The Purpose of Education

“Do you train for passing tests or do you train for creative inquiry?”

Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, logician, political commentator and activist. Sometimes described as the "father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophy.
In the video clip below he discusses the purpose of education, impact of technology, whether education should be perceived as a cost or an investment and the value of standardised assessment.
First, Chomsky defines his view of education in an Enlightenment sense, in which the “highest goal in life is to inquire and create". Then he moves on to define the opposing concept of education as indoctrination. Under this model, “People have the idea that, from childhood, young people have to be placed into a framework where they’re going to follow orders. This is often quite explicit.” According to him, this model of education imposes “a debt which traps students, young people, into a life of conformity. That’s the exact opposite of what traditionally comes out of the Enlightenment.”
Presented at the Learning Without Frontiers Conference - Jan 25th 2012- London (LWF 12).
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