Nature of a University Education
What is the purpose of an education? Forget for a moment post-secondary education specifically. Much more generally: Why do we go to school?
Well, early on we go to school because its the law. Why is it the law? Democracy does not function with an illiterate population. Truly, one of the major reasons why the residents of what would become Canada pushed for self-government is because individual farmers lacked the resources to educate their children on their own. They needed the whole of society to support the education of a child.
Did they want an education for their children so that they could work? In part. They wanted a better life for their children and wanted a better society to live in. Work is part of that, but not even the most important part. Educated masses were the goal, for educated people are more difficult to push around. It was a way to preserve gains.
Fast forward. Why do we go to university? To get work? Hardly. Work is important, and many of us have deluded ourselves into thinking that the goal of our education is a job at the end of it. Like those who believe they are voting for a party or prime minister, they are not exactly wrong, just confused. With government, we elect someone to represent us and indirectly select a governing party and prime minister. With school, the work which comes after is not the goal but a desirable side effect. The goal is to make citizens of students. Citizens who can think and question.
Thats how it is. As for how I think it should be, I believe that the government should only concern themselves with citizenship. Specific technical skills should be left to vocational training, which itself should be handled by the industry or professional organizations. For example, provincial professional engineering organizations should run engineering schools, which may be associated with universities or collages, but not necessarily. Vocational training should feature apprenticeships, much like many collage vocational training programs already do. The focus should be on the utilitarian technical skills rather than abstract knowledge, which belongs in the realm of citizenship focused schools.
The confusion of schooling for knowledge and schooling for technical skills is something I view as negative since it downplays the importance of citizenship in us all. It is something we should focus on repairing.
Tags: Canada, citizenship, education, government, public good, Society, university