The goal of education is to educate a person to develop his knowledge, attitudes and skills so he can use it to become a better person, worthy and functional member of the society. The learning outcomes is a balance of three domains of learning such as cognitive, affective and psychomotor (Bloom). But what do we really want to be manifested as an educated person? Intelligence or character, or both? For example, do we expect that our society or the community will be a better place to live in if everybody is educated? What if education is simply a requirement and no longer a necessary tool to change a person?
We can trace to the ancient Greeks the idea that the goal of education is to produce a better person, the kalos agathos, or "good man." The Iliad and Odyssey were the principal texts owing to the perception that they contained moral lessons for instructing the young. In the early 20th century, the McGuffy Readers were popular for the same reason, and even today we require college students to take literature classes so as to become better persons through exposure to what Faulkner referred to as literature's "eternal truths."
The problem is this: The idea that education produces better people is an empirical question that can be examined through simple observation. Frankly, education does not appear to have had any effect on moral behavior. Politicians pursue their own interests and ignore the commonweal; business leaders do not hesitate to bring the economy to its knees in the pursuit of short-term profit, and among our students cheating appears to be at an all-time high. Having spent most of my life in education, I can attest that my experience with professors has convinced me that they are among the most bigoted, self-serving, and intolerant people to be found anywhere.
So what is the value of education? At the social level, it performs two important functions. First, it keeps young people out of the job market for a long time, especially now that bachelor degrees have lost nearly all their value, forcing many students to pursue post-graduate degrees. Second, it provides certain professional skills required to support the economy.
The characterization and determination of the goal of education is contingent with its meaning, its reception and its value. If education is understood as an all-encompassing field which is related to the process of learning and acquiring information an improved knowledge, its goal will be to develop one’s personality and behavior and critical reasoning and thinking skills. Nevertheless many people associate education acquired at school and the university with the key of the guarantee of a safeguarded financial future. Education is for social underprivileged children and young people the strategic role which helps them to overcome the social disadvantages and to be a normal active member of the society.
Therfore the main purpose of education is to overcome ignorance through formal learning in a school or university, to qualify oneself for a job through gaining in-depth knowledge of special fields, to succeed in getting life experience through self-teaching, to participate at the community life and at last to be a good person as Mr. James Williams said
Education for the poor so that they will be free from the bondage of poverty and to have a better life. Education for the masses so that we can have equal opportunities in life. When one is ignorant let someone teach him/her. Each one deserves morally, upright life then he/she should be educated. But what if one doesn't want to be changed? And what about those who already have the privileges in life like being born with a "gold plate in their table". What is the role of education for them?
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