What is the purpose of education? A well known philosopher named Plato actually believed the true purpose and goal of education was to develop a man’s character to be rational and moral. His teacher, Socrates, was very known for the saying “the unexamined life is not worth living” (Cooper and Hutchinson, 33). This quote is one that Plato would not refute but support. Plato’s work The Republic, acknowledges education as the application of reflective learning, examinazation, and studying. Plato writes about Socrates’ arguments on the importance of education regarding studying science, studying philosophy, and mandatory public service after graduation.
Socrates’ first argument for education is the importance for elite groups of guardians to study mathematical science. This task includes the studying of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and harmony. The main benefit of this being that eventually one will be able to do away with hypotheses and theories by attaining valid knowledge (Plato on Education, 11-18). This will prep one to investigate what is true, false, and an opinion. In this case, this argument suggests that this is very important for the elite groups to obtain intelligence from mathematical sciences because they are the ones who make the important decisions and are put into positions where they must make a decision that could affect society. I can relate as a nursing major because my decisions will be the ones that will affect my patients lives. The importance and benefits of me taking math and science courses, is that I will obtain knowledge about my major in order to practice this occupation in real life.
Actual lives are on the line and I must be able to judge whether the right medicine and the right dosage is being given to the patient I am caring for. This knowledge is not something that is obvious, but knowledge beyond my own self (Plato on Education, 16). The process of obtaining complete knowledge needed for my major will be time consuming, but it will help me to make rational decisions and understand situations I may face in the future. Socrates makes it evident that one can not be “all-knowing” in one lifetime and I agree with this statement because people make mistakes; I may be a nursing major but that does not mean that I will pass my nursing exam without getting one question wrong. If one were to ask me a question about anything outside my field I would not even have the answer for them.
The second argument in regards to education was the argument for studying philosophy. Socrates says that a good leader must study this in order to obtain the quality of “dialectic” (Plato on Education, 25-26). Dialectic is an important skill in philosophy that allows one to analyze, evaluate, and refute arguments or definitions. This is also known as, critical thinking. Through this one can try and understand basic assumptions. Philosophy gives one the freedom to question and refute things that they do not agree with, along with the ability to educate the ignorant. It allows one to comprehend and understand why something is important. Through this one is able to challenge and refute one who is portraying deceitful information (Plato on Education, 25-26). These capabilities can be obtained through the study philosophy. In my opinion, I agree with Socrates in that in order to be good at anything you must fully understand it. Studying philosophy will benefit one to obtain information they do not know by questioning the “why’s” and coming up with the correct answer and not just an assumption. This answer could then be shared with those who are also curious. For instance, as a nursing major I am always curious, so I ask a lot of “why” questions in order to get a better understanding of certain topics. One should always ask questions if they only have a basic assumption about something. In my case, if a patient has any questions for me and I do not know the answer it would be very unprofessional for me to just share my basic assumption about their questions. This is because it would be ethically wrong for me to share false information instead of asking for a second opinion in order to give out true information. It would also look really bad for me, as a nurse, and my practice if I am not able to answer questions truthfully since this is the field I studied in for four years.
Lastly, Socrates argues that public service should be mandatory after graduation. His point being, since one has acquired skills and knowledge to play a role in society it now means they owe the debt of solving its problems (Plato on Education, 27). In my opinion, I do agree and disagree with this statement. I agree that getting my nursing degree will require mandatory public service in that my job is to care for people who are sick because I have acquired this skill and the knowledge that comes with it. On the other hand I disagree that I have any more debt than that to society because I worked hard and payed a lot of money for this degree, so to say that I owe debt to a society that did not help me at all throughout my journey is not right.
I chose this topic because of the benefits education has had on my life. It has given me various opportunities, and the biggest one being my college career. College education is giving me the opportunity to gain the knowledge and understanding I need in order to get a well paying job. This is because today one must have some kind of degree in order to receive a salary that will allow one to live comfortably. After reading this philosophers work I have decided to agree that mathematical science and philosophy is necessary in one’s education, due to the fact that it gives someone the chance to do away with basic assumptions and critically think. However, giving back through public service as a “debt” is very debatable now a days due to the fact that one is responsible to pay for their schooling.
Works Cited
- Cooper, John M., and Hutchinson, D.S., editors. Plato Complete Works. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 1997.
- Plato. The Republic . Book VII, Plato, 380A.D.
