good job to make a lot of money so that their children can go to a good school, continuing ad nauseum. Unfortunately, this common perspective of education doesn’t answer the teleological question for education (unless your ultimate goal is “to make a lot of money”).
3. The purpose of education is also NOT “to live a comfortable life.” I call this the John Wayne principle of education, based on his quote: “Life is tough, but it is a whole lot tougher if you are stupid.” Many in our society believe that education has been established to help us live in comfort and ease. Although education does provide intellectual resources to problem solve, living an easy life is not the purpose of education.
4. Finally, the purpose of education is NOT to prepare students for a job. This may be the most difficult one to counter as “job preparation” seems to be the main reason for education today, especially at the college level, i.e., your major better prepare you for a job after graduation. We do prepare students for future employment, but we want to prepare them also for life more broadly.

So, what is the point of education? Let me begin with the premise that flows from the last point above, schools should educate for life. Our purpose in education should reflect our purpose in life; the answer to “what’s the point?” should be the same for education and life. Let me give you a quick example from a bumper sticker. 

If your purpose in life aligns with the bumper sticker above, then your education should prepare you to make money and acquire material things. My point being that we should educate for life, and an educational purpose statement should align with a life purpose statement.

Schools need to think broader and more teleologically with mission statements. To quickly summarize, let me counter the reasons above.

1. Education is not to “get smart.” Instead of knowledge acquisition and memorizing facts, education should focus on using the knowledge that is readily available to students. Education in the 21st Century must focus on the higher levels of Bloom’s taxonomy and de-emphasize learning facts, as the first level (at least) is provided through technology. Analyzing if that information is accurate, valid, and reliable and then using that information is more important in our technology age.

2. Education is not to get wealthy. While being compensated well with a high salary may be a by-product, it should not be our purpose or end goal in life. I like to point out the difference between affluence and influence. Affluence being “the state of having a great deal of money”; influence being “the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something.” A teleological focus ought to be larger than just making money; it should consider using your position to make changes in your sphere of influence. The goal of education and life is to make a difference, change attitudes, behaviors … essentially leave the world better than what you found it.

3. Education is not to be comfortable in life. Closely connected to the second reason, our goal in life or in education should not to be comfortable. Often the important changes (in both our character and our culture) come through adversity and trials. Consider the Civil Rights movement; what a different world we would currently be living in if Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr (and many others) decided to avoid conflict. How stagnant our world would become if we all took the easy road and avoided difficulty.

4. Education is not to get a job. This is misguided as a purpose of education for a couple of reason: first, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, people will hold an average of 11 different jobs during their lifetime (others have cited the number as 7 different careers). By preparing for a specific job, the purpose of education will only last a few years. Second, industries (especially those driven by technology) change so frequently, that specific job preparation in college is often obsolete shortly after a student graduates from college. Third, education solely for job preparation is rather short-sided. Even, if an individual remains in a job for his/her entire career, hours spent working are only 15% of life. There is so much more to life than work, and education should prepare students for all of his/her callings.

So what is the point of education? The answer should begin with focusing on what is the point of life?

Most of us do not think teleologically by nature; instead, we are trying to get through the day. But, this is an important practice to model for students and to teach intentionally to students. An easy way to do this is to look at the school’s mission/purpose statement and discuss with students how specific assignments help you fulfill the mission statement. Unfortunately, you will find many school mission statements that are not teleological and focus on the objections that I listed above. 

Here are a few other resources to help students think about purpose statements.

Eagle Scouts -- one of the requirements of an Eagle Scout is to write a “statement of ambitions and life purpose.” Find exemplars of those statements and encourage students to write their own.

This I Believe -- listen to some examples from NPR’s series, “This I believe” and read examples from the “This I Believe” website or book that grew out of the series. There are great resources for educators on these websites. Produce a “This I Believe” podcast with your students.

Consider Communities of Faith -- While difficult for a public school to embrace a religious purpose statement, encourage students to talk with their parents and family about their specific faith background, as often religion helps us to think about purpose in life … and what a great discussion that this will lead to at home. As a Christian, one thing that helps me think about the purpose in life (and the purpose of education) is reading the Bible. For example, the Bible has a number of life purpose statements, like Micah 6:8 …

 

"What does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy 

and to walk humbly with your God."

That is a powerful purpose statement for life. Wouldn't it be amazing if our education helped students to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly?

My purpose in this blog post is to encourage us, as educators, to do a better job answering the annoying but important questions from students of "what's the point?" and "why do we have to study this?" ... and no, "because I said so" is not a good enough answer.

Each school and educational leader should have their own educational purpose statement that drives everything that they do.

If nothing else, find your school's mission statement, reflect on what it says about the purpose of education and life, and design assignments to help fulfill your mission statement. Hopefully, you can encourage your students (and your colleagues) to think from a teleological perspective.