What Is Education For?

There are a few terms that are often confused or used interchangeably—“learning,” “education,” “training,” and “school”—but there are important differences between them. It is vital that we differentiate these terms: Children love to learn, they do it naturally; many have a hard time with education, and some have big problems with school.

• Education should enable young people to engage with the world within them as well as the world around them
• All individuals have unique strengths and weaknesses, outlooks and personalities.
• Students do not come in standard physical shapes or sizes.
• They all have their own aptitudes and dispositions and different ways of understanding things.

• There are various definitions of culture, but the most appropriate is "the values and forms of behaviour that characterize different social groups."
• Education is one of the ways that communities pass on values from one generation to the next.
• Living respectfully with diversity is not just an ethical choice, it is a practical imperative.

• Education should enable students to become economically responsible and independent.
• An educated workforce is essential to creating economic prosperity.
• The world of work has changed so profoundly since the Industrial Revolution.
• Many jobs are disappearing and being rapidly replaced by contemporary counterparts.
• Schools need to prepare students to navigate this ever-changing economic landscape.

• Education should enable young people to become active and compassionate citizens.
• For a democratic society to function, it depends upon the majority of its people being active within the democratic process.
• In many democracies, this is not the case.
• Schools should engage students in becoming active, and proactive, democratic participants.

The conventional curriculum is based on a collection of separate subjects. These are prioritized according to beliefs around the limited understanding of intelligence we discussed in the previous chapter, as well as what is deemed to be important later in life. The idea of “subjects” suggests that each subject, whether mathematics, science, art, or language, stands completely separate from all the other subjects. This is problematic, and as we later find out, incorrect as well.

The concept of disciplines brings us to a better starting point when planning the curriculum, which is to ask what students should know and be able to do as a result of their education.

The four purposes suggest eight core competencies that if properly integrated into education, will equip students who leave school to engage in the economic, cultural, social, and personal challenges they will inevitably face in their lives.

These competencies are curiosity, creativity, criticism, communication, collaboration, compassion, composure, and citizenship.