Education: What is the Point of it All?

The “Smart” kid.

That was me. The one who followed instructions. The one who answered questions. The one who always got the marks.

And this is me now. The confused one. The lost one. The one searching for answers – for a purpose.

For the last one year, I have been teaching a class. I have almost declared that I want to continue in the field of education. After all, it is such a noble profession. What could be more important that educating a child? Nobody has questioned the decision. Nobody has ever asked me: what is the point of education?

It was the one question I knew I would never have to answer. It was also the one question I never could answer.

What is the point of education?

So that I can quote Shakespeare.

So that I can tell you the exact date that Hitler displayed his massive army to the world.

So that I can solve for x.

What is the point of education?

So that I can go to college.

So that I can get a degree.

So that I can get a job.

So that I can get money.

What is the point of education?

So that I can get married.

So that I can have kids.

So that they can follow the same cycle.

So that my grandchildren can follow the same cycle.

What is the point of education?

So that when I lie in my grave, or feel my body burn to ashes, I have the comfort of knowing that I had  my grandchildren, my kids, a marriage, money, a job, a degree, college, the value of x, the date of the Nuremberg rally, Hamlet’s soliloquy.

I repeat, what is the point of education?

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I few days ago, I met and started working with a group of novice teachers – novice, I specify, because none of them have more than two years of teaching experience. They’re a group of unique individuals, with more differences than similarities. But they have one common cause that brought them together; a burning belief that education has a purpose: a purpose to understand self, others and life.

Self. Others. Life.

Three things that I think are worth knowing – or at least, worth attempting to know.

What is the point of Hamlet’s monologue? None, except that it helps me, as a person, understand the power of introspection and reflection of my own actions.

What is the point of knowing the date of Hitler’s Nuremberg rally? None, except that the context helps me see the impact of misconceptions and persuasion in the lives of the people who share this planet.

What is the point of knowing the value of x? None, except that it shows me that when faced with a problem I don’t know the answer to, I just need to begin with the things that I do know and work my way through [source: Gaurav Singh, 321].

Education is not about the marks; it’s not even about the content: it’s simply about what you can do with the content. It’s about what you learn.

Unfortunately, we live in a world that cares more about results than learning. Results can be measured. Learning cannot. Teaching, for that matter, cannot.

And so, we as Indians continue to pride ourselves on our ability to retain information beyond the point of saturation. And others in USA continue to pride themselves on having some of the best teaching institutions when it comes to student achievement results.

No one cares if I learned something today that made me question myself, understand the people around me, or probe life for further answers.

Why? That should matter.

What shouldn’t matter is whether I followed instructions. Whether I answered the questions. Whether I got the marks.

Whether I was the “smart” kid.