The Fallacy of Education as the Answer

Education is viewed as the panacea, the cure-all, for our societal problems. Whether it is drugs, violent crime, sexual abuse, racism, poverty, or virtually any other social ill, it seems that the universal answer is education. It is said, these problems are evidence for the failure of our education system and if the people participating/causing these problems in our society would have received sufficient education, they would never have gone down that path.

While I am a fan of education, having invested more then my share of both time and money in formal education, I don't believe that knowledge necessarily equals change. Knowledge by itself does not change behavior. I think it is fair to say that it is belief that changes behavior, not knowledge.

Take the financial state of our country as an example. People "know" that it is not good for their financial future to rack up credit card debt and live beyond their means to such a degree that they have no hope of retirement savings (or even savings at all). They know this intellectually, but they don't believe it. Or perhaps more properly, while they believe it they have other beliefs (in this case, the belief that living beyond their means is more important then saving for the future) that outrank it.

Without getting into a deeper discussion of worldview, belief structures, and so on, suffice it to say that knowledge alone doesn't yield much. And this is why education via our school systems is not the answer. People don't need more knowledge - more information. I can't help but remember the complete failure of the Enlightenment trust in rationality as evidenced by the death camps of WWII.

Rationalism and rationality will not save our society. Throwing more money at education will not save our society. Blaming schools for churning out kids that can't read will not save our society. An essential element is missing from the puzzle. More on that later.