What is the goal of education?

[Nielsio]

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As it stands, we spend five figures a year for every

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We do?

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According to the National Center for Education Statistics, we spent $8,044 per student in 2002-2003 on average. Several states do actually spend $10,000+ per student annually. We should be getting more for our money.

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I'm confused. Are YOU spending it or is someone else.

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The numbers I found used the total spending by federal, State, and local governments on public education (K-12). I don't spend anything on education other than what my property and income taxes fund.

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If I steal your wallet and buy a rolex, did you buy it?

[Copernicus]

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Do you not understand how difficult it is to read your responses? Can you not see how other posters respond in neat ordlerly and readable fashion?

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So dont read them, your substantive replies are rare enough it would be no great loss.

[bobman0330]

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As it stands, we spend five figures a year for every

[/ QUOTE ]

We do?

[/ QUOTE ]

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, we spent $8,044 per student in 2002-2003 on average. Several states do actually spend $10,000+ per student annually. We should be getting more for our money.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm confused. Are YOU spending it or is someone else.

[/ QUOTE ]

The numbers I found used the total spending by federal, State, and local governments on public education (K-12). I don't spend anything on education other than what my property and income taxes fund.

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If I steal your wallet and buy a rolex, did you buy it?

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Nielsio, hijacking threads for irrelevant, obtuse tangents since 8/14/05.

[wiper]

right now, i think it's social skills, and tradition.

i believe we started public education so that we could have an informed voting populice..

[lehighguy]

To enrich the educators.

[BCPVP]

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Do you not understand how difficult it is to read your responses? Can you not see how other posters respond in neat ordlerly and readable fashion?

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So dont read them, your substantive replies are rare enough it would be no great loss.

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You should learn to to use the quote function properly. It's not that hard and some of us may wish to read your responses without the headache of trying to decipher it. It's also easier for people to respond to you and easier for everyone else to follow who's saying what. It'll be apprecieated.

[Bob Moss]

The purpose of public education is indoctrination.

[Zeno]

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What is the goal of education?

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Giving young minds the tools and ability to think for themselves.

Most Education, as it now stands in the majority of countries around the world, usually leans more toward indoctrination (as another poster pointed out) and rote learning than teaching freedom of thought or the ability to reason. But that is to be expected.

-Zeno

Edit: "Men are born ignorant, not stupid. They are made stupid by education." - Bertrand Russell

[Zeno]

Here is a useful article about critical thinking, based on the works of Bertrand Russell, that could add to the discussion about the goal of education. Link: Bertrand Russell on Critical Thinking.

Abstract [in part] from the above article:

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ABSTRACT: The ideal of critical thinking is a central one in Russell's philosophy, though this is not yet generally recognized in the literature on critical thinking. For Russell, the ideal is embedded in the fabric of philosophy, science, liberalism and rationality, and this paper reconstructs Russell's account, which is scattered throughout numerous papers and books. It appears that he has developed a rich conception, involving a complex set of skills, dispositions and attitudes, which together delineate a virtue which has both intellectual and moral aspects. It is a view which is rooted in Russell's epistemological conviction that knowledge is difficult but not impossible to attain, and in his ethical conviction that freedom and independence in inquiry are vital. Russell's account anticipates many of the insights to be found in the recent critical thinking literature, and his views on critical thinking are of enormous importance in understanding the nature of educational aims.

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In addition, Russell wrote an interesting essay called 'The Functions of a Teacher', published in the book, Unpopular Essays. The essay is probably on the web somewhere, look it up if you so desire. It is worth reading.

-Zeno

[hmkpoker]

We've had enough threads discussing taxation and theft. I don't really care about that in this thread.