Purpose of Learning

The Purpose of Learning

The education system is the first major institution that most people deal with in their lives. It is the place where we learn
what it is to be American. We are taught to have a stake in society, to become a part of society. If people didn’t buy into
the American system it wouldn’t work. School is where we are brought into that system of democracy, capitalism and that
arrogant attitude where we believe we can be whatever we want to be. Our democratic equality is based on being taught
to become productive and efficient members of society. This teaching is for the greater good of the society but our
methods for achieving the greater good are by striving for upward social mobility. So as young children we are brought
into a place where we are taught to achieve the best we can so we can be special, be whatever we want to be. We are
taught the framework of the society in which we live, taught the currency we are to use. On the surface we are taught to be
good citizens, learning the history and methods of our government. However, more importantly to our society’s
functioning we are taught to be proactive consumers, go-getters. We are given the goal of trying to achieve so that we
will become as productive as possible, becoming rich, using ourselves as currency to achieve that goal. Once we view
ourselves within our society it is very hard to break away from the traditional values and measuring sticks used by our
society, namely status, money, power among others.
School doesn’t just teach achievement though. It teaches how to achieve efficiently. School teaches how to function
within a structured system. People must learn how to find shortcuts, how to be creative on demand and get the most
benefit for the least effort. Isn’t capitalism all about getting the highest possible return on the smallest possible
investment? That’s what education has become in a sense. It is an investment in ourselves. If we are our own currency,
a college education takes us from a ten dollar bill to a twenty. We become more valuable. At the end of it we are using
education to become socially mobile but society is also benefiting by creating people who are driven to achieve, driven to
contribute and driven to buy that BMW. Is this how it is supposed to be? Probably not but it is largely effective. We are
becoming efficient products. Perhaps some of our creativity has been lost along the assembly line. Maybe that will be
our downfall.
It is hard to say what education should be. What we have now might be close to the ideal since we made it this way.
However, learning for the sake of learning always seemed like a noble idea even though it isn’t necessarily useful. In
order to simply learn for the sake of learning the whole system would need to change. Learning can’t be based on reward
and punishment, can’t be a traded commodity, if it is to be pure. True intellectual curiosity may not have a place in the
current education system. Perhaps only within one’s free time or in the highest levels of education where the goal is not
another degree. For now we are becoming excellent consumers creating goals that will continue our society’s legacy and
values.