Education

"Education is emancipation from herd opinion."  - Everett Dean Martin

As a college professor, I am interested in the purpose and value of education. This quote was included in a recent paper by one of my colleagues, Paul Cwik, and I thought it fit nicely with my own perspective and the primary theme of this blog.

To build on the classic idea that "knowledge is power," education can give us the power to think for ourselves, to be creative, to be individuals, to be freaks. Unfortunately, the aim of many supposed educators and educational institutions is to get people to conform, to be obedient, to be normal, to be mediocre.

As teachers, parents and leaders, we would all do well to remember that "education is emancipation from the herd," not indoctrination into the herd.

Comments

[Eleanor Boyd]

I would agree that some of the educational methods and materials are flawed and do teach conformity.
Fortunately, at good schools, colleges and universities creativity and independent thinking are encouraged. To me the value of education is to learn how to anaylize, think and have the confidence to be creative and solve problems.