Is education worth the bother?

Why bother with education? This question comes up for me, especially as news cycles fill with criticism of schools. We all easily fixate on disagreements over school budgets or on disappointing test scores. Still, after decades of observing education systems from the inside, I have concluded that education is well worth the bother. In this blog, I explore three reasons why.

To Live Well

The Greek philosopher Plato saw education as the means by which people learn to live well. Through education, we develop our natural capacity to lean toward what we value in life, as we grow in awareness of the choices we have. Plato's analogy of the cave paints this picture in my mind. I see a small group of people limited by their unexamined worldviews, like the limits of the cavern walls. Each person is only aware of flickering firelight and the shadows it casts. Meanwhile, another group stands in freedom outside confines of the cave, looking in. Each person can see beyond the cave's limitations and become aware of infinite potential. The analogy illustrates how, through the process of being educated, we examine our beliefs and find new potential for individual purpose and fulfillment.

Education is the conscious guidance of human development. While academic knowledge and skill is the typical focus of explicit curriculum, the implicit opportunities to learn can develop courage and persistence, character and integrity, and mastery of our own thinking. And, when we work together to negotiate that guidance, we build opportunity to live well together.

The United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights names education as a fundamental human right, clearly serving the individual, nations and the world. It states,

Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace (Article 26.2).

Through education as conscious learning, we have the opportunity to discover our true needs and expand our understandings beyond our inherited notions and toward real fulfillment.

For the Stable State for a Common Good

Plato saw education as the basis for a stable government, as did Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and George Washington. The founders of the United States promoted public education because they saw it as a basis for healthy democracy and a foundation of a stable state. To them, common, accessible schooling allow citizens to develop understanding of democratic rights and responsibilities. It also allowed the discovery of talent and tapped people's motivation.

Members of a civil society can engage consciously in guiding human development to serve the common good. Through education, we become aware of our own beliefs and assumptions, a process which illuminates choices and helps identify common commitments and purposes. Jefferson described how "the education of the common people" would preserve liberty, as he argued in a letter to James Madison in 1787. Through education, he placed his faith in the "good sense" of ordinary people in a well-informed citizenry.

While the American story of public schooling is riddled with failures to meet this call, the idea lives. Racism, sexism, ablism, and countless other expressions of hatred and division have threatened equal educational opportunity, the value of accessible education is enmeshed in the American story itself: education as a "bulwark against tyranny" (Stratton, 2024), an essential element of a successful state. When we negotiate resources and invest in younger generations' education, we actively define our society by mutual benefits and faith in the "good sense" of our fellow citizens.

Education as Democracy

Finally, I argue that education is practical democracy. It is through the negotiation and implementation of common values, whether in school boards and classrooms or in the statehouse, that we make democracy real. Education is more than children in classrooms. It is what happenings in the minds of the adults that build the school buildings, plan the curriculum, write the assessments, maintain discipline, and allocate the funds. Because education is a collective activity, it defines how each generation relates to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Each decision point along the way reflects the group doing the negotiation and making the decisions. This is democracy itself.

Education is the heart of democratic society, the source of oxygen to the social, political, and economic body. Education systems are circulatory systems: they ingest values from society, circulate and modify those values, and build capacity of the body into the future. If we direct our choices toward living well, we can design education systems that succeed at realizing the visions shared across time by Plato, Jefferson, and countless others. I'll add myself to the list.

References

Stratton, E. (2024). Founding fathers on education [Blog]. USConstitution.net. Retrieved from https://www.usconstitution.net/founding-fathers-on-education/

United Nations. (2025). Universal declaration of human rights. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights