The True Purpose of Education

The purpose of a universal universal gentility system can be debated, but originally, in the 1830s, Horace Mann reformed the American school system in order to stage all children the infrastructure on which to learn and become perspicacious citizens. As public teaching has evolved throughout the geezerhood, the purpose of assumement has been slowly vanishing, beingness replaced by prostrate routines and pointless activities done by disciples that no longer are concerned in larn, but getting good grades sooner.The aline purpose of learning isnt being addressed properly in schools, and it isnt being recognized by those who attend school in order to learn. In An program line, by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Emerson paints a picture of what an education is supposed to pull up stakes for a pupil. He writes, The function of opening and feeding the human intellect is not to be filled by any mechanical or military methodyou must not neglect the form, but true(p) the essentials (pa ra. 9).In a sense, Emerson argues that the purpose of education is, not to mold a judicious citizen that has basic understanding of certain topics, but to guide and ultimately unleash the genius and determination in every man by heavy(a) them the essentials to learning. On the other hand, Mann in Report of the Massachusetts Board of Education uses the analogy of Feudalism to show that when education is not made a mandatory opportunity for all, society gets broken into classes, like Feudalism, in which the easy and powerful abuse the poor and uneducated.Here we see a specific shake up of opinions on what education is supposed to provide for an individual person, and a society. Although Emersons essay may seem less subjective than Manns, I trust Emerson holds a more(prenominal) broad understanding of what an education can give to a person. There are many cases in which twelve years of public school do not provide a student with the passion or direction in order to live a life fu ll of learning and accomplishment, when twelve years of public education doesnt provide an exceptional education.The solution might not be to end public schooling, but to engender public acceptance of three-year-old students becoming avid learners instead of teachers pets, self advocates instead of disabled pupils. Leon Botstein in Let Teenagers Try Adulthood proposes that the answer to such an out of date and flawed institution is a world where 16 year olds are prepared to be taken seriously and to develop the motivations and interests that will serve them well in adult life (para. 11). existence a 16 year old myself, I often curio hat that would be like if other adults didnt know I attend high school or if that was completely irrelevant to begin with. As this is a nice thought, it is also a minor concomitant in the larger scheme of things. I find the solution of empowering students to be curious and to seek out what they want from schools to be far more superior. The public school system can indeed live up to the standard Emerson set for a great education it just has to be changed. An excellent teacher has the power to provide students with the essentials to learning, good listening skills for example.However, public schools dont often produce excellent students or teachers, and this is merely what starts the banal cycle again. To what extent do our schools serve the goals of a true education? Our schools, being the student body, the leaders, and everything in between are besides caught up in the everyday cycle of busy work and assessments, to acquire that these methods need to be replaced with new ones that open the minds of students to what they can fulfill with the flop passion for their education and the true purpose of being educated.