For the Purpos/ed campaign a couple of weeks back I wrote 500 words on the purpose of education, which you can read here.

The campaign continues with the 3×5 campaign.

For mine I took a photograph of mine (less worried then about rights) that I had taken at Blaise Castle in Bristol.

For the words I chose a quote from Kevin McLauglin. To be honest there were lots of quotes I could have chosen and though some were already “taken” by others, in the end I chose Kevin’s words as I liked the inevitability that learners will learn somehow, but with the right guidance that learning can grow, like a tree hence the picture, and enable the learner to survive the storms and challeneges thrown against them. They can thrive whether it be hot or cold, wet or dry.

So what is the purpose of education?

Well it’s all about control and power of course.

Not what I think it is about, but then again most educators probably think like me, however…

Most educational institutions will control education within their walls (and on the internet). They will set the parameters by which learners can learn within their four walls. Often these parameters will be set by government departments. Othertimes these constraints will be set by the institutions and by academics.

Governments fund education to control the population. To ensure that they behave according to societal norms and don’t “rock the boat”. This doesn’t always work, but does formal education cause governments to change, generally no.

Businesses want education to be about preparing people to work for them without complaint regardless of pay or working conditions. Create a workforce that will do their bidding.

Retailers and marketers want education to be about conformity, so that when we venture out we conform to an accepted norm. Not question what we are shown or see.

Of course the purpose of education should be about freedom and choice. A freedom to learn in order to free oneself from the shackles of your environment. Freedom to better oneself. Freedom to learn about new things and old things. Freedom to think.

Even most academics and practitioners would argue they see education as a way of freeing oneself, however they do this by laying down mechanisms, processes and protocols that control whoever enters education. Placing restrictions on what can be learnt, how it can be learnt and focus on assessment of learning. This is not something that is particular to any sector, but can be found in all sectors.

Of course with freedom comes responsibility and if we give learners to freedom to make choices about education, will they make educated and informed choices, or will they choose what they perceive to be the easy path, or the path of least resistance.

So are learners able to make these informed choices, rational decisions?

Many learners do and many learners will use educational institutions for education, learners will also make decisions about their education to use more informal routes to education, some of these will be semi-formalised, such as Open University modules, Adult Education and short courses at FE Colleges,

Some will be routes completely outside formal educational and will take place in local or online communities. Clubs, societies, online forums and mailing lists are all ways in which learners can access an education. They will not be looking at these as a route to a qualification. We as a society will not define these informal routes as education and often will not value this learning

Some learners won’t make informed choices, so do we say they must take part in a formal education?

So despite our best intentions to ensure education is about freedom and choice, this is what I believe education is about, the reality is that education is about control and power.

Find out more about Purpos/ed.