What’s the PURPOSE of Education anyhow? (Video)

Good morning, what’s up? It’s Seth from sethperler.com, and today I’m going to talk about the purpose of education.

I always talk about this because I think it’s such an important topic. When you’re talking about what kids need, it’s important to really reflect and step back and ask: what are we doing here in the first place?

A lot of times we get caught up in curriculum, jumping through hoops, and bureaucratic necessities, and we lose track of the bigger picture. So I like to step back and ask: what is the purpose? What are we doing here?

When I talk about the purpose of education, I also like to think about where the word comes from. Its etymology comes from the Latin educatio or educare, which means to raise, to bring forth, or to bring forward.

When we think about the words we use when we talk about our kids, we say we “bring up” our kids, we “raise” our kids. Why do we use those words? Because we are bringing them up to be able to have a happy and successful adult life. That’s the point.

We want to raise them to that point.

Now, it used to be that when kids turned 18, they graduated and were ready for life. They left high school with the skills they needed to have a career for the rest of their lives. Obviously, it’s not like that anymore.

So we need to raise them—or bring them up—to have a happy and successful life in a very different world. That is the purpose of education.

Once you define it that way, it becomes easier to ask: are we meeting that purpose? Are these kids actually getting what they need?

As you can see, people really struggle to be adults in this world. They struggle financially, they struggle with responsibilities, and many are not ready at 18—after high school or even college—to fully launch their lives.

Some say adolescence now lasts until around age 30, which means it’s a much longer developmental period than before.

So we really need to think: what do young people need in this world, and is education providing it? And if it isn’t, how do we make sure they get what they need?

I hope that helps, and I hope you have a great week. Take care.