The ultimate purpose of education is full enlightenment -- living the total value of existence naturally in daily life.

The process of education is 'to educe' -- to bring out knowledge from within.

Please consider the paper (full-text, open-access on ResearchGate.net) "Ignorance and Enlightenment: What's the Difference?" as an intro. to the purpose of education in terms of 'enlightenment.'

Thanks, RW. Boyer

From my perspective, the true purpose of education goes far beyond grades, degrees, or fancy job titles. At its heart, education should help us learn how to think, not just what to think. It trains us to question our own assumptions, to imagine alternatives, and to live with the discomfort of not always having an answer right away.

A good education should stretch the mind and the heart; it should help people grow into curious, adaptable, and ethical human beings who can navigate life’s complexity, not just repeat information. Ideally, it sparks a lifelong love of learning, so we keep growing long after the classroom lights are off.

If you’d like to explore this idea further, here are two thoughtful papers you might enjoy:

• “What is Education For?” by David Orr – a classic piece that asks deep questions about the moral and ecological purpose of education. https://www.context.org/iclib/ic27/orr/
• The Purpose of Education” by Martin Luther King Jr. (1947) — This short but powerful essay, written when King was still a student, brilliantly captures why education must develop both intelligence and character. It’s timeless, deeply human, and freely available online. https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/purpose-education

Warm regards,

Koteshwar Ramesh Rakesh

Thank you for sharing your insights and for your reading suggestions. The purpose of education should indeed be ideological enrichment, increased self-awareness, and a broadened worldview on enduring values such as truth, kindness, emotional resilience, and intellectual enlightenment. Education should help one not only to recognize life's complexities, but also to negotiate with them—turning struggles into victories, despair into hope, and hardships into meaning.