Don’t Fall Into Ignorance – Why Education Matters (006- Jessica Law)

 

How can education change our world one person at a time? Do college and post- graduate degrees ensure our society is properly educated? Can we learn everything we need to know through books and lectures?

It is obvious that education is not just something from a classroom. Educating yourself takes place all around you, in the natural breathing world. It is something you only begin to grasp and then realize you are only holding onto a thread of knowledge and possibilities. Becoming educated is not only about getting a 4.0 or Dean’s list, but that is also only a small portion. You can be smart in the classroom and never truly be educated. Education reaches much more.

Education is about knowing about the world, other cultures, other ways of living and life, other means of thinking and expression. Educating yourself on all of these things helps you to be a more educated individual, but education is never terminal. There is no end. There is always something to learn.

With that said, I want to draw our attention closer to a philosopher who had a lot to say on the subject of education. That philosopher is Immanuel Kant.





“Human beings need education”




Kant once said, “human beings can only become human through education.” This is true on a number of levels, but on the most basic of those is the fact that education is our very lifeline. You simply cannot live if one is not educated. Think of the most basic forms of living: eating, walking, cleaning yourself, going to the bathroom. In every one of those cases, you were taught how to take care of yourself or to be independent to a degree. These basic ideas show that human beings need education, because without learning or being taught how to live we would be forced to figure it out for ourselves the hard way.

https://youtu.be/CCRWR0E2q5U?si=OmNOcHErsaktcpqn: In this episode, Dr. Hicks discusses Book 5 of Immanuel Kant's 1803 work On Education. Kant's focus in this work is on character development, especially obedience.

On another note, education being important is simply what Susan Neiman states in Why Grow Up. She tells the reader, “Education should be education for a future we can only partly foresee. Leave aside technological progress: if we have any hope for moral progress, we want the next generation to be better than we are.”

“Partly foresee” goes back to what I initially said about education being only a single thread of life. If we want to create a better future for ourselves, our children, and our children’s children we must start with educating ourselves– on both and all sides of the world, politics, and other cultures. Being educated doesn’t stop when you have gathered your ideas and moral standing. It is a constant task one must accept in order to truly live.


On Education - Immanuel Kant - Google Books

In Kant’s work Education, the table of contents is split into 5 key sections aside from a general introduction:
Physical education

Instruction (culture)

Cultivation of the mind

Moral culture

Practical education

These five sections show that Kant believed that practical education and physical education was a small portion of what education truly means. You must be educated in culture, the cultivation of one’s mind, and above all moral culture. You must obtain all 5 types of education in order to truly be educated.

The main point of this book is to show man is the only being who NEEDS an education. He makes this clear by providing many examples, but one that is simple and introductory to his ideas is this:

Infant = requires nursing

Child = requires discipline

Scholar = requires teaching

Kant also makes sure to point out the distinction between human nature and animal nature, and how education transforms animalistic nature to human nature. This is obvious if you have ever had a pet cat. Going back to my example of how humans are taught to eat, go to the bathroom, clean themselves, and walk, when you compare how humans learn those tasks versus how animals learn the tasks it is apparent between animal and man things are taught versus instinctual. For animals they run on instincts which drive them to understand how to hunt, clean themselves, etc., but for us humans we are taught those things. Moral of Kant’s example of instinct versus education shows that humans are the only beings that truly need education.

https://youtu.be/8N-uaAtHrSI?si=tVD_P5JjhDAj16uY: This video challenges everything you thought you knew about what makes us truly human.

This leads me into my main point. Since education is so fundamental to us as humans, shouldn’t we always exercise by educating ourselves? Education shouldn’t stop at the basics but rather go beyond ways we can learn about ourselves and others. I think above all education can protect us and save us from corrupted and evil hands.



I mentioned during my presentation about being an “educated hater.” What I mean by this is that in today’s political climate, whichever side you lean towards or if you are in the middle, it is important to stay informed on both sides. I use the example of being an educated hater to draw the attention towards being so educated on the opposing side that you are 100% confident in your views and so if you get into a debate with someone you will know their side better than they do. This can leave you to know more than them, but also as a hater, you can make more accurate and factual insults/ comments. Not to say you should bully people based on what they believe, but being rooted on their side of the argument will leave you with a firmer foundation for your beliefs. Obviously please be respectful to others, but you get the point I am trying to make– stay educated on all sides in order to fully understand what you believe in and are actively supporting.

All this to say, Kant believed in education being the only thing humans need to be fundamentally human. I think Kant believed in a world where humans might have differences, but they are fully educated on what they were debating. Nowadays opposing sides don’t even have the same middle ground. They don’t have the same language to debate, and it is mainly throwing insults at each other until one side decides to be the bigger person. Kant would not have wanted this, and you shouldn’t want this either.

Moral: Life is too short to be ignorant– stay educated.

Discussion Questions: 

1. What do you view as the most important means/ forms of education? 

2. Do you value life experiences or classroom experiences above the other? 

3. What do you think about Kant's views on education? Do you think his ideas of education and the construction of a society go against freedom?