“The purpose of education should be to provide students with a value system, a standard, a set of ideas-not to prepare them for a specific job.”

Who imparts education? It is not necessary that a child becomes educated by going to school. Students learn from their parents, their friends and the environment in which they live in addition to their teachers who teach them at school. When we say that a person is an educated individual, it does not mean that he has a host of degrees; rather it means that apart from degrees he is also aware of the social norms and standards that are acceptable for co-existence in society. This aspect of education has to be provided either by the school curriculum or the environment in which a student is carrying out the learning process. The purpose of education cannot be restricted to preparing students for a specific job as this would bring down the standards of society as a whole. Everyone would be well-trained for the career that he is pursuing, but no one will be educated enough to conform to the standards laid down by society for peaceful co-existence in total harmony so as to allow the society to progress in the positive direction.

Is education required for preparing students for a specific job? If the answer to this questions is ‘Yes’, then this means that there should be no requirement of the heirs of business tycoons and monarchy to go to regular schools. They can just be trained for handling their parental business or monarchy and there is no need for them to acquire the form of education that all other children of their age do. Additionally, there should be no need for their parents to imbibe in them the knowledge that leads to their development as well-educated individuals. On the contrary, affluent people hire personal groomers and send their children to finishing schools, so that they learn that extra bit which their management studies or other forms of higher studies will not be able to teach. Moreover, they also attend regular classes like all other students because the purpose of education is to provide the students with a set of ideas that will prepare them for life in general and not just a specific job.

It is true that you need specific training for succeeding in a specific career. For instance, you need to pursue medical studies to become a doctor and you have to study in a management college to become a successful business manager. However, the basic education that is provided before these higher studies should be the same for everyone and it should be job-independent so as to bring the citizens of a country to a common standard. As far as the job specific education like medical studies is concerned, there should be an endeavor to prepare the curriculum matter in such a way that the students gain knowledge that will help them to become good doctors who conform to a given standard with an ideal set of thoughts rather than churning out doctors who are experts in the field of medicine, but are totally ignorant about the environment around them.

Education is required to enlighten a person and change his entire thought process by making him aware of all the aspects of life so that he is well-prepared to tackle any kind of situation. This will be possible only if he is aware of the various aspects that form a part of the educational curriculum including other issues that he can learn through his parents, teachers or friends. Training a student for a specific job only would be an entire waste of time and effort as he would be unsuitable for the other necessities of life.