What is The Main Purpose of Education?
By Catrin Wigfall
Our country’s K-12 public education system is being transformed into something it was never intended to be. Academic rigor is taking a backseat to an ideological mission, as schools go beyond teaching reading and math to focus on reshaping students’ attitudes and beliefs to advance a political agenda.
But most Americans do not believe this shift is the primary purpose of education, according to a survey by EdChoice and Morning Consult.
“Core academic subjects”
In Minnesota, most survey respondents said that mastery of “core academic subjects” for students in K-8 and mastery of “skills for future employment” in high school is the primary purpose of education. (Learning core academic subjects was a very close second for high school students.)
Additionally, teaching students how to be good citizens was also identified as an extremely important part of students’ K-12 journey, along with them becoming independent thinkers and learning socialization skills.
“Fixing social issues” came in last as education’s main purpose, with only 23 percent noting it “extremely important” for K-8 students to learn and 26 percent saying so for high school students.
A fundamental shift
Most Americans agree the classroom is not the place to implement a political agenda, but the advancement of an ideology with such contempt for achievement is being advanced by unaccountable teachers’ unions, unchecked bureaucracy, “equity” consultants, and philanthropic foundations that spend billions of dollars perpetuating the racism they claim to want to address.
As more parents wake up to the educational issues within our K-12 system, fundamental questions about education should get asked. This must include forcing the debate about education’s primary purpose and what students need to be set up for success outside of the classroom. Literacy and numeracy skills, paired with preparing students to further develop into responsible, enlightened, and civic-minded adults and members of society, must be prioritized.
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This article was published by The Center for the American Experiment and is reproduced with permission.
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