What Is Education For?

Pondering the purpose behind the great college race, 21st century students and today’s schools.

Since I became a mother 17 years ago, I’ve wondered how to choose the best educational path for my kids. I still can’t envision an educational system that works for everyone. 

We have varying levels of ability, talent, interest, and need. Education should be a very personal journey of connecting with knowledge, taking it inside yourself, and letting it change you.

But first, we have to build a love of learning. I’m not sure that happens in many schools today.

Or at least that’s not the story schools are telling.

In Stop Stealing Dreams: What is school for?, Seth Godin explains that our current way of educating grew out of the industrial era, when the goal was to stop children from competing with adults for jobs, and train children to become obedient factory workers.

“Large-scale education was not developed to motivate kids or to create scholars,” he writes. “It was invented to churn out adults who worked well within the system. Scale was more important than quality.”

In light of recent college admissions scandals, this conversation is even more important. What is the point of racing to a top university? Why aren’t parents pondering how to empower their children to be confident in who they are and build a life around their talents and passions? And why might schools benefit from focusing on instilling a love of learning in their students rather than producing impressive test scores?

Because brands today are all about purpose and a purpose-driven person is far more valuable than a person who can regurgitate facts or check the right box on a test.

When big brands embrace messages of purpose and meaning, they seek individuals to align with their vision. Purpose and meaning run deep in thinking individuals. People who love discovering and exploring, questioning and considering, live lives of value and depth. They are valuable proponents of a thriving society.

And yet, we don’t see education as an individual process. We need to change the narrative.

Years ago, I considered homeschooling, and fell in love with the Waldorf approach to education. I appreciate Waldorf education because it focuses on a child’s development. Waldorf students have two recesses daily based on research that shows that children – and all of us, really – need to immerse in fresh air and play to assimilate lessons.

Waldorf schools generate college-bound graduates, but that is not their sole goal. They aim to empower children to think, to engage, to have a conscience, to marry STEM with art and music.

In pondering what education is for, we need to consider what our goals are as a society? 

Currently, we’re raising children to be serious, to compete, to only look at self-worth through test scores and awards. 

We are guiding children to attend colleges they cannot afford, because other people approve. We are not creating thinkers.

I believe we are born with a unique talent and focus, and our life’s mission is to contribute to the world to make it better than it was when we arrived. 

Godin recommends different ways to reinvent school, such as open book, open note, all the time, and access to any course, anywhere in the world. He advocates for the end of multiple-choice exams (my personal favorite) and experience as a measure of achievement, rather than test scores.

What did you dream of when you were a child? Chances are you knew who you were early on and have since forgotten as you’ve been trained to fit in and follow along. 

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer recently set a goal of 60 percent higher-education attainment rate by 2030. I’m not convinced it’s the right goal. Not everyone should attend college. If your talent is for learning, then go. If your talent is for making things or building things, do that.

We need a society of people who listen to their inner voices and do what they are meant to do.

In 1967, Brigham Young University President David O. McKay said, “A true education is an awakening of love of truth, a giving of a just sense of duty, an opening of the eyes of the soul to the great purpose of life…Character is the aim of true education; and science, history, and literature are but means used to accomplish this desired end.”

Organizations today that truly succeed participate in this conversation of purpose. Favorite brands embody meaning and focus, inspiration and adventure. Just Do It. (Nike) Don't Buy This Jacket. (Patagonia) Enrich, Not Exploit (the Body Shop) 

Schools need to build a new story, to redefine what achievement can mean in the 21stcentury.

We must let go of reliance on current modes of measurement and trust the inner voice that leads us to pick up a book or count the rungs on a ladder or be awestruck by the way baking soda and vinegar create a volcano.

We must embrace that sense of wonder that permeates childhood. We must abandon the need to fit in, to belong, to conform to a distant definition of success. What if a school’s story boasted of the sense of individuality, confidence, and innovation its students attained – rather than its test scores?

We need a system for educating youth, yes. Even more, though, we need to clarify our reasons for education and look at the story of school as a story that leads us to a sense of purpose.

Lynne Golodner is the mother of four college-bound teens and a marketing/public relations professional who specializes in working with schools and universities.