The Purpose of Education...

So today in my Theory of Curriculum class we talked about the purpose of education and we all came up with really high-minded reasons full of big words and multiple clauses. Mine was something like "To create thoughtful, critically-thinking, rational adults who function highly in a complex, emotionally traumatic global society." What?

After I wrote that I thought, if I were in eighth grade I would have written something like "To prepare me for college" or "To ruin my life."

Would it be so terrible to spend a day or even 10 minutes discussing what the purpose of education is and allow the class to make a statement of what they expect to get out of your class? This conversation could happen tomorrow--that's right, midyear, as a way to pump up the students and allow them some control of their education. If your class has a common goal, maybe the students will actually do their homework.